Worries Again Stir the Waters of North Cove By Ronald Drenger Just two months after chants of "No ferries! No ferries!" subsided, and fears of NY Waterway boats dominating North Cove faded, residents near the scenic marina are again concerned that it will become a hub for large passenger boats. Liberty Landing, which currently manages North Cove and runs a marina in Jersey City, hopes to install a 30-by-90-foot barge in the cove as a dock for its water taxis and boats belonging to New York Water Taxi, which begins service in August.   At the same time, the city’s Department of City Planning has proposed to increase the legal capacity of water taxis from 49 to 99 passengers. Water taxis have been allowed in North Cove, while ferries generally have not—an exception being Liberty Landing’s Sea Devil, which carries Mercantile Exchange workers between the cove and Jersey City. The proposed rules change and news of Liberty Landing’s barge plan have raised concerns that ferries, or boats like them, will crowd the cove. Community activists were planning a "Save North Cove" rally for July 2. "This is another operator trying to come in and convert North Cove into a transportation hub," said Michael Fortenbaugh, head of the Manhattan Yacht Club, whose 20 sailboats line the eastern edge of the cove. "You don’t need that kind of dock for a water taxi," Richard Kennedy, chair of Community Board 1’s WTC/ Transportation Committee, said at the committee’s meeting last month. CB1 voted 25-9, with two abstentions, to support the increased capacity for water taxis, but some board members, particularly Battery Park City residents, raised red flags. "Water taxis are tolerated now in the North Cove because they’re small boats, but I’m concerned they will all of a sudden become big ferries," said CB1 member Jeff Galloway. "When you get to put 99 people on a water taxi, when does that become a ferry?" asked Anthony Notaro, chair of CB1’s Battery Park City Committee. "At some point, we’re giving them permission to bring in big boats." According to Karen Burkhardt of the Department of City Planning, the city distinguishes between water taxis and ferries by their use and capacity, but she said BPC property does not fall under general city regulations. The Authority, which has jurisdiction over North Cove, has so far put the kibosh on Liberty Landing’s plan to bring its seven-slip barge into the marina. Earlier this year the Authority similarly stymied NY Waterway’s hopes of operating ferries from the marina. "We have told them, if they’re considering bringing in the barge they would have to present a plan to us," Tim Carey, the Authority’s president, said late last month. "If we thought it was feasible, we would have to talk to Brookfield [owner of the World Financial Center], and we would bring it to the community board for comments." But Fortenbaugh, who met with Liberty Landing’s manager, Bruce Boyle, in late June, said Boyle was determined to install the new barge. Boyle did not return repeated calls seeking comment. He is scheduled to appear at CB1’s BPC Committee on July 11 (49-51 Chambers St., Room 709, 5:30 p.m.). New York Water Taxi, which will stop at points along the Manhattan waterfront including North Cove, uses 79-passenger boats. The company says they require only a 20-by-40-foot dock, are quiet, and have low-emission engines and low-wake hulls. CB1 last month passed a resolution endorsing the new service but opposing "expanded commercial use" of North Cove prior to a full community board review.