For anyone that is still interested in this issue, the town’s board of selectmen discussed several aspects of this at their June 7 meeting. While the selectmen declined to put the issue on their agenda, during the public input portions at the beginning and the end of the meeting, various members of the public raised concerns and there was some interesting discussion. Below is the link to the recording of the meeting. While there was some discussion of the issue at the beginning, if limited in time, the few minutes I would suggest watching begin towards the end at 2:16.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf9MWIeeWH8
A few observations. First, the selectmen made clear that nothing is going to happen with respect to the wharf pilings until after the refurbishment of the wharf, and the refurbishment will not be done until next year at the earliest (if interested in the wharf refurbishment project, there was an extensive discussion in the middle of the meeting with the town’s consultant on the status of that project).
Second, the selectmen also made clear that there is no appetite for allowing Epic to use the wharf for a commercial enterprise, at least not without a public bid process (i.e., Epic would have to pay the town and address things like liability issues).
And third, as for just private use of the wharf for seaplanes by cutting posts, the selectmen reaffirmed what they said in prior meetings that the first “baby step” in that process is for there to be a demonstration at a selectmen’s meeting (i.e., on the publicly posted agenda for a meeting that will be partly held at the wharf) where the selectmen, the fire chief, and the police chief, together with any member of the public that wants to attend, will be able to observe the demonstration.
The selectmen clearly understand what is going on here, and are attuned to the issues that have been raised and discussed here. The selectmen stated that there will be a full public hearing dedicated to this issue before anything happens on the wharf. Based on their comments, it seems likely that any public hearing would not even occur until after the wharf refurbishment, so at least another year or two.
What I also found most interesting—in light of Epic’s professed openness for the process and that he has nothing to hide—was the chairman’s discussion (at 2:17) of how Epic had requested from the selectmen that the fly-in demonstration be closed and not disclosed to the public in advance, which the chairman noted is not how the town approaches such things.