When the Connecticut Port Authority comes into existence on Oct. 1, its primary function will be to market and coordinate the economic development of the state's three deepwater ports: New London, New Haven and Bridgeport.

That has representatives of the state's small to midsize harbors worried they will be forgotten under the auspices of the quasi-government agency, and they argue that that could have deep and lasting impact on the state's shoreline towns.

"What's going to happen to the programs currently available to support the smaller harbors?" asked Geoff Steadman, a coastal area planning consultant who is on the board of the Connecticut Harbor Management Association.

Old Lyme, Stonington, Waterford, Mystic, Groton, Norwich, East Lyme, Old Saybrook all have small harbors and navigable waterways that have been under the oversight of the state Department of Transportation and local harbormasters supervised by DOT.Even New London, with its deepwater port, has a harbormaster for parts of its waterways.

Towns across the state have benefitted from the DOT grants-in-aid program for dredging and other infrastructure projects to improve their ports and marinas. Since 2012, through the state's capital budget, more than $60 million went to the program, of which some $38 million has been bonded or is about to be bonded for upcoming projects.

"This program, as envisioned by the governor, is not restricted to the three major ports, and has been of significant benefit to towns that would not have been able to accomplish dredging and other harbor projects without this state assistance," Steadman said.

The 2014 port authority law, however, directs the Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development to develop a plan to transition the DOT's maritime functions to the port authority. This is where most of the worry lies for the representatives of the smaller harbors.

How the port authority should function with respect to the smaller harbors is something that is now going to have to be developed in more detail, Steadman said.

"I think the Port Authority is a good idea … but not at the expense of the smaller harbors," said John Paul Mereen, chairman of the Norwich Harbor Management Commission.

"Basically what we're concerned about is having it fine-tuned a little bit. We don't want to fall through the cracks of the waterfront," Mereen said.

He and representatives from various harbor management commissions across the state told the Connecticut Port Authority Working Group at a recent meeting that the port authority should continue and even expand upon existing programs for small and mid-sized harbors while developing commercial opportunities at the deepwater ports. They discussed the importance of the harbors to their communities and their role in the state's commercial and recreational waterfront economy.

Down by the waters of Norwich Harbor Friday morning, as large sheets of ice floated by, Mereen pointed to a narrow, silver ramp on the Thames River. The ramp, which sits just feet away from the heavily traversed Route 32, represents the city's boat launch ramp, "which is woefully inadequate," Mereen said. In the summertime, this area is packed with both foot and car traffic, meaning insufficient parking for boat trailers among other issues.

Norwich is in the process of trying to move the boat launch, which so far has gone "quite well," Mereen said, thanks in part to $200,000 in state funding for environmental testing at the planned future home for the launch at 1 Terminal Way. Mereen said the commission would also like to further develop the Howard T. Brown Park area in Norwich Harbor, which while relatively vacant in the winter, draws crowds of up to 1,000 people in the summer for concerts and other events. A third project on the commission's radar is the creation of a new wharf area to increase public access to the waterfront.

"And these are all items that we would need help and support from the state ... and, quite frankly, we're not sure how the formation of the port authority is going to play into helping the smaller harbors try to maintain what they have and develop in the future," Mereen said.

The commission would also like to be able to dredge the eastern branch of the Yantic River so that small vessels, other than canoes and kayaks, could come up from the harbor to Yantic Falls.

State funding an issue

These are all projects that need some funding from the state. "It's something we can't do all by ourselves," Mereen said.

Old Lyme has five marinas that attract major recreational boating activity to the town. Ned Farman, vice-chair of the Old Lyme Harbor Management Commission, said that in 2011, Old Lyme received a $200,000 grant-in-aid to study whether dredging was possible in the Black Hall and Four Mile rivers, which provide access to Long Island Sound.

At the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection boat launch on the Black Hill River at the end of Smith Neck Road, siltation in the river has reduced water depths to between 2 and 2½ feet, Farman said. "It's really unsafe for boating and inconvenient because of the marginal navigability."

The boat launch sits just 4,000 feet away from the Black Hall Marina, now called Black Hall Outfitters, which is busy in the summer renting kayaks to residents of East Lyme and beyond.

"Without the support from DOT, it's extremely unlikely that the town of Old Lyme, at this point, would've been willing to spend that amount of money to do an entire battery of tests to see if dredging would be feasible," Farman said.

The marinas are quiet now in the off-season. At Old Lyme Marina, where many have stored their boats for the winter, the rows of docks along the Connecticut River, which is partially frozen, are empty. But its not hard to imagine in warmer weather the docks filled with boats taking advantage of the town's network of waterways.

"We heard them loud and clear," said DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith in reference to a recent meeting of the working group at which Farman, Mereen, Pinto, Steadman and other harbor management commission members were present. "They all spoke very articulately of the value of the small port work that had been done over the last decade or so."

While members of the working group have indicated they are aware of the small and mid-sized harbors and what they do, John Pinto, president of the Connecticut Harbor Management Association, said, "I'm not sure what that really means.

"I could be aware of something and not really do anything about it," Pinto said.

The law that establishes the port authority created the working group to make recommendations to DECD for a business and operating plan for the authority's future board. Early in this year's legislative session DECD is expected to deliver a report to the governor and the General Assembly.

"Our recommendations regarding the new port authority would be to not disrupt anything already in place," Smith said. "We don't have any intention of eliminating or changing some of the programs that provide small amounts of funding for dredging projects," for example.

John Pinto, president of the Connecticut Harbor Association, said he plans to contact all the harbor management commissions to rally legislators to address the concerns of those representing the small and midsize harbors.

A separate but related issue is the fate of the harbormasters, who are appointed directly by the governor and are responsible for the safe and efficient operation of their respective harbors and navigable waterways. They are subject to the direction and control of the Commissioner of Transportation. The harbormasters receive a modest $500 a year to perform their duties.

"The port authority really doesn't have any need for the harbormasters, so what are they going to do?" Pinto asked. "DOT doesn't want them. DEEP doesn't want them. The DECD has no need for them. What's going to happen to these individuals?"

Pinto said Norwalk's harbormaster receives phone calls for recreational boats and vessels coming into the harbor - where they can moor, if there's an event going on, what areas they need to avoid and the like. The harbormasters are largely in charge of coordination within the harbors and keeping an eye on activity.

"Each harbormaster works very closely with and takes guidance from the local harbor management commissions," Pinto said.

At the most recent meeting of the working group, there was a suggestion to create a subcomittee that would include Steadman and members of various state agencies to include DOT and DECD to make recommendations regarding the future oversight of the harbormasters.

j.bergman@theday.com

Twitter: JuliaSBergman