Portsmouth Water Taxi is a go in 2024: Owner gets permission to use boat launch.

PORTSMOUTH — The owner of Portsmouth Water Taxi will be allowed to pick up and drop off passengers at the city-owned Peirce Island.

The City Council voted to allow the city’s first water taxi service to pick up and drop off customers at the Robert P. Sullivan Boat Launch on the island.

Mike Comeau, the owner and operator of Portsmouth Water Taxi, thanked “the mayor and the City Council and the city attorneys” for their work to help find him a city-owned spot on the Piscataqua River.

“They were very helpful, very supportive,” Comeau said during an interview Tuesday.

His water taxi service is open for the season and is operating Thursday through Monday from noon to 8 p.m., he said.

“Once we get beyond Memorial Day, those hours are probably going to change,” Comeau said.

He predicted that he’ll be doing “a lot of pickups on boats that are on moorings,” as the weather continues to warm up.

“My number one mission here is get more people out on the water for cheap,” said Comeau, a Dover resident.

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This week’s vote by the City Council also allows City Manager Karen Conard to negotiate a license agreement with Comeau to use the Sullivan dock at Peirce Island.

Commercial use banned at Prescott Park

Comeau had initially sought permission to use the docks at Prescott Park for his water taxi, and to “post signs on a fence and at the docks at Prescott Park to advertise” the business, Conard said.

But Senior Assistant City Attorney Jane Ferrini issued a report to the council in February stating “that signage and commercial crafts are prohibited from using the piers, floats and docks at Prescott Park by city ordinance.”

The charitable deed restrictions for Prescott Park “limit the use of …. the property to park and recreational purposes,” Conard said.

City officials reached out to Michael Haley, the acting director of the Charitable Trust Unit of the state attorney general’s office, which oversees the park’s trust.

Haley advised the city “that for-profit commercial use of Prescott Park was not contemplated by the terms of the Prescott will.”

Revised request for water taxi in Portsmouth

Legal staff reached out to Comeau, and he agreed “to revise his request to the council to permit water taxi drop off and pick up at the Robert P. Sullivan Boat Launch at Peirce Island,” Conard said.

During Monday’s council meeting, City Councilor Andrew Bagley asked if another potential water taxi operator came forward would they “go through the same process.”

Conard replied “we would consider that request as well, yes.”

Mayor Deaglan McEachern added that “if somebody else would want to do this and compete with this person … we won’t be (agreeing to) an exclusive right for (Comeau) to provide this.”

Information on Portsmouth Water Taxi: portsmouthwatertaxi.com or call during operating hours at (603) 550-1380.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth Water Taxi is a go in 2024: Owner gets permission to use boat launch.