HomeMy WebLinkAbout09092013 Coastal Management Plan Work Group MinutesMINUTES: Coastal Management Plan (CMP) Work Group – September 9, 2013
Attending: Sarah Oktay, Carl Borchert, Kirk Riden, Jamie Feeley, John Stover; ex officio Jeff Carlson and
several members of the public. We had a Quorum.
Started at 5:05 pm
Sarah started with an announcement to remind everyone about the upcoming talk sponsored by the
Sconset Beach Preservation Fund by Dr. Mike Bruno on Wednesday September 11th at 12:30 at the
Nantucket Hotel. This is an invitational event.
We approved the agenda and the minutes from August 26th which have been revised by Rebecca Haney
who gave a presentation at our last meeting. The committee took a moment to review them and
approved them unanimously.
Checked the calendars for the next three meetings. Next meeting will be September 23rd. Sarah will not
be there but Emily will be and hopefully so will Bobby. There were a few issues with the dates for the
meeting in October (14th and 28th).The 14th is Columbus Day. Trying to decide whether to bump it to the
Tuesday after Columbus Day (buildings are closed, except for the Police Station). Decided to do the 7th
and 28th of October. Sarah will send those dates to Bobby and Emily and Jeff will check on the room. On
the 23rd we will tackle sector 7 (Surfside area); on the 7th we will address sector 8 (Low Beach) and on
the 28th we will do sector 9. Same conundrum with November with the 11th being Veterans’ Day. Sarah
was reminded that we need to get the Land Bank to attend.
Today we will go over Sector 6 which includes from the southern end of Esther’s island/Smith’s point to
right around the sewer beds (to just past the Point of Breakers- we stop right at the Youth Hostel). There
are different shoreline change trends in this area. Sarah passed around a map of the sector to the
audience and committee and mentioned that some of our highest erosion rates are in this area.
Miacomet is relatively “stable” as are the sewer beds. In this sector are at least three obvious public
access points: end of Madaket Road, end of Hummock Pond Road, and Mass Ave- Jeff said there are
additional areas. The sewer beds are one of the most important areas in this sector. Most of Smiths
Point is owned by the town as is Mass Ave, next is Ames which is the cross street that crosses Hither
creek, Madaket road is a town road, the TON also was gifted the new parking lot at the end of Chicago
Street. Sheep Pond road is a TON owned road, then the next spot owned by the TON is the end of
Hummock Pond Road; the majority of the publically used land in Cisco Beach area is owned by the Land
Bank, for instance where the parking lot and lifeguards are is LB land; and the town owns the area
shown in pink is a lot of vacant land between Cisco and Miacomet pond (LB and TON). Then the TON
owns a piece on the east side of Miacomet (LB land on west) then there is the Miacomet Flume”, that is
the stretch that goes through to the sewer beds, lots of little lots that look like teeth. Then the sewer
beds, then South Shore road is also a town road. The Point of Breakers is owned by the LB. Then the
sector ends. This sector contains a lot of TON property.
Sarah briefly mentioned the airport property being owned by the FAA and D. Anne Atherton said we
should verify if it is truly federal property. Jeff said that the FAA property is actually owned by the TON,
parts of it are regulated by the FAA but they FAA is supposed to consult the public and the community
and involve the public in management of the property. There is a carefully defined public process for the
master plan for the airport (which they may be about to redo) which gives us an opportunity for the
community to participate in planning ahead for erosion. We should invite Noah Karberg (new
environmental department head) to our meeting on the 23rd. There are 500 acres under a Conservation
Restriction and he can tell us about that.
Carol Dunton: she attends the airport commission meetings and they are working on updating the old
master plan.
Sarah: what is good about this sector is there is a lot of long term information on the erosion rates here
which have been documented to be as high as 10-12 feet per year (may be as high as 15-16 feet per year
now). CZM has shoreline change maps in this area. There is a lot of aggressive erosional losses here.
Some private homes here that are trying to repair the homes or pull them back from the beach. Rebecca
had a great idea to evaluate various criteria for each sector.
Her criteria include:
1) Determine the shoreline change rate (long and short term)
2) Flood zone (A or V zone)
3) Dry beach width
4) Resource area (beach bank dune, barrier beach)-
Sheep pond road area has some coastal banks, as does Hummock Pond Road, some banks in the
Madaket area; Miacomet has more of a dune field.
Sarah has done several years of beach profiling near the sewer beds and at least three or so years
ago it was relatively stable area with some mature back dunes. Jeff mentioned that the Point of
Breakers beach has accreted quite a bit recently.
So Rebecca’s suggestion is to go sector by sector, compile a priority list of public sites and find out
what type of considerations we need to deal with in regards to our categories in the matrix. Carl is
not aware of any proposals for offshore (nearby) alternative energy in this area although there was
the temporary research set-up with a measurement device attached to a “flapper” in the water off
of Chicago Ave. The only state activity is off of NoMan’s land per the Oceans Act.
What is our top priority? Probably the sewer beds. Other issues, Ames Ave, what might happen if
there is a breach there; the end of Massachusetts Ave. and Madaket Ave.
Jeff: this is the one sector with 4 perhaps 5 different Barrier Beaches: Smith’s Point is technically the
barrier beach for Madaket Harbor (parts of it are mapped as a barrier beach by the state), the end of
Ames that forms a barrier beach for Hither Creek, the barrier beach at Long Pond, the barrier beach
at Hummock Pond, and the barrier beach at Miacomet Pond. In regards to habitat, Jeff thinks that
Miacomet pond, if it breached ,would suffer habitat impairment; and if Long Pond had a sustained
breach, that would be very problematic started to flow over Madaket road from main pond road to
the Loring property (second bridge) and the ditch got overwhelmed in a recent storm event (within
last three years). What about federal species? When we start looking at town owned land there is a
lot of debris in the water, some form TON and private properties, old septic tanks and wells, lots of
this there. Should we have a proactive plan to remove that? Madaket road is an issue for where it is
ending; if it ended where Ames Road turns, that would be good; then we could control access to the
beach and maybe considered revegetation the area and slowing down the erosion there; then we
could create just one or two points of access. For Hummock pond road we need to manage the
pavement where it retreats, where that area is we don’t need to protect any infrastructure there so
we could consider thinking ahead and doing something where there is a paved road (on an erosional
bank).
How would we fix that? Who would be in charge of pulling up the pavement, and building a swale.
Answer: The Town itself. Need to control and channelize the access. For instance, at HPR there are
multiple access points and we should focus those into one or two access points. We should think of
getting stairs that we can install them on a seasonal basis, anchor a 15 foot set of aluminum stairs
and remove them on the first storm. A good example where that has worked, if you go down
towards Nobadeer Beach, the Land Bank has a parking lot there with only one path and that is the
path people use and they don’t go into the vegetation. Fishermen’s beach is another good example
as is Surfside Beach (lots of people but access is controlled). Busiest stretch of beach is probably
Point of Breakers down to Nobadeer on a daily basis. John asked if we would be hiring someone to
look at ways to control erosion due to runoff-could this be something that the new Town Engineer
could address? Sure. Jeff said this has come up a lot, especially in areas where the asphalt is
becoming a hazard. The real problem with HPR, the erosion that comes at the toe of the slope is
significant and episodic but during every rainstorm water runs down the road and creates erosion
from the top. That could be a specific recommendation for this plan (evaluate and fix end of
Hummock pond road). This should be a simple project to do a road retreat, should be able to do in
house. We should have a managed retreat plan for the roads, do we bring HPR all the way back to
Mothball way. Need a long term plan. Need to have steps that include how we retreat the utilities,
reroute water and sewer. Madaket road has power and cable all the way to the corner. The electric
company will be the first to let us know. Mentioned the Kanes who live at the end of the Madaket
Road, we should try not to exacerbate their land loss.
What about Smiths Point: we control access for vehicles and cars; lots of plover habitat out there-
been an area that is very dynamic- not trying to hold Smith’s point it any kind of configuration. Two
ponds have come and gone at the end of Smith’s Point. Smiths’ Point is also a very popular fishing
location and a significant recreational resource. On the harbor side (different sector) lots of
shellfishing. [short side diversion about Whales Island which could be taken by the Town or the Land
bank but is not often considered because it is such an ephemeral piece of land].
Next section: what about the end of Mass Ave? Pull back utilities, obviously there are homes that
extend all the way to the end of the road, town needs to support that access. Fortunately there are
a lot of alternative accesses to that residential area. So this is a residential area that abuts a town
taken road. The Town took a lot of roads back in the 70s, not a recent taking. Now the TON would
be reluctant to take a road that was actively eroding. So for a recommendation for that area:
removal of hazards for public safety and navigation for Mass Ave. So how do we remove those
hazards? Do we set up a budget for removal? Yes, we should recommend that the town set aside
money for the removal of material under the water that is exposed and can become a danger like
the recent pilings. This is different from material that washes up from storm damage. Part of the
issue, the TON does not have a machine that can pull this stuff out of the intertidal area. Another
problem is it can be difficult to find a contractor to remove it. That is something we could maybe
petition the state DEP for assistance with this issue, maybe there are state funds available. Also
some similar hazards lie offshore in Tom Nevers. We should look to see if there is any money out
there for this.
Recommendation: Acquire or solicit fund to remove surf zone and near-shore hazards. So the plan is
managed retreat in that area. The little guard shack is TON infrastructure as is Jackson Point support
building (Sector 3 issues).
Hither Creek and Goose Cove and Ames area breaching: obviously there would be issues with that
bridge. The end of Hither creek is in better shape than Long Pond, We should measure that Dune,
should we set a distance that the dune erodes and set up.
ID a key component of coastal infrastructure, we should have a plan in place. Then recommend a
specific plan of action.
Question #1: If we need to decide to do something about it. We should monitor, quantify if
something is happening.
Bam: already happened in the blow out of broad creek on Esther’s island when Broad creek
breached. Hither creek could blow through but could heal itself. If it opens up and the bridge goes
away, how do we repair the bridge? We need to identify an alternative mean to get over to that part
of Madaket. Should we look at building another bridge? We could recommend something to look at
now such as a secondary access. Or shore up road now, What about offshore reefs like the pilot
projects or the sunken barrier that Farrell (Resolve) proposed Our suggestions need to be all
inclusive including but not limited to offshore or onshore protection and relocation of the road. We
should have a trigger point that makes us do something more active. Let’s say the barrier beach is
220 feet there, we should look at shoreline change rate (use the short term average), when it gets
within a 5 year distance, then plan B goes into place. Are we arguing if it should be monitored?
Jamie does not think we should wait to a 5 year threat. If we think we need an artificial reef maybe
we should look install that now, it might be able to slow problem/ Question, if they cause harm, can
Joe really move them? What about building a better bridge? As far as data accessibility would be
good to check out what the data was generated at the end of Chicago Ave. did that help, we don’t
know? Those are energy absorbing devices that generates electricity. Sunken concrete barrier,
paddles. We could recommend specific things for the BOS to look at for these hotspots. Who would
implement this? The TON
D. Anne: the great ponds include Long Pond. Does that come with any constraint? Not really. Barrier
beach is this greatest constraint is the barrier beach. We have local ownership of the ponds but they
still fall under jurisdictional laws of the Commonwealth.
What are we going to do for Hither Creek? First we need to see how wide it is. Second we need a set
of recommendations: of various tactics that can be used to slow erosion. Third, we need a back-up
plan or two for the bridge and access to that part of Madaket. Don’t have to design the project, just
need a recommendation for the board. 1) slow the erosion if it becomes a problem using a variety of
means and 2) build a better bridge or a back up access. Policy: need a technical evaluation by coastal
engineers for some of the difficult ones.
Recommendation: To reduce the chance of hither creek being breached: need to calculate the risk.
Develop a plan to slow the erosion if needed and have in place a feasible access plan is well as plans
to shore up the bridge.
Bam: what we are talking about is happening in Tuckernuck, Whale Point is eroding to the east and a
road is on the barrier beach, sooner or later that will happen in Madaket; the barrier beach may end
up covering over the bridge as it migrates inland.
For Hummock Pond road we have already discussed what we need to do.
What we are talking about for the ridge, applies to the sewer beds; there is a stake that if the
erosion gets to that, the red flag goes up. Need plan for the best management plan for each site.
The TON is monitoring the distance to the sewer beds from the high water mark.
Sheep Pond road: is it taken care of? yes and no; alternate access was constructed. May become a
problem again, high erosion area.
Every year do an evaluation of the current year’s loss of land. Town engineer goes and look at every
Town owned property and look at the loss of the land. Need to beach profiling to ground truth the
fly over data. Can do it by surveying which is quicker and can be very accurate. Maybe we should
identify 20 sites to do regular measurements. Maybe neighborhoods could e convinced to do their
own neighborhood. Important to do in a GPS layer so it can be imported in.
Public: two quick questions:
1) effect of erosion control measures on private land effecting private access; is this effecting
Hummock Pond Road
2) Is there a lesson to be learned from Ratner’s geotubes? Many lessons. For instance, Ratner had
to switch to white bags because they were more visible when they inevitably became
dislodged.. Going to her point: monitor private and public installations to make sure they don’t
adversely impact nearby land goes two ways). Also need to call for a shortened installation so if
there is end scour it would not impact neighboring properties.
Next meeting we will discuss Sector 7
Adjourned the meeting at 7:20 pm
Respectfully submitted, Sarah Oktay, temporary secretary