Public Meeting

Wednesday March 28, 2007

Judge Welsh Hearing Room

Time: 4:30 pm

 

Members Present:         Keith Amato, Marty Huey, Gerard Irmer, and Philip Scholl.

 

Members Absent:                   Melinda Ancillo and Mel Cote (both excused)            

Advisory Staff:              Rex McKinsey (excused)                 

 

AGENDA

 

The meeting was called to order at 4:30 p.m.

 

Review/amend/approve minutes as amended of 3-14-07

Motion:  Accept the minutes of the 3/14/07 HC meeting as revised.

Motion:  Keith Amato       Seconded:  Philip Scholl       Vote:  3-0-0.

 

Public Statements:

There was a hand-out from Deb Paine.  She was told that she was limited to 10 minutes.  Cheryl Andrews, Chair of the Board of Selectmen (BoS), asked Deb to appear before the Harbor Committee representing the owner of Poor Richard’s landing located at 437-439 Commercial Street.  There had been a Chapter 91 Waterways License Application (W96-9001-N) public hearing in February 2006 and one of the orders of condition was that the owners were required to have public access right through the middle of their property.  We came up with a negotiated settlement during last summer. 

 

The proposed letter of conditions was dated June 29, 2006.  The terms were agreed to in the middle of May 2006 and the owners waited all summer 2006 for the public conditions.  Lou Gitto responded by saying they had a change of heart and now the state also wants the property to maintain gardens for the gratification of the public as well as a central walkway through the property. 

 

Deb said that the owners' attorney has requested letters of support from the Committee; there is a deadline of April 13th.  Deb said that she heard Lou Gitto feels this property is a poster child for Chapter 91 and wants to make it a grand example. 

 

Phil Scholl feels this property should not have a right of way through it.  Marty said that the letter should state that the access is silly when there are so many other properties that provide the same on either side.  Deb said that Jimmy Veara said that the only way we’ll get what we want is to go to the top with letters of support.

 

Heather Bruce providing free advice said that saying access is nearby is not going to work.  You should just say it’s inappropriate. 

 

Jerry Irmer said, "Should I mention that it’s 13 private units?" 

 

Marty said we’ve already said this and just say it’s not appropriate.  Appears to be adequate public access within a short distance.  Ask basically - what’s wrong with the negotiated agreement?

 

Keith Amato said he'd like to see the property.  Carla Anderson is the manager of the property and said to call her and she’ll be able to show you around.

Motion:  The chair of the Harbor Committee will write a letter to the BoS explaining why we do not recommend public access to the beach through that property basing our recommendation on the letter received from the state on July 14, 2006. 

Motion:  Jerry Irmer         Seconded:  Philip Scholl       Vote:  4-0-0/

 

Deb requested a copy of the original letter sent to the state and she was given a copy of the original letter. 

 

Heather Bruce also had something to say under Public Statements regarding the Harbor Plan.  Just today she saw some of the recommendations authored by Rex McKinsey for the first 11 pages and she was pretty upset. 

 

The original group (Harbor Committee) had stressed that we didn’t want to overdevelop this place.  What she sees in the 1st 11 pages is to undo what we’ve previously agreed to.

 

Jerry Irmer asked her - what specifically was she citing?  Heather said page 6 contains very intense paragraphs essentially changing the original water­front.  The original agenda for Chapter 91 is to ensure that nothing changes the harbor-front.  You can’t have low-income property on the waterfront.

 

Jerry said that we gave Rex the opportunity to come up with changes that might be acceptable to the DEP.  Heather replied, "If this thing gets approved, then the harbor will disappear.  Why is Rex pushing this through?"  Rex isn’t even on the committee.  Heather wants people to know what is going on.  There are a lot of people who live here and love this harbor. 

 

Marty Huey said that Chapter 91 was written for Rhode Island and he’d like to know how other communities dealt with this.  He would like to look at the plan for Pleasant Bay.

 

The verbal sparring went on for a bit without any final conclusions being drawn.   Heather was sincerely thanked for her input.

 

New Business

ConCom Meetings

Marty Huey had a question about ConCom's meetings.  He received notification from Coastal Engineering about 531 Commercial Street (Marty is an abutter), 781 Commercial Street (Tides Motel), and 139 Commercial Street (next to Country Store) and has one question.  Does the Harbor Committee get notified about these harbor-side happenings?  Jerry said he had asked for notification but - thus far - none has been forthcoming.

Phil said the Harbor Committee has no power. 

 

The next meeting will take place on April 11 in the Town Hall at 4:30 p.m.

 

Adjournment happened at 5:20 p.m.

 

 Respectfully submitted,

Evelyn Gaudiano

Evelyn Rogers Gaudiano

 

Approved by__________________________________________________

                         Jerry Irmer, Chair                                      Date