Bridgeport Port Authority
330 Water Street
Bridgeport, CT 06604-4920
Contact: Joseph Riccio
Tel: (203) 384-9777
The Bridgeport Port Authority does have the authority to prevent the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Steamboat Company (BPJ) from leaving its present terminal and relocating to the Cilco terminal property, according to state and City statutes.
The Bridgeport Municipal Code, which formed and regulates the agency, states that BPA has the jurisdiction to maximize the usefulness of public funding to promote the growth and development of the City’s waterfront.
The BPA is empowered to “make and enforce any reasonable regulations that it may determine necessary for the proper development, maintenance, and use of the port facilities, relating to the construction, equipment, repair, maintenance, use and rental of any dock, wharf, slip, bus or air terminal, rail tracks or terminal or warehouse owned or leased by any individual or corporation with the district,” according to the Connecticut General Statutes.
BPA attorneys argue that these provisions authorize the BPA to pass any regulation to assist waterfront development. As a result, the BPA sees the proposed BPJ move as subverting or disrupting its efforts to coordinate the development of the waterfront.
The state statutes grants additional supervisory powers to the BPA to survey, develop and operate port facilities in its district, and charges BPA with the coordination of existing or future agencies to increase efficiency of all its facilities and further the commerce and industry in the district.
Some of those powers are:
- Hold public hearings as to harbor facilities within and without the district;
- Determine the location, type, size and construction of requisite port facilities (subject to other state and federal authorities);
- Make surveys, maps and plans for, and estimate of the cost of the development and operation of requisite port facilities and for the coordination of such facilities with existing agencies, both public and private with the view of increasing the efficiency of all such facilities in furthering commerce and industry in the district;
- Regulate and supervise the construction of all port facilities constructed or installed by any private individual or corporation commenced after Oct. 1, 1967, and regulate the operation of all privately owned port facilities, insofar as such operation may adversely affect the flow of transportation or the enforcement of approved plans for the development of the port facilities.
Joseph A. Riccio, Executive Director of the Bridgeport Port Authority, said the BPA has every right to block the move of the BPJ because it would compromise the efficiency of the port and inconvenience ferry customers.
“It’s very clear to us that the Bridgeport Port Authority constructed a beautiful facility for the ferry to dock and service its customers,” Riccio said. “A move now would negatively affect the efficiency and development of the port. In addition, state and federal money went into the construction of the terminal for that purpose only. Abandoning it would violate the purpose for which the money was granted in the first place. We see no need for this proposed move. We’re looking out for the future of the port and the thousands of ferry riders who would be terribly inconvenienced with a move to the Cilco terminal.”
