Judge Welsh Meeting Room
Town Hall, 260 Commercial
Street
Time: 4:30 pm
Members Present: Kerry
Adams, Heather Bruce, Mel Cote, Gerard Irmer, and Philip Scholl
Members
Absent: none
Advisory Staff: Rex
McKinsey
Doug Taylor (excused absence)
The
meeting was called to order at 4:30 p.m.
REVISED
AGENDA
Review/amend/approve minutes
of 8-2-06
Motion: Approve the minutes as amended.
Motion: Kerry Adams Seconded: Heather
Bruce Vote: 4-0-1 ab (MC)
Public Statements
There
were none.
Unfinished Business:
Old Business:
· Review 2005 Amendments to
the Harbor Plan status
Heather
Bruce went to the BoS meeting with Kerry Adams. She was supposed to be interviewed by the BoS in order to get
re-appointed to the Harbor Committee.
Sarah Peake made a motion for a joint meeting with the Harbor Committee,
BoS, and Town Counsel on Sept 25th.
Heather did not agree with the statements of the Town Counsel. Now CZM is willing to work with us on this.
In
response to a query from the Chairman, Heather stated that she has been too
busy to prepare the material for the joint meeting.
· Washington Ave. Town
Landing Status
There
has been no update.
· Good Templar Place Town
Landing status
Everyone
read in the Banner that it needs serious fixing. There is an argument about run-off from the abutting
buildings. Rex said that Sandy had sent
someone down there during a rainstorm and she had photos proving the rain had
washed away the emergency repair. This
whole mess is under the direction of the ConCom. Good Templar Place falls in around #3 on the list for
remediation. At the rate of about one
repair a year, there will be a bit of a wait.
· Beach cleaning machine
status; Cape Cod Beachcomber est.
HB
hasn’t follow through on this issue.
(She's been too busy.) Jerry
said he found that if we do get a beach-cleaning machine we will have to go
through the ConCom for a hearing. Hand
raking is a gray area that the ConCom doesn’t recommend it.
· Status of obtaining maps
of the harbor
Still
pending…….
New Business:
· Mooring Fee Review
John
has done the research and Rex will bring it to the next meeting.
· Chapt. 91 license database
status
Still
waiting.
Idea People
A
couple of visionaries (roughly translated these are men with big ideas and no
money) have come to town and are meeting with different committee heads to tout
their vision of what Provincetown should become. They say that if the Harbor Plan would allow it they envision a
large wharf to the west of Fishermen's Wharf with shops and housing for
many. They're anxious to develop and
now only have to find financial backers!
Rex thinks the ideas have merit.
A
discussion on this plan went back and forth between mostly Rex and Heather with
no definitive conclusions. Rex said you
have two choices…… do nothing or try to manage the growth.
Rex
in his most pedagogical manner said that in 1848 when chapter 91 was first
established it was an economic development project. Kerry Adams said, "So these guys want the Harbor Plan
amended so they can feel free to dream large dreams?"
Rex
responded, "Their dream goes from the Coast Guard station to Johnson
Street."
Rex
said the state has issues around Appendices A & B. The Board of Selectmen (BoS) said the Harbor
Committee (HC) is in the throes of redrafting the Harbor Plan and if the HC
can’t do it then they’ll find someone who can.
Rex
said the state is willing to listen to an argument from the Harbor Committee
about the Schofield line. For the waterfront
owners to get any farther, they may have to band together and fight the issue
legally (as in - get their own lawyers).
Heather
said that she has had to educate the BoS on the HP and they haven’t even read
the regulations. The state is afraid of
an upcoming law-suit. At this point the
discussion - once again- became cyclical with no conclusions - just
disagreements.
Kerry
Adams asked - what if the meeting with the BoS on the 25th doesn’t
go well?
Probably
the Harbor Plan corrections and/or edits would be taken away from the HC and
given to another group to finalize.
There
was then another "round robin" between Rex and Heather where Rex said
there is one question that may help move this along. "WHAT IS THE PUBLIC BENEFIT UNDER AMNESTY?" Heather jumped at the challenge and copied
Section 7 - Findings 2k which states:
HAS PUBLIC BENEFIT WHICH OUTWEIGHS PUBLIC DETRIMENT IF THE PROJECT IS
LOCATED ON OR OVER COMMONWEALTH TIDELANDS.
ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, LEGAL, AESTHETIC, SAFETY AND NAVIGATIONAL
ASPECTS OF THE PROJECT SHALL BE CONSIDERED WHEN MAKING THIS FINDING. That being said, it again became a revolving
discussion with Heather speaking against urbanization and preferring quaint
while Rex said the main concern was perpen-dicular access.
Heather
further suggested taking Chapter 91 out of the plan; this will not happen.
Jerry
said that the HC HAS TO HAVE A PLAN BY THE TIME THEY MEET WITH THE BOS! Kerry then pointedly asked Heather if she
feels - as a waterfront property owner - that she could be seen as having a
conflict of interest by working on the Harbor Plan. Rex feels that the State Ethics Commission would find that she
does have a conflict. Another cyclical
discussion.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Housing Summit at the
Provincetown Inn.
Jerry
encouraged everyone to attend and said you have to notify Keith Bergman's (KAB) secretary if you’re going to attend.
Next Harbor Committee
Meeting.
The
next meeting will be on September 20th and the plan will have to be
nailed down at that meeting.
Licensing meeting.
Jerry
will be attending the next meeting of the Licensing Board on September 12th
at 5:00 p.m. to see if something can be done about refuse emanating from the
harbor-side restaurants. Whether they
can be encouraged to put up fine netting to capture debris - or what other
suggestions can come out of this.
There
were several waterways license applications and they were hurriedly discussed
with no big decisions made.
Adjournment
happened at 5:55 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Approved by ____________________________on ______________, 2006.