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East End Waterfront Park Planning
The Town of Provincetown, with the design firm Weston & Sampson is proud to announce the start of the visioning and planning for East End Waterfront Park.
Weston & Sampson will be seeking your input all summer! If you are unable to attend a meeting or Park Day event and would still like to participate please see below for the following ways to stay included and up to date!
Click Here for the Virtual Postcard
Community Meeting 3 Presentation
Click here to see the live video: http://ec4.cc/jk22288
- History of the Park
- How the Project Got Started
- Stay Connected
- Share your Input
- Project Progress
- Schedule of Events
- Public Naming Process
Taken from Building Provincetown’s website, 387-395A Commercial St. was formerly known as Cannery Wharf. “Cannery Wharf may not have been Provincetown’s Motif Number 1 — there are too many competitors — but it certainly was one of the more frequently painted wharves and for good reason. Its offset pier sheds, far out in the harbor, one of them crowned by a cupola, made for a compelling composition."
Of course, the wharf’s distinction was earned long before artists discovered it. David Conwell (1818-1898) went down to the sea and then tried his hand at carpentry before finding himself, at the age of 30, as an outfitter of whaling and fishing vessels, in which he often had a financial interest as well. In August 1880, for instance, he was the agent for two whaling schooners then at sea: the 103-ton Clara L. Sparks and the 70-ton N. J. Knights. “He did not confine himself to merely outfitting vessels, but he conducted a large business with the residents of Provincetown and sections of Cape Cod,” according to his entry in American Biography (Volume 5, 1919). He also represented Provincetown for two years in the State Legislature, as a Republican. He’s buried in Town Cemetery.
With the winding down of Conwell’s business, the wharf was revitalized by the arrival in town of Lehman Pickert (1843-1917), a German immigrant who settled first in Cincinnati before moving to Boston and opening the L. Pickert & Company fish-packing enterprise. Pickert began its Provincetown canning operation in 1882. In time, it acquired both the Conwell and adjoining Small wharves. The Conwell wharf was used principally for canning, the Small wharf for smoking. The local manager was Adam A. Blackwood. Though infrequently seen at the Cape tip, Pickert was an important civic figure in Boston as president of Federated Hebrew Charities and the United Hebrew Benevolent Association. “He had for years seemed ‘one of us,'” The Advocate said in an elegiac death notice, “for a large part of the work of the company of which he was the honored and capable head was performed in this town.” (The Advocate, 15 November 1917.)
Cannery Wharf was sliced in half by the Coast Guard cutter USCG Morrill on 16 November 1926, in an incident described more fully under the entry for Knowles Wharf, which was destroyed. The result, for a time, was the amazing sight of the intact pier sheds propped up incongruously in complete isolation out in the harbor.”
Image, from the collection of Helen and Napi Van Dereck: by Harold Walker (b 1890), W. H. W. Bicknell (1860-1947) and Gerrit Beneker (1862-1934).
In 2019, the Town acquired an approximately half-acre waterfront parcel using the Town’s Land Bank funds, with the assistance of a grant of $400,000 towards the purchase price from the Massachusetts Division of Conservation Services, Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities (PARC) Grant Program. This parcel created a rare opportunity for creating a public waterfront park. The harbor-side parcel is located at 387-395A Commercial Street and is situated in a busy commercial and residential corridor at the beginning of the Town’s East End, its Art Gallery District. The parcel affords a spectacular view of historic Provincetown Harbor. The parcel then became under the management and control of the Town’s Recreation Commission.
From there, the Recreation Commission, alongside Town Staff, decided to form a Working Group consisting of five well versed members from different boards in Provincetown . The members and boards they represent are as follows:
- Susan Avellar- Historic Commission
- Elise Cozzi- Harbor Committee
- John Krajovic- Public Landscape Committee
- Dennis Minksy- Open Space Committee
- Cathy Nagorski- Recreation Commission
Once all members of the Working Group put their minds together they got to work brainstorming what this park needed to be for the Provincetown Community. The group met frequently to further discuss the importance of this park. After months and months of meeting they started drafting an RFP (Request for Proposal) for a design firm to come in and help consult them on the future design. The Working Group worked thoroughly and diligently to make sure that the RFP covered every aspect that the group had outlined during their meetings.
Looking to stay connected on our East End Waterfront Park Planning Project ? Sign up below and you will stay in the loop with all community events, virtual meetings and other important information regarding this project.
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Please visit our Facebook Page as well for more updates:
The Town of Provincetown and design firm Weston & Sampson want to hear from YOU!
Throughout this project the public will have numerous opportunities to provide feedback. Below you will find links to online surveys and other ways to stay engaged.
Click here for the Kickoff Community Survey
Click here for the Second Community Input Survey
Project Progress:
Various meetings and open houses have taken place thus far in the East End Waterfront Park Project. In-person gatherings, online surveys and site visits have helped Weston & Sampson get a better idea as to what the public and Provincetown Community envision at this site. Please see below for the most recent updates.
September 22nd, 2021 : Presented to the public on Wednesday, September 22nd: Community Meeting 2 Presentation
Please click here for the initial Conceptual Designs presented for the East End Waterfront Park.
The East End Waterfront Park is located at 387-395A Commercial Street Provincetown, MA, 02657.
Thursday, June 24th, 2021:
Join the Town of Provincetown and design firm Weston & Sampson for the kickoff community event where you can learn more about the site, the project and socialize with others about what you envision here.
Open House @ East End Waterfront Park : 3-5pm
Community Meeting #1: 6-8pm
Saturday, July 31st, 2021:
Live in Provincetown or here for the day? Stop by the park, socialize, and share your input with Weston & Sampson !
Please Join Us! We’ll be out in East End Waterfront Park on Saturday, July 31st from 11 am to 3 pm to share some updated information about the new park design. The format will be “open house” style so folks can come by at their leisure anytime during the four hour window.
This will be held OUTSIDE in the park, and given the current COVID concerns in town, we’ll be masked up and maintaining appropriate distance. We’ll also have disposable masks for folks that want them.
There’s plenty of room and fresh air at the park, so please come by and share your thoughts with us!
August 12th-13th, 2021:
Have not been able to make it to the park ? Have questions about the project, or have some more input you would like to share? Join the Town of Provincetown and Weston & Sampson for Virtual Office Hours where you will be able to join online and have all of your needs met.
Virtual Office Hours:
Thursday, August 12th, 2021
12:30pm- 2pm: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAlce2srjIvE9S8-XUKRuVFignOumV9oH-Y
4:30pm- 6pm: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vcemurTkjHtR9xTFscvs89JII3S_PSvFU
Friday, August 13th, 2021
8:30am-10am: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcodOquqzwrHNK-qYQ53C6bEq5MV2YicFBr
Saturday, August 28th, 2021:
Park Day #2: TIMES TBD
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2021:
Community Meeting #2: 6:30-8pm Veteran's Memorial Community Center Multipurpose Room
Cannot make it in person? Join us live via Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89132978441
Wednesday, October 20th, 2021:
Community Meeting #3: 6-8pm Provincetown Town Hall Auditorium (260 Commercial Street)
Cannot make it in person? Join us live via Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86592852504
Public Naming Process for 387 Commercial Street
The Recreation Commission put together the following community planning process regarding the naming of 387 Commercial Street. The Commission, who will be leading this process, felt that there needs to be a hybrid of means to solicit public opinion on the naming of the park. Not one means will be the sole deciding factor to naming the park, and it will be consideration of all the number of options.
- Online Survey#1- Polling online viewers on the three previously discussed names via Survey Monkey: Hall Park, Cannery Wharf Park, East End Waterfront Park, and a write-in option with specified criteria outlined below. Survey will close October 26th, 2021.
Criteria of the write-in option will be as followed: (Note: write-ins that do not meet the criteria will not be considered.)
- Geographic Location-Neighborhood or geographical identification
- Historical or cultural significance. To be considered, name must have had a significant historical influence on parcel or area.
- Persons of Historic Service to the Town of Provincetown-The person was exceptionally dedicated or demonstrated excellence in service in ways that made a significant contribution to the parcel, and/or the Community.
- If nominated after an individual, the person must be deceased.
- A name should represent community values and consider future generations and ethnic diversity
- Limit the amount of words to four words maximum.
Recreation Commission to select one or two of the most common suggestions that meet the most criteria above.
- Wednesday October 20th, while presenting the preferred concept to the public, an in-person exercise will be held to give attendees the opportunity to vote for one of the three names by placing a name sticker next a name, and have a write in option available.
- Recreation Commission will evaluate the write-in criteria for additional suggestions; and reduce the original number of names from four to two or three for the November 3rd Meeting.
- Online Survey #2, Final two or three names will be polled by online viewers via Survey Monkey after Recreation Commission Meeting
- Public forum held by the Recreation Commission on the final two or three names and data gathered from Survey 2, November 17th. This will give the public an additional opportunity to express their opinion on the name of the park.
- All data will be evaluated and a decision to be made by the Recreation Commission that reflects all the public data received through this process. (December Meeting)