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APPROVED
Chilmark Planning Board Subcommittee Meeting
Monday, Sept. 12, 2016
Present: Janet Weidner, Chair, John Eisner, Joan Malkin, Peter Cook
Not Present:
Public: Barbara Armstrong
Staff: Jennifer L. Christy, Seth Karlinsky, Tim Carroll
Meeting called to order at 3:01PM:
- Menemsha Master Plan: Seth Karlinsky
- Mr. Karlinsky and the subcommittee members introduced themselves to each other.
- Mr. Karlinsky summarized his duties in Menemsha. He noted he is the general maintenance person that cleans the comfort stations and tends to the garbage in the area. He also does some maintenance work for the harbor and beach department and has repaired dock areas and the walkway areas.
- Ms. Weidner summarized the process the subcommittee is following to gather data in order to create an updated Master Plan for Menemsha. She asked Mr. Karlinsky to consider what works and doesn’t work in Menemsha.
- Mr. Karlinsky stated that he thinks the overall understanding should be what is the important thing for Menemsha to be and what is the mission statement of Menemsha. He stated that there appear to be very different ideas about the purpose of Menemsha depending on whether the person is a fisherman, a tourist, a business owner or fish market customer.
- Mr. Karlinsky stated that he felt the idea of expanding the parking lot and road to the lot by 5 feet is a good one. He clarified that he is not a proponent of adding any more parking spaces to the area, just widening the travel area.
- Mr. Karlinsky stated that a long-term maintenance plan for the parking area should be identified and done every year.
- Mr. Karlinsky suggested that the corner through where the Bite restaurant should be repainted with a single line instead of a double yellow line in order to gain more car travel space.
- Mr. Karlinsky suggested an idea, in thinking “outside of the box”, is to purchase the lots that are owned by the Armstrongs just at the bend in the road on the North and East side and place a parking and comfort station area in this area.
- Mr. Karlinsky also suggested looking at placing portapotties nearer to the beach rather than requiring tourists and others to walk a distance to the comfort station bathrooms.
- Mr. Karlinsky noted the four solar powered wifi/trash compactor units that are placed in Menemsha. He suggested that these units work well and the resulting garbage is cleaner due to the fact that the user often thinks a little about where their trash is going. It replaces two of the 55 gallon trash cans at the settings that they are at now. Ms. Malkin asked if all the old barrels could be replaced with these units. Mr. Karlinsky noted that it would be difficult to get rid of the barrels due to the fact that the fishermen need a place to put large amounts of trash.
- Mr. Karlinsky suggested that more of these trash units be placed along the walkway down to the comfort station.
- Mr. Karlinsky noted his support of the walkway from the beach to the comfort station. He noted that the VTA stop is now at the comfort station as well and the walkway leads directly to that spot. Mr. Karlinsky noted that some fishermen’s truck beds that are parked across the street from the dock area extend over the walkway and make it difficult to navigate the walkway.
- Mr. Karlinsky noted that there needs to be a designated maintenance plan and maintenance person(s) for the walkway instead of leaving the walkway to become blocked, impassable, or left to the owners of Menemsha Texaco to care for.
- Mr. Karlinsky noted that the walkway is well-used, but not accessible for a stroller or comfortable for bare feet.
- Mr. Karlinsky reiterated his view that an expanded parking and travel area that was originally designed for smaller cars and ones without bike racks or strapped on coolers would be a good idea. Ms. Malkin suggested that the northeast side of the parking area could be parking for only compact cars. Mr. Karlinsky stated his view that he did not think that would be feasible or enforceable.
- Mr. Karlinsky stated that he has heard tourists appreciate Menemsha the way it is and other tourists lament the difficulty in navigating the space.
- Ms. Weidner asked of Mr. Karlinsky’s schedule. He stated that it is a constant, all-day process of tending to the cans and the clean-up.
- Mr. Karlinsky stated he brought concerns and suggestions to Tim Carroll.
- Mr. Karlinsky stated that the satellite parking at the transfer station at night in the season was often filled to capacity. Mr. Karlinsky stated he did not see a need for trash receptacles at the off-site, satellite parking.
- Mr. Cook inquired about Mr. Karlinsky’s workload and what plans he may have for increasing usage in Menemsha. Mr. Karlinsky stated he is using a couple of laborers to help in very busy times, but for the most part it is not too much yet.
- Ms. Malkin inquired whether Mr. Karlinsky feels the visitors to Menemsha care for their surroundings. Mr. Karlinsky noted the research he has done to investigate how to reduce trash and to encourage visitors to be more careful of their surroundings. He noted different beach communities with successful garbage disposal such as Virginia Beach.
- Mr. Karlinsky reiterated his key suggestions: Increase parking space for cars/travel without increasing number of spaces, keep the walkway, repaint the line in the road to one to visually provide more space for cars at the bend near the Bite, possibly (if dreams came true) eliminate the hill that is on the south side of the curve around from the bridge to the Beetlebung Café.
- Mr. Karlinsky noted a great improvement, however far-fetched, would be to eliminate the electrical and telephone poles and place that infrastructure underground.
- Mr. Karlinsky noted that the police do a very good job trying to help people who are trying to park in Menemsha. He stated he saw visitors not being very respectful to the police this summer. Mr. Karlinsky noted that the tour buses, vans and livery vans are not a great addition to Menemsha. The buses/vans unload many people at once which overloads the comfort station and the garbage receptacles and the vehicles then travel around Menemsha awaiting their customers. Mr. Karlinsky stated that the great numbers of people who come on these buses/vans overload shop-owners in his view. He suggested that a possible solution would be to have the buses/vans drop their people at the off-site parking area. He also noted that it is dangerous for mopeds to travel in sandy Menemsha. He would suggest that mopeds not be allowed to
travel into Menemsha.
- Ms. Malkin noted that it seemed that enhanced policing of the area would be the essential thing once it is determined what rules should be adhered to in Menemsha.
- Mr. Cook inquired if Mr. Karlinsky had any ideas about making the off-site parking more useable, accessible, and/or palatable. He suggested that a mini-comfort station and/or a porta potty there could be useful. He also noted that it is difficult to separate people from their cars. He imagined one idea could be to require Menemsha parking stickers and those without stickers could park at the off-site lot. He noted this would be a tough-sell and would increase the perception that Chilmark and Menemsha is exclusive.
- Mr. Eisner suggested a type of “build-out” at the off-site parking area that increases the interest and palatability of the off-site parking. Mr. Karlinsky noted that a more palatable off-site parking would be one that is closer to Menemsha.
- Mr. Karlinsky noted that the dunes at the end of the beach could be leveled to add more parking if one is thinking completely out of the box.
- Ms. Malkin asked, if there was a blank canvas to start over, what Mr. Karlinsky would do differently. He stated he might group all the shops together and make the parking and beach occupy the entire area from the bridge down to the beach.
- Menemsha Walk-Around Update:
- Mr. Carroll noted that there is a long-tradition of maintaining a pedestrian path from the Community Center to Menemsha. He noted that the grassy “side path” area around the curve to the stop sign at the Teel’s is evidence of this clearing.
- Mr. Carroll stated that the Highway Superintendent is directed to continue to and improve upon the roadside clearing from the Community Center to Menemsha.
- Mr. Carroll stated that a future plan should be to message to Chilmarkers townwide that they need to plant trees and shrubs and other sound barriers on their side of the line due to the fact that the Town must clear back the roadsides for the purpose of pedestrian and biker safety.
- Mr. Carroll stated that a priority should be to improve and maintain the town path all along the Menemsha Crossroads to the entrance in Menemsha.
- Ms. Armstrong remembered using the path along the Crossroads to traverse the distance from the Communuty Center to Menemsha.
- Ms. Armstrong asked about the possibility of using the triangle at the Menemsha Crossroads for Menemsha business staff parking. Mr. Carroll stated that as the triangle is planted now the sightlines are not open.
- Mr. Carroll noted the past offering of the Doug Thompson lot (in exchange for a lot on Peaked Hill) on the first right on Menemsha Inn Road to be an off-site lot. He noted this may be a possibility still since the lot is still undeveloped. Mr. Carroll noted there is an area behind the Mayhew house and on the way into the Beach Plum Inn that could also be developed for parking.
- Mr. Carroll suggested improvement of the street lighting (currently costing $30/month) along the way into Menemsha as well.
- Mr. Carroll noted the lot between the Galley and the Menemsha Market that provides a viewshed (and protected by a zoning act in the 1970s) needs to be acquired or the development rights need to be acquired.
- On Eddy’s Island Way (along the way to the Coast Guard Station) Mr. Carroll noted that the lot that abuts the angled parking opposite the Galley could possibly be acquired to protect the parking.
- Mr. Carroll noted the commonly used open space on Eddy’s Island Way has been impacted. He suggested acquiring these two lots for the Town.
- Mr. Carroll noted that other Towns have provided off-site storage for fishermen and he would suggest that this be investigated in Chilmark and possibly use the area at Peaked Hill Pastures and other areas.
- Mr. Carroll noted that the transfer station area for off-site parking is engineered for parking and will apparently fit 88 spaces.
- Mr. Carroll noted that the Park & Recreation Committees regulations state that only parking can occur on the comfort station side of the road and regulations may only be changed by unanimous vote of the Park & Recreation Committee. This is not being enforced at this time. He also noted the bulkhead lots are for transitional storage, but the things need to be moved to permanent storage areas. However, this storage is not enforced at this time. He suggested that pot storage may need to be considered for the opposite side of the comfort station so that some equipment may be stored on-site.
- Mr. Carroll noted that it would be preferable to make a 12’ x 6’ boardwalk rinsing area at the comfort station to primarily cut down on the sand in the comfort station and he would like to move forward with this plan.
- Mr. Carroll noted an improvement in signage is also needed and he would like to move forward with this as well so that consistently a designed and positioned set of signage that relates directly to a map of the area is in place for 2017. He welcomed input on the Menemsha signage. He noted that there is also the possibility of using a system of led light in concert with new signage.
- Sept. 17, 2016, 8:30AM-12PM-Master Planning Workshop, WT Library
- Sept. 26, 2016, 3PM-Angie Grant, VTA
- Oct. 5, 2016, 8:30AM Meeting with Menemsha Business Owners
- Meeting adjourned at 4:25PM.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Jennifer L. Christy
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