The Boston Licensing Board tomorrow decides tomorrow whether to let the Tall Ship, which includes both a moored sailing ship and its pier off Marginal Street in East Boston, into a year-round operation with a “winter village” featuring a skating rink and bumper-car area that would change into summer-time bocce and shuffleboard courts and a rollerblading area.
The plans under consideration would also double the Tall Ship’s overall capacity, from 600 total seats across the ship and the pier to 1,250 - and increase the number of bars from six to eight.
At a hearing today, owner Charles Larner told the board he has hired a sound engineer to help him dampen the impact of the ship’s summertime music speakers on residents of the North End across Boston Harbor. He said he had the speakers tur…
The Boston Licensing Board tomorrow decides tomorrow whether to let the Tall Ship, which includes both a moored sailing ship and its pier off Marginal Street in East Boston, into a year-round operation with a “winter village” featuring a skating rink and bumper-car area that would change into summer-time bocce and shuffleboard courts and a rollerblading area.
The plans under consideration would also double the Tall Ship’s overall capacity, from 600 total seats across the ship and the pier to 1,250 - and increase the number of bars from six to eight.
At a hearing today, owner Charles Larner told the board he has hired a sound engineer to help him dampen the impact of the ship’s summertime music speakers on residents of the North End across Boston Harbor. He said he had the speakers turned to face the water to minimize potential complaints from East Boston residents. He said the sound is well below city decibel limits, but agreed that even “the lightest background noise” can be annoying.
His attorney, Elizabeth Pisano, said making the Tall Ship a year-round experience would help keep the area “safe and vibrant” and would help increase foot traffic to nearby businesses and restaurants as people around the area learn that the East Boston waterfront is truly a destination. The Tall Ship is near Piers Park and the Boston Harbor Shipyard, now home to an ICA exhibit space.
At a Jeffries Point Neighborhood Association meeting last month, a Tall Ship manager said they are hoping to open their new winter village - and the Rink at the Tall Ship - Thanksgiving week or early December.
He said the rink will offer scheduled lessons and public skating, as well as large, domed “warming huts” for people to get out of the cold. Just in case the weather turns the other way, the rink will also have a chiller to keep the ice icy. Also planned for the pier: Food vendors serving warm comfort foods and a European-style “holiday market.”
At today’s hearing, Pisano said the expansion was part of the Tall Ship’s original plans five years ago and that it already has approval from state and city conservation agencies.
Watch the Jeffries Point Neighborhood Association presentation: