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Coast Guard Security MeasuresMEMORANDUM February 10, 2003 TO:The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM:Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager SUBJECT:Comments Regarding Proposed Coast Guard Marine Security Measures Administrative Services Manager Pauline Joyce is transmitting information in response to the Coast Guard Marine Security Regulations and suggested comments from her and Fire Chief Dan Brown regarding the key areas that might impact the City and community projects. These comments will be sent to the U.S. Coast Guard. Michael C. Van Milligen MCVM/jh Attachment cc: Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager Pauline Joyce, Administrative Services Manager Dan Brown, Fire Chief MEMORANDUM February 7, 2003 TO:Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager FROM:Pauline Joyce, Administrative Services Manager SUBJECT:Comments Regarding Proposed Coast Guard Mar ne Secur ty Measures The purpose of this memorandum is to provide information and suggested action in response to Coast Guard marine secudty regulations promulgated in the federal register and on a fast track. Fire Chief Dan Brown and I attended a meeting in St. Louis in response to proposed regulations published in the federal register and the request for comments by the end of February. This meeting was very helpful and contacts were made with the appropriate Coast Guard officials to better understand the impact of the proposed regulations, their targeted concerns for the initial enforcement efforts and areas of concern for the City that needed to be submitted in writing. I have attached suggested comments from both Dan and I regarding the key areas that might impact the City and that we feel will provide us with at least a voice in how and to what extent the regulations and their interpretation impacts City and community projects. CC:Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel William Baum, Economic Dev. Director Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager Draft 2-4-03 Comments from the City of Dubuque, Iowa Regarding Docket Number USCG-2002-14069 Fire Chief Dan Brown and Administrative Services Manager Pauline Joyce were in attendance at the January 31 meeting held in St. Louis and prepared the following comments for the City of Dubuque: The first concern to be addressed is the definition of facility. The City of Dubuque, in partnership with the Dubuque County Historical Society and the Dubuque Chamber of Commerce and State of Iowa, have developed a sedes of projects known as "The America's River" project for the Port of Dubuque. These include improvements to a 90 acre urban renewal area on the Mississippi River and adjacent to the Ice Harbor. Included in the projects is a new National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, the Grand River Center (new education and conference center), the new Grand Harbor Resort Hotel and Water Park, renovation of the histodc brewery and shot tower, development of a new wetlands, docking facilities for the William M. Black which will be used as a boat and breakfast facility, creation of new parking lots, historic lighting and landscaping for the lots and streetscape, and a 45,000 square foot office building currently in the design phase, and a dverwalk built on top of the floodwall that will be completed this spdng. The entire area has been planned and developed as a major tourist attraction, with pdvate, city, county, state and federal funding of over $188 million dollars committed to date. It is imperative to communities, like Dubuque, who have made significant investments in their dverfront properties to attract tourists, that facilities such as those named above not be included under the definition of facilities required to have facility plans as outlined in NAVIG11-02. These facilities are not connected with or serviced by any passenger or other types of vessels navigating the Mississippi. Their only relationship to the dver is their location along the Mississippi River. The second concern we would like addressed is the Port Secudty Committees. It is recommended that these committees have a local government representative if that community either has a port facility or has local businesses that are required to have Facility Plans. The local police and fire agencies have expertise regarding local resources and existing emergency plans for their community. The addition of security structures may hamper the response of emergency personnel and the placement of apparatus for use at the incident. It is imperative that facility plans be consistent with national and local fire codes and that the adopted Port Secudty Plan be coordinated with existing emergency plans and Code requirements. A third area of concern is the language regarding secudty plans for areas where large gatherings take place. We have several such events that are annual events held along the dverfront. The community has created their own secudty plans for such events and has coordinated these with affected state and federal agencies. There is no doubt that some of these events have a much higher level of secudty than others, and we recognize that there is a need to review each event to determine what additional security measures need to be addressed. It is our recommendation that security measures for such events as the "Taste of Dubuque" and "Evening at the Pops" be developed and approved by the Commander of the Port, rather than having a formal facility plan required for each area that could potentially be used for large gatherings. The City of Dubuque has a formal process already in place for handling Special Event Permits. This process involves Police, Fire, Health, City Clerk, Legal and Finance Department reviews to insure safety of the public and protection of public property, including any liability issues. This supports the case for ensudng local government representation on the Port Secudty Committee. Finally, gaming representatives were present at the meeting and provided considerable input regarding the significant economic impact that screening passengers could have on their ability to stay in business, remain competitive, and what this could mean in terms of lost income to States who have gaming boats. We agree with their statements regarding the significant economic impact the loss of boat revenues would have on State government, and also add, that in our case it would also have an adverse affect on local government funding and contributions the gaming boat makes to the community. Please consider the fact that these boats navigate only a shod distance from their home port, and that these extreme security measures would certainly discourage patrons from boarding their vessel. Gaming is considered an important element in the overall tourist attractions for the Port of Dubuque.