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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-6-5Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board Tuesday, June 5. 2018 at 5:00 p.m. Community Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road *HSAB meeting are video -recorded Members present: Andy Lowell, Peter Brace, Ken Kuntz, Frederick McClure, Joe COO Lipuma Members Absent: Bill Blount, Ginger Andrews Marine Dept: Sheila Lucey c 0 Natural Resources Dept: Others: Kona Heiser, Nantucket Police Chief Bill Pittman 3 CALL TO ORDER 0 5:05 p.m. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Unanimously approved. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Draft minutes of May 15, 2018 CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Maintenance dredging report (tentative) Reminder of summer meeting schedule MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT: General Marine Department report — Sheila Lucey Ms. Lucey reported that she'd placed most of the aids to navigation buoys in the harbors and that they needed to finish Madaket and Polpis harbors, and the rocks along the north shore. She expected to meet the Coast Guard deadline of June 15. She said she's added a few more buoys in Madaket Harbor. Ms. Lucey said the Polpis Harbor channel has proved challenging to mark because so much sand moved by winter storms has filled a lot of the channel. She is able to provide a channel at 2.5 feet deep at low tide. Ms. Lucey reported that she's been able to repair the floating pier enough to make it through the season, including running a water line to the ends of the floating and fixed piers. The sewage line is 98% ready for service and the Head Hunter pumpout boat is in the water and ready to go. She reported that AGM Marine replaced several batter boards on the fixed pier and she's replaced dock boards as well on the fixed pier. Ms. Lucey confirmed that no boat owners have been denied access to either pier. Ms. Lucey reported that all lifeguard stands are out and that she's working on an a beach access issue at Cisco. For moorings, she reported that she'll be doing mooring inspections. She added that there is one beached boat on private property and that property owner is working on this issue. She reported no live -aboard boat issues yet. Also, there have been no issues with people anchoring on Hussey Shoal, and the eelgrass there appears to be coming back thick. Ms. Lucey said she's issued around 25 26-footand under mooring permits and no large boat moorings yet. Lifeguards will start their training on June 10. She reported that the lifeguards are at full staff and she will be doing the junior lifeguard program again this season with three of the lifeguards this summer having graduated from that program already. Mr. Lowell asked how much summer help Ms. Lucey. She replied that she has 10 dock attendants. Ms. Lucey said there were no issues during the Figawi except that committee boat was on the east side forcing the sailboats to cut over to the west side. Mr. Brace asked about the stranded bell buoy on the beach north of Quidnet. Ms. Lucey said removing is a federal issue, Coast Guard, possibly a helicopter to remove it. NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT General Natural Resources Department report — NRD staff No report. PUBLIC COMMENT ON MARINE DEPARTMENT / NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT No public comments. NEW BUSINESS Report on handling and collection of hazardous waste by possible new methods Discussion — Rob McNeill (tentative appearance) Mr. McNeill recapped this past winter's sewer leak and discharge into Nantucket Harbor at Children's Beach and how the town dealt with this situation. Mr. McNeill recapped his department's efforts to clean out storm drains around town. Mr. McNeill updated the HSAB on the landfill runoff monitoring program in relation to water quality in Long Pond and coordinating their efforts with the town's Natural Resources Department. He added later in his report that it's too soon in this process to make a definitive determination as to whether runoff from the landfill is contributing to poor water quality in Long Pond. Mr. Lowell asked if the DPW is working with the Nantucket Land Council and Mr. McNeill confirmed his department is maintaining a high level of transparency with the Nantucket Land Council. Mr. McNeill reported that the town would be using a remote camera system to do a complete inspection of the town's sewer system to check the condition of the pipes and discover where repairs need to be made. On Consue Springs, Mr. McNeill said the town will be pursuing a "more robust project" to clean up this pond and restore tidal flow between this pond and the harbor through the creeks, which could include some form of shellfish aquaculture installation. He confirmed that there would be increased continuous flow between the pond and harbor. He added that the trenching to be done would be much more than originally proposed. Mr. Lowell said that the HSAB would be willing to formally support the DPW's efforts to secure more personnel and funding to properly maintain storm drains that prevent runoff into the harbor. Mr. McNeill said Town Manager Libby Gibson fully supports this need as well. Mr. Brace asked about the possibility of having full-time hazardous waste collection containers and staff at the materials recovery facility instead of just six collection days throughout the year. Mr. McNeill said expanding the hours of these days would be a good first step. Mr. Brace expressed the board's appreciation for Mr. McNeill's presence at the HSAB meeting. Mr. Lowell asked how the DPW might reach out to contractors for containment of hazardous materials. Mr. McNeill replied that he's done that in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Mr. McNeill said he's working on introducing a stormwater bylaw and stormwater regulations and he said this would happen because of the limitations in the town code on regulating stormwater runoff, what goes into these drains, such as dewatering at construction sites. Mr. LiPuma asked for a list of what is found in the test wells around the landfill and Mr. McNeill said the reports with this information are on the town's website on the DPW page under Solid Waste. Mr. Heiser asked about the potential shellfish project in Consue Springs. McNeill said if it happened, it would be handled by the Natural Resources Department. OLD BUSINESS Goals & Objectives for 2018/2019 - Discussion On the issue of moorings, Mr. McClure suggested working this problem through the retailers to their customers, maybe handing out materials at the yacht clubs. Mr. Lowell offered that there should be a better locating system for helix moorings because they don't require chain at all, which means there's nothing dragging on the bottom. The board agreed to keep this item on the goals and objectives. Mr. Brace noted that he was supposed to follow up on the creation of the Shellfish Management Plan Implementation Committee. Mr. Brace said the board should get an update on the status of the plan and this committee. Mr. Lowell asked about revisions to the nub regulation. Mr. Brace said he didn't think this should come off the list and that the HSAB needed the scallopers to come in and request that this board pursue a revision. Mr. Heiser noted that nubs haven't been a problem for scallopers. Commercial fishing curriculum in the schools Mr. McClure updated the board on its idea to create a commercial fishing curriculum. He said the board should reach out to a certain woman at the high school who might then reach out to scallopers who could take students on their boats. He said he thought the school end is more or less in place, but that the challenge would be finding scallopers who would take students on board to teach them the trade. , Mr. LiPuma suggested finding out how many kids are interested in being this program before seeking out scallopers, so then the board and the schools could find the necessary amount scallopers. Mr. Lowell suggested doing an announcement in the schools looking for students. Mr. LiPuma suggested doing this a year in advance. Mr. Brace stressed that the announcement needed to be as clear as the program proposal is spelled out so there's room for misunderstanding the intent of this program, so students don't construe this as a chance to ditch their regular classes. Alternate boat ramps Mr. Lowell mentioned that there's a private boat ramp onto the Creeks at the Ottison's property Dredging update The board continued its discussion on dredging various sections of Nantucket Harbor. Mr. Lowell reported that the town had hired a consultant to research dredging the Polpis Harbor channel. Mr. LiPuma said he had a copy of former harbormaster Dave Fronzuto's harbor dredging plan for the harbors. PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT Mr. Brace and the rest of the HSAB welcomed Mr. Kuntz back to the board and told him his presence had been missed. RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING ADJOURN Unanimously approved at 7 p.m. Future Meetings: June 19 and July 18 Respectfully Submitted, Peter B. Brace, Secretary