Judge Welsh Meeting Room
Town Hall, 260 Commercial
Street
Time: 4:30 pm
Members Present: Heather
Bruce, Gerard Irmer, and Philip Scholl
Members
Absent: Mel Cote (excused absence)
Advisory Staff: Rex
McKinsey (left at 5:30 p.m.)
The
meeting was called to order at 4:30 p.m.
AGENDA
Review/amend/approve minutes
of 9-20-06
Motion: Accept the minutes as amended.
Motion: Phil Scholl Seconded: Heather
Bruce Vote: 2-0-1 ab PS
Jerry
Irmer received a notice from the Town Clerk stating that the Harbor Committee
(HC) now has 3 vacancies. 2 regular
members and 1 alternate. Kerry Adams
was the BoS' appointee to the Pier Corporation and thus has resigned from the
Harbor Committee. Heather Bruce has to
be re-appointed by Mary Jo Avellar, the Town Moderator. Also the HC has to appoint one. Marty Huey has expressed an interest in
joining but he only lives here part time.
Heather has applied but hasn’t heard anything from Mary Jo.
Public Statements
There
were none.
Unfinished Business:
There
was none.
Old Business:
· Review 2005 Amendments to
the Harbor Plan status
The
HC has met with the BoS and Jerry thought the town counsel was supposed to meet
with the Harbor Committee.
Heather
Bruce had a few comments on the BoS meeting that the HC attended on September
25th. She found it
interesting that they didn’t give the original motion any attention. When we met with Town counsel, we were
promised that we would be able to ask any questions. We were not able to ask any questions! Most disturbing was that the town counsel at the meeting, like
Kathleen O'Donnell before her, claimed that amnesty has expired. HB ran into her after the meeting and discussed
it. HB wanted to see the source of the
attorney's statement.
The
source the attorney quoted was contained in a document dated 4/19/96 Amnesty
and quoted "(1) General. Notwithstanding the provisions of 310 CMR
9.09, certain substantive and procedural standards of 310 CMR 9.11 through 9.55
shall not apply to the licensing of existing unauthorized fill or structures
during a six-year amnesty period."
The
confusion seems to lie within the bounds of semantics and/or
interpretation.
Heather
feels that the Harbor Plan should be pushed forward and we can’t be bullied
into something that's wrong. Jerry said
that we need an opinion from town counsel on the phrase “that amnesty doesn’t
exist after 1996” HB is afraid that
town counsel is not going to be honest with us now.
Phil
asked, "Could we send the town counsel this paragraph and ask for their
opinion?" Jerry said the members
feel that it isn’t being interpreted correctly.
Phil
next wondered if we could write our interpretation of what this law means? HB will send it off to Kathleen O'Donnell.
Rex
brought up a good point. We have to get
the town counsel to fight for us.
JI
said, "Let’s take the initiative and ask town counsel to work for us. We recommend to the BoS that they hire town
counsel to fight for us."
JI
– to Rex – "Are the BoS looking for a statement from us at the Tuesday
meeting?"
The
next meeting of the HC will be on November 1st. HB wants to invite some of her Chapter 91 group and will ask for
the lawyer's attendance at the HC meeting at 5:00 p.m. on November 1st.
· Washington Ave. Town
Landing Status
Jerry
has to talk to Keith Bergman (KAB) about this.
· Good Templar Place Town
Landing status
Photos
show that wave action is ruining the landing.
The landing needs rip rap like the Provincetown Inn. Pictures were taken last winter during a
storm.
· Beach cleaning status
Didn’t
hear anything about that. JI said that
we need a quote. Bill Schneider told
Rex that the Visitors Service Board (VSB) might be interested in acquiring a
beach cleaning machine. The problem
remaining is where to dump the seaweed?
Rex said that the National Seashore Park said a study had been done and
water borne bacteria can breed during the winter in the seaweed and once the
weather turns warm it goes back into the water and fouls it. HB said that we need to call other towns and
ask how they clean their beaches. Rex
suggested that it wouldn’t hurt to reach out to the seashore group.
· Status of obtaining copies
of maps of the harbor
Jerry
hasn't heard anything. HB asked,
"Didn't we ask for a map? It
should be here at every meeting."
New Business:
· Mooring Fee Review
BoS
are looking to us for a recommendation for Tuesday night's BoS meeting. Rex has hand-outs. The BoS want a single rate.
Rex has a variety of possible scenarios. If they’re going to give a rebate – it will take it down about
$10K. Some question whether DEP will
accept the town counsel’s opinion.
Motion: Recommend to the BoS to change the current
resident - non-resident mooring fee structure to a single rate structure as
follows:
<16 FT -
$50
>16 FT - $100
>20 FT - $125
>30 FT - $175
>40 FT - $250
Motion: Jerry Irmer Seconded: Phil Scholl Vote:
3-0-0
Massachusetts Estuary
Project?
Rex
said he is writing an application for a grant for water quality. Rex was given
very good suggestions for making the application stronger, i.e., include the
East Harbor lagoon and the Pamet Lens.
Rex says the grant application will have to be submitted sometime in December
so that not having another HC meeting until November 1st will not
impact the application. He also said
that next year we’ll need volunteers for water samples.
- W097682 - MacMillan Wharf
structure.
Rex
said that a letter agreeing to the plan (restrooms, etc.) as presented should
be sent to Ben Lynch and Lou Gitto.
· W96-5487-N, 161 Comm’l
St., Boatslip, Draft Special Conditions
The
HC wrote a letter citing encroachment on the town landing. The property was surveyed by someone the
Boatslip hired. According to the map
they are well up from the mean high water mark. HB says to write a letter to Gitto. They had filed for amnesty because no one knew where the high
tide line was. Jerry will write yet
another letter.
Rex
left at 5:30 p.m.
· W96-8218-N, 75 Comm’l St.,
Barnes, Draft Special Conditions
Came
out August 15th – next to Capn Jacks – he is amnestied. The owner asked, "why should he provide
public access when he’s next to a public landing?" Any comments? HB said that we need time to read it. HB said to write another letter to Lou Gitto stating that we
would encourage Lou Gitto to give this applicant the extra time he
requests.
Motion to adjourn at 5:53
p.m. was made, seconded, and approved.
Respectfully
submitted,
Approved by ____________________________on ______________, 2006.