Yarmouth Commission Issues Bass River Float Permit Over Navigation Objections
Conservation · Meeting of April 16, 2026
Yarmouth Conservation Commission approves Bass River float permit 4-1 amid navigation safety concerns. The commission issued an order of conditions Thursday for a float reconfiguration at 66A River Street, reducing the float from 192 to 187 square feet while lengthening it from 8-by-24 feet to 5.5-by-34 feet to give applicant Jeffrey Chismas more usable docking depth; Waterways and Shellfish Committee Chair Julian Mallett appeared in public comment to warn the commission that a larger vessel at the narrow choke point could expose the owner to liability under the Pennsylvania Rule of 1865 — "if someone hits his boat, it is his fault" — and that the harbormaster could require vessel removal if it impeded navigation. The commission also continued a contested wetland delineation case for Ann and Robert Wiggins at 61 Pheasant Cove Circle, where an unpermitted boardwalk has already been removed, to May 7, pending complete soil data sheets to support a revised wetland line at elevation 7.4; and voted unanimously to continue a certificate of compliance for Derek Johnson at 37 Moss Road to June 18 after finding mitigation plantings heavily browsed by deer and rabbits with the buffer area predominantly lawn.
Staff separately flagged fertilizer applications and lawn encroachment into a permitted mitigation area at the Chismas property as violations to be addressed outside the hearing.
In the full story:
- The complete report — 1,287 words
Source: the Conservation meeting of April 16, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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