HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-03-20
Beach Management Advisory Committee
Land Bank Conference Room
20 March 2008
4:00 pm
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Members Present: Maureen Beck, Chair, Tom Dickson, Colin Leddy; Beach Mana~.eff Carlson; Sped~1
Guests: DPW Director Jeff Willett and Selectman/Middle Moors Ranger Allen Reiriiifd 20 . .
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Mrs. Beck convened the meeting at 4:10. She stated that the agenda of the meeting would ~ largely a
conversation with Mr. Willett; any other items would be postponed in the interests of full di~ssion.
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Mrs. Beck asked Mr. Willett what beach operations were under the supervision and maintenance of the
Department of Public Works. He replied that since the organization of the Beach Management Plan and
its Manager, Mr. Carlson, there was little his office was responsible for except to be helpful when
needed. Crews were sent to make repairs to stairs and parking lots at public beach access points and to
help remove barrels and bags of trash from those areas and from volunteer teams picking up litter.
As an aside, Mr. Willett cited the connector bike path between Milestone and Old South Road as one of
the worst areas for litter and toilet abuse. Therefore, he favors public restrooms along paths and beach
accesses to relieve this problem. There are few locations now where pedestrians and bikers and
beachgoers can find a toilet outside of town. He favors sturdily built, attractive, permanent rest rooms
rather than porta-potties. Mr. Reinhard agreed. He has always hoped that the Westender property in
Madaket could somehow be used for such a facility.
Mr. Willett also noted that the DPW removes dead marine life from the beaches at the request of the
Marine Mammal Team.
Mr. Dickson asked about the schedule of trash pickups at the beaches in summer and winter. Mr.
Willett said that in the summers trash is picked up daily but in the winter and shoulder seasons three to
five days a week. In the summer the first pick-ups are in the core district areas before heading out to
the beaches. When Mrs. Beck asked where he stood in the debate of whether to provide trash barrels
or not, he replied that they were needed but that there were never enough at some spots, that wind
and rain and summer overflows were always a problem.
Mr. Willet mentioned also that the HDC restricted the type of barrel to a wooden style from which it was
difficult to remove the bags when full. Each cost $450, a high price in his budget for such a product.
Mrs. Beck asked if Mr. Willett had any suggestions for BMAC. Mr. Leddy asked him for the offices one
should call on weekends to report trash overflows and scattering. The Police Department will know
whom to send. He said he did worry a bit about how to remove the old bathhouse from Dionis Beach
without damaging the dune. He also requested BMAC assistance in repairing the gullies and abrupt
drop-offs at the beach at the end of Madaket and Hummock Pond Roads so that there could be a sloping
beach access there for pedestrians. Mr. Carlson assured him that those repairs could be taken care of
right away.
Mrs. Beck stated that she foresaw Cisco Beach increasing in popularity once the Hummock Pond Road
bike path was installed. She mentioned the Park and Recreation Department's futile efforts to convince
the BOS to fund a new bathhouse at Madaket with environmentally designed toilets. Perhaps such a
design could be built at Cisco for a rest room station.
Mrs. Beck spoke of the danger of leaving the old Madaket bathhouse septic tank in the water off
Madaket Beach, a worry for the Parks Department, which was put off each year when it requested a
budget to remove it. The other members spoke of the many septic systems and parts of houses in the
water or buried in the sand there and also a threat.
Mrs. Beck thanked Mr. Willett for a useful discussion of beach needs and adjourned the meeting at 5:00
pm.
Respectfully submitted, with notes from Tom Dickson,
Maureen Beck