Earlier this month, Matthew Cousins appeared before the Blue Hill Planning Board in Ellsworth, Maine to seek approval to build a 60-by-100-foot metal storage building at Webbers Cove.

The plan, which calls for the 31-foot-high metal building to be located in the northwest corner of the 1.87-acre boatyard, was withdrawn because the proposal did not meet flood plain requirements, Cousins - the boatyard's owner - said. It will be resubmitted once the necessary engineering work is done.

Over the past five years, Cousins has upgraded the boatyard significantly. He had a new 50-by-50-foot granite wharf built where his grandfather once had a marine railway used to build and haul sardine carriers and restored a bulkhead that protects the central storage area of the boatyard from erosion. Three years ago, he added a 25-ton Travelift and lengthened and widened the lift slip so that it could handle bigger boats.

“It’s all to serve the customer better,” Cousins said. “I’m a family business competing with some pretty big name boatyards. To compete with the yards in this area, we have to stay on top of it.”

Hence, decision to invest in the new boat storage shed.

Webbers Cove currently stores about 200 boats in three locations. There is a large indoor storage building in East Blue Hill, about a quarter mile up the road from the boatyard. Webbers Cove also operates another boatyard, dedicated primarily to “do-it-yourselfers,” in Blue Hill, that has limited indoor storage capacity.

The existing boat shed is inefficient compared with a new building. That's a problem, because the demand for indoor winter storage is continually increasing.

“The trend is definitely to go inside,” Cousins said. “I will be able to store one-third more boats inside a building the same size as the old one because of the open-span construction.”

The boatyard’s plan to erect a new general steel building has drawn some criticism within East Blue Hill. Some in the community have expressed their feelings that the building and an expansion of the boatyard’s business will be out of keeping with the character of the village.

Although Cousins had hoped to begin construction on the new boat shed in time to have it available for the coming storage season, the hitch in getting Planning Board approval has changed those plans. Barring further complications, construction will begin next summer.

While construction of the new steel building has been delayed, another project may soon get under way. Cousins has permits to install floats off the boatyard’s existing granite wharf. Reached by a ramp from the wharf, the floats will extend about 240 feet from shore and provide water access to the boatyard at all but the lowest tides.