Public Meeting

Wednesday April 19, 2006

Meeting Room A

Town Hall, 260 Commercial Street

Time: 4:30 pm

 

 

Members Present:          Kerry Adams, Alice Brock, Gerard Irmer, and

Philip Scholl

 

Members Absent:                 Heather Bruce and Mel Cote (excused absence)

 

Advisory Staff:           Doug Taylor (Rex McKinsey excused for 3 mos.)

 

The meeting was called to order at 4:32 p.m.

 

Review/amend/approve minutes of 3/15/06

Motion:  Approve the minutes as written.

Motion:  Kerry Adams     Seconded:  Philip Scholl     Voted 4-0-0.

 

Public Statements

There were none.

 

Unfinished Business:

Harbor Plan status.  Jerry hasn’t gotten in touch with Truman Henson yet.

 

Old Business:

· Review 2005 Amendments to the Harbor Plan status

Nothing to review.  The Committee is waiting for the state to review.

 

· Washington Ave. Town Landing

The Committee has heard nothing; they asked for a billing quote from the Town Counsel on Feb 22, 2006.

 

· Beach cleanup status

There was a beach cleanup on April 6th with county jail people.  They covered from Court Street to Johnson Street.  An area not cleaned was the area right behind Seamen’s Bank.  It is impossible to access.  The group is due back on June 15th.

 

Kerry Adams will deliver a thank you letter written by the Chair to the Coffee Pot for their generous contributions.  There were only 5 prisoners and one deputy.   KA would like to see a beach clean-up on a week-end with school kids.   Let’s pick a weekend in May; KA will spearhead the plan (tides need to be researched, etc.)  KA would like prizes for school kids who participate in this endeavor.  As an aside it was mentioned that there is a tent city behind the Post Office.

 

Three companies were contacted about the machinery they had for beach cleaning operations.

 

A few ideas were floated for funding possibilities, i.e. pursuing federal grants, asking for help from the Visitors Service Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce?  Jerry would like a little bit of monetary support from many local groups. 

 

Alice questioned whether the cleaning machine could get around the granite jetties positioned along the harbor beaches. 

 

Jerry felt that maybe we could pursue grant funding when we decide on a piece of equipment.  Jerry would like to have Michelle Jarieswicz look into this.  Doug will talk to Keith Bergman (as in “chain of command”) about this and then take it up with Michelle.

 

Alice feels if the beaches are clean, people will respect them.  Last summer the DPW told us it would cost $100,000 for a machine; the prices the Harbor Committee received are nowhere near this figure. 

 

KA wondered if we are going to send these brochures to the DPW?   Kerry continued by saying, “We’ve got all kinds of issues that involve DPW and they never meet with us.”  Doug Taylor will act the devil’s advocate and see what he can do to arrange a meeting.

 

KA proposed that we have a public hearing and invite the PBG, Chamber of Commerce and other groups and committees and let people know what we are doing and solicit ideas from them for clean-up.  We need a lot of communication with the different committees.  Alice said to invite all people.  Doug says this would end all arguments about accretion.  KA says “Beach Clean-up” would be a great thing for the HC to hang their hats on.

 

Doug said he would ask KAB to ask Michelle to research possible funding for beach clean-up.

 

May 3rd is the next meeting and that is too short a notice for a major meeting with all interested committees.  It was decided that at the May 17th meeting, the Harbor Committee will invite PBG, VSB, ConCom,  BoS,  Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Council, Historic District Committee, BoH, and the Natl Seashore to attend and brainstorm with the Harbor Committee.

 

So Doug will send invitations to all these committees.  The May 17th Harbor Committee meeting will happen at 4:30 and then the public hearing will take place at 5:00 p.m.

 

New Business:

· Announcements

Good Templar Place.

KA met with BoS re: Good Templar Place.  There were very good reactions and this repair is moving forward.

 

Storm Remediation.

Alice read in the paper about the storm remediation.  Alice commented that the Atlantic Avenue public landing was badly done by the company holding the contract.  The BoS weren’t about to make waves about the butchered repair and said they have 17 more chances to do it right.  Now she sees the West Vine St town landing being worked on.  A backhoe ran over these filters and crushed them.  The backhoe company will have to make good on it.  Alice wants to know if the filters are now working?  Indefinite answer……….. 

 

Flow Chart.

Doug had a flow chart as a hand-out.  Marty Huey is doing a list of all the Chapter 91 licenses that have been issued.  Doug gave as an example:  If the applicant is replacing deck boards and they have a license – no problem  BUT  expansion demands a review.  The applicant will have to come before the HC and make their presentation.  The flow chart will be a valuable tool for anyone contemplating a project of any kind on the waterfront.

 

361C Commercial Street

This refers to the old Carrie Seamen property.  Jerry asked if they were supposed to make a presentation to us?  The Carrie Seamen Bldg had been submitted to the Planning Dept. but Planning doesn’t feel they have jurisdiction over the harbor so it will be bounced back to us.

 

Maps of the Harbor

Jerry has a few maps that he got from the Army Corps of Engineers.  A lot of soundings were done before they put in the Breakwater but they went no further.  He really wanted the 1836 map from Schofield but was told that an 1857 map is being used. 

 

On March 20th, Jerry sent a letter out requesting the map they use for determining Chapter 91 licenses and their costs.  Since the response from the state is either slow or non-existent, Kerry volunteered to send a letter Sen. O’Leary and tell him about our travails. 

 

· Any other business that shall properly come before the Committee

Sandpiper Beach House.

Doug Taylor got a letter and called the Harbor Committee about the Sandpiper Beach House having their gate locked.  He believes this is a public right-of-way.

 

Chapter 91 Amnesty

Heather Bruce completed her statement to be included with each application…..  It read: “At this time, the Provincetown Harbor Committee’s endorsement of said conditions is based on our present obligation to follow the 1999 Harbor Plan.  That plan, however, does not reflect the original intention, nor the relevant regulations of “Amnesty”, as was clearly defined in this Harbor Committee’s amended 2005 Harbor Plan, endorsed overwhelmingly by Town Meeting vote.”

 

Jerry wanted this statement to be approved by the Harbor Committee but Alice Brock objected.  To relax the issue, the following motion was made:

Motion:  Table this statement until the next meeting while Jerry sends an e-mail to Truman Henson to see if we can get him to come down and straighten this matter out.

Motion:  Kerry Adams     Seconded:  Alice Brock     Voted 4-0-0.

 

Next Meeting:

The next meeting will happen on May 3rd.

 

Adjournment at 6:04 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Evelyn Gaudiano

Evelyn Rogers Gaudiano

Approved by ____________________________on ______________, 2006.

                             Gerard Irmer, Chair