HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-06-19
Beach Management Advisory Committee
Land Bank Conference Room
19 June 2008
4:00 pm
Members Present: Maureen Beck, Chair, Tom Dickson, John Johnson; Beach Manager Jeff ca~n
Guest: Susan McMaster Collum --: ".,
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Mrs. Beck convened the meeting at 4:15 pm. She reminded the members that th~Minutes dftv1ay 29
had been accepted by them lacking response after five days from their receipt. She distribut~a short
Minutes of the special meeting on June 12 at Orange Street Video to view Plum nJlsfilm c1ip~f
summer promotions on behalf of BMAC. These were also approved buy the members. 0
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The Beach Manager's Report:
Mr. Carlson reported that the lifeguards had arrived and were in training. They have agreed to a
self-regulation oftheir work and schedules with questions to be directed to the Beach Manager and the
Harbormaster. Many of the elected team captains are veteran lifeguards; they will follow the guidelines
for Iifeguarding as to safety and operation. Mr. Carlson has done the same with their housing, providing
them with his expectations for cleaning and behavior. He thinks right now that they are a good team.
They begin their operations with the ATV patrols next week.
Mr. Carlson senses that the beach closings at Madaket and Cisco have been accepted. He is hoping that
Cisco may be opened in the near future because the beach is building up. He mentioned also that the
debris along the shore at Madaket has become an issue demanding attention. All the issues related to
the closings relate to public safety. When Mrs. Beck asked about the use of the new Polaris A TV vehicle
under such conditions, he admitted that a number of trials and circumstances need to be handled
before the vehicle can become effective in rescues.
Mr. Carlson reported that the plovers are active at Jetties; some are in the process of fledging already.
The Wachovia fireworks in the last week of June should not be a troublesome invasion of their space
because the barge is required to be well off the west jetty. Smith's Point is posted for no vehicles, and
more posting for the same needs to be added at Point of Breakers. Because a number of fences and
locks at beaches are being cut, the police have been alerted and are part of the patrol for such
vandalism. The police are also pursuing Mr. Larrabee's defacing of emergency signs with his towing
cards.
Mr. Dickson announced that there had been some distress at the Pocomo beaches when a kite boarder
aloft allowed his dog to wander among beachgoers without a leash or collar, eating their lunches and
disrupting their groups. The members discussed the rules for kite-boarding. Mr. Carlson asked that
everyone watch for the purple flag which each kite-boarder must fly with a number indicating his
permit. The Kite-Boarding Association promises to be self-policing according to the rules laid down for
the sport. By July 1st buoys should be laid to mark the fly-zone in the Pocomo area. The Marine
Department should be notified of infractions.
Mrs. Beck wished the members to be alert to an ACKACK brochure and vehicle on island offering kayak
rentals without a license. Both the Parks Department and the BMAC are alert to this violation. The
business seems to be operating off Commercial Wharf with the permission of Mickey Rowland, an
architect who rents a business property there.
Mr. Dickson reported favorably on the Plum TV spots running on daily programs about dog control and
litter on beaches and on his and Mrs. Beck's interview on TV with Plum host Kate Brosnan. He thought
that this was the extent of Plum's willingness to help BMAC with its public exposure. Mrs. Beck asked
the members if she should pursue Geno Geng's casual offer earlier in the season to do a program on
their work. The members agreed she should call him.
The members agreed to send a letter of condolence to Mrs. Ray and to thank her for her service on the
Committee. They also asked that she be invited to come to any meetings in the future when she was
free to attend. The letter will include a schedule of the next meetings. Mrs. Beck noted that no
newcomers had come forward to apply for her vacancy. Votes on the membership of the Commissions
and Committees will take place at the Board of Selectmen's meeting Wednesday, June 25.
Mr. Carlson hoped that the members would be able to attend that meeting also for the report of the
Roads and Rights of Ways Study, on which he has served as member. He expects it to be a most
enlightening discussion of property the Town has long neglected.
Mr. Carlson also recommended, along with Mr. Dickson, that the CD of the Plum TV spots be submitted
to the Town Manager and the BOS along with the Minutes of this date to show the results of BMAC'S
work during the last year. Perhaps it could be shown at a BOS meeting.
Mrs. Beck distributed a draft of the Annual Report for BMAC for 2007-2008. She asked that the
members consider it for discussion at the next meeting on July 17.
Mr. Carlson reported that the two endangered species monitors are in place to oversee the birds at
Jetties, Smith's Point, and Esther Island. These are post-graduate interns already with undergraduate
degrees and seriously pursuing graduate studies. Therefore, they are more skilled than previous
monitors in executing of their duties and providing better information. Mr. Carlson reviewed the
regulations regarding vehicle and pedestrian distance from endangered species. The quick shifting of the
birds often makes pedestrian distance difficult to gauge because the chicks can run 1/4 to Yz mile in a
day.
Mrs. Beck welcomed Mrs. Susan McMaster Collum to the meeting. She requested new signs and posts
for her property at the west of Surfside Beach near Point of Breakers. She would like copies of all BMAC
Minutes from October to December of 2007. Mrs. Beck referred her to the Town Clerk for such items.
Mrs. Collum is upset about the current Beach Driving Map, from which the Collums had asked to be
removed. Mrs. Beck reminded her, as she had before, that such decisions are not in the purview of the
BMAC, an advisory committee, but are passed on to the Beach Manager and the Town Manager, with
the assistance of Town Counsel.
Mrs. Collum feels threatened by the arrow on the map indicating her property's removal. She referred
to the November 1st Minutes of BMAC in which members had referred to her requests as "elitist, etc."
Mrs. Beck replied that the members made those statements in concern over her not seeing the larger
point of view of beach management and protection of beach properties. She added that if she requested
to come off the map, the map must indicate that spot as excluded from the Beach Management
Program of protection. Mrs. Collum complained that her constant calls for assistance were not
returned. Mrs. Beck urged her to be accurate in her note-taking of conversations with Town officials,
that she had not made careful note of responses to her questions. Mr. Dickson reminded her that
constant calls to Mrs. Beck when she had been told that the Town Manager, not Mrs. Beck, arranged for
the exclusion were not useful. He also reminded her that the historical change over the last thirty years
in population and need for regulations affected all of the island's beaches, not just her own property.
He was sympathetic to her resistance to the changes but reminded her that some control had to be
instituted for the island as a whole.
Mrs. Collum stated that she began to feel threatened when the Town in the 1970's took School Street
on her father's property as an access to the beach. She was reminded that the taking was disregarded
after a short time as the traffic situation changed.
Mrs. Beck asked for an adjournment of the meeting since Mrs. Collum had made her concerns clear and
time was limited. The meeting was adjourned at 5:20 pm.
The next meeting will take place on July 17 at the same place and time.
Respectfully submitted, with notes from John Johnson
Maureen Beck, Chair