Tiverton Yacht Club celebrates new clubhouse

Long ordeal since 2003 fire finally at an end

Tom Killin Dalglish
Posted 7/22/16

TIVERTON — Almost 13 years to the day after its old clubhouse burned down on June 6, 2003, the Tiverton Yacht Club commissioned its brand new two-story 2,600-square-foot clubhouse at 58 Riverside …

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Tiverton Yacht Club celebrates new clubhouse

Long ordeal since 2003 fire finally at an end

Posted

TIVERTON — Almost 13 years to the day after its old clubhouse burned down on June 6, 2003, the Tiverton Yacht Club commissioned its brand new two-story 2,600-square-foot clubhouse at 58 Riverside Drive.

"It's a small ceremonial thing," said Club Commodore Stephen Hughes. "All the yacht clubs do it. It declares the sailing season open for the year." Still, this year’s ceremony was special, marking the end of a long ordeal since that fire and the start of a new era.

The club has survived many struggles during those years — disputes with neighbors, zoning and septic issues, lawsuits — but at long last its clubhouse is up and running. Except for one small problem that, as this paper goes to press, seems to be resolving.

Because there's no elevator yet installed that can carry passengers from the ground level (the first floor) to the second floor, the second floor of the building may not be used. Without an elevator, the second floor is not handicapped accessible, so cannot be granted a certificate of occupancy.

The second floor is the social center for the clubhouse.

At one end is a huge river stone fireplace and wide screen television; at the other end the full kitchen is tucked into a corner. In between is an expansive space suitable for socializing.

The second floor is banked by windows that face west onto a wrap-around deck running the entire length of the building, that overlooks the Sakonnet River and a small beach and the club's marina across Riverside Drive. The view down from the deck at the south end of the clubhouse is of the pool and a small picnic area..

"We have a beach and a marina, and we have a pool," said Mr. Hughes. "And now we have a clubhouse. It's fabulous. Everybody is extremely happy. Many members have been to a couple of events already. It's absolutely over the top."

"And we're anxious to use the whole facility, not just the first floor," he said.

That hinges upon when the elevator is installed, about which information seems only recently to be surfacing.

Elevator installation

The company providing and installing the elevator is Garaventa Lift New England,

"We signed a contract in February saying they'd deliver it in May," Mr. Hughes said of the club's deal with Garaventa.

Questioned on Thursday, July 7 about the delay regarding the elevator, John McCarthy, project manager for Garaventa, said he had confirmed with the general contractor for the yacht club project that, "installation will start no later than July 18, depending on weather, as this is an exterior installation. We will have it tested and certified by the State as soon as possible. The installation of this lift will take three days." That would mean an installation by July 21.

The impact of the delay on the club's summer plans is significant.

"It's satisfying to finally have a date for the installation," Mr. Hughes said. "So far its absence has made us strictly use the first floor. We have weekly functions and one special function we were counting on having on the second floor. It's very disappointing that a company that specializes in such an important product can't deliver. It affects the plans and lives of so many people, not just the Tiverton Yacht Club."

The year so far

"This is the first time in 20 years we've had a waiting list," Mr. Hughes said. "We're at a maximum of 208 members, with a waiting list of 20 memberships."

"Seventy percent of the club's members are new in the last four years," Mr. Hughes said, and "eighty percent of the new people are young families. We're very affordable for a family. We don't have an initiation fee."

Membership fees, he said, are $600 per year for a family, with extra charges for swimming and sailing classes.

Mr. Hughes said "there are 95 kids this summer in the sailing program. That's maxed."

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