Glo Wollen stands in front of Petersburg’s new North Harbor. Photo/Angela Denning
Boats are making their way back into Petersburg’s North Harbor this week. A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held Thursday at 1 p.m. to celebrate the upgraded harbor, which has been almost 20 years in the making. The project started back in 1996.
“It’s kind of surreal,” says Glorianne Wollen. “We’ve been talking about it for so long and it’s finally happened.”
Wollen has worked in the harbor since she was 17 years old, eventually taking over the job of Harbor Master.
She talked with Angela Denning on the project details:
Part of the battle was just getting the $9 million dollars for the project. Wollen says the project turned into a poster child for how it all worked out. The harbor used to be state owned but the state wanted the town to take it over so they chipped in $2.3 million in seed money. Petersburg invested that and applied for more grant money. The process took years and required a change in state policies for the granting program.
Now, it is fully owned by Petersburg.
Because the harbor is brand new, there are new federal mandates for improved fire safety. They require the electrical systems on boats to have GFI or Ground Fault Interrupter protection. Wollen says all the new meters in the North Harbor are setup this way so that if there is any stray current it will trip and shut down the electricity to the boat. If boat owners have any questions about this, they can contact the harbor office.
The old boat launch at the North Harbor also re-opened.
