Duxbury Bay Management Commission
Meeting Minutes – Thursday, January 11, 2007
A meeting of the Duxbury Bay Management Commission was held at the Duxbury Senior Center at 7 pm.
In attendance:
Duxbury Bay Management Commission (DBMC):
In attendance: John Carnuccio (Chair), Shawn Dahlen, Ned Lawson, Corey Wisneski (Secretary), John Brawley, and Emmett Sheehan.
Missing: Kathy Gould, Jack Kent, Don Gunster, Don Beers (ex officio)
A quorum was reached.
Other Guests:
Gregg Morris
Jim Ryan
Tim Tedeschi
Steve Callahan
I. Aquaculture Report
At the conclusion of the aquaculture report presentation to the selectmen at the end of last month, the selectmen accepted the report’s recommendations as recommendations. They approved the continuation of the moratorium and the formation of an ad hoc shellfish management plan development committee. J. Brawley volunteered to chair the ad hoc committee and he stated that he has already begun to draft the plan, using Wellfleet’s plan as a model. The other entities that will participate in developing a shellfish management plan are the Shellfish Advisory Committee, the Shellfish Growers’ Association (SGA), and the Agriculture Committee. An at-large wild shellfishers will also be selected to serve. Letters to the chairs of each of these entities will be drafted,
asking them to appoint one person to the ad hoc committee. J. Brawley will announce each meeting of the ad hoc committee to the participating committees, the SGA, and other shellfishers via email.
II. Proposed Changes to Mooring and Shellfish Fees
Copies of D. Beers’ FY2007 proposed mooring and shellfish licensing fee changes were passed out. The proposal presented two options for fee increases, representing either a 20% or a 34% net increase in revenue. It was announced that revenue increases stemming from moorings and shellfish license fee increases would go back into the general fund, not back to pay for waterfront activities. There was some uncertainty as to when the fees were last increased and whether other town fees are being increased as well. The DBMC agreed that some justification for the fee increases was necessary before the DBMC can recommend the fees to the selectmen. D. Beers will be asked to provide the rationale for the fee increases, along with some history of town fee increases, at the next DBMC meeting on
January 25th, 2007. At that same meeting, the DBMC members will be making their recommendations to the selectmen.
III. Bay Avenue Seawall Repairs
Bay Avenue neighbors Jim Ryan, Tim Tedeschi, and Steve Callahan gave a brief presentation to the DBMC regarding the seawall protecting their neighborhood. Although the DBMC does not normally address beach issues, the selectmen asked the commission to learn more about the Bay Avenue issue. J. Ryan stated that the northeast region is “due” for a major hurricane and, if such a storm were to hit, the seawall that protects his and his neighbors’ houses would not be able to sustain the blow, effectively flooding the area, potentially damaging public works infrastructure, and inundating the densely populated “Horseshoe Area” that lies to the west. The state will pay for $160,000 of the repairs, but the Town must match that amount, plus another $11,000 to cover engineering and
oversight. The Town has the money and the proposal for the matching funds has already been added to the warrant for the Town Meeting in March under ‘capital expense’. The Town Manager has already submitted his FY2007 budget and J. Ryan is not sure if the seawall repairs were included in that budget. The state will withdraw its offer of partial funding at the end of the fiscal year. A vote on the warrant at Town Meeting will be required and the Bay Avenue neighbors would like the DBMC to consider backing the article. The engineering documents are already being drawn up and, if approved, the work on the seawall would have to be completed by July 1st, 2007. The repairs to the seawall involve removing and reinstalling the riprap at the base of the wall and repairing cracks.
J. Ryan went on to describe a potential beach nourishment project that could occur in the future. Green Harbor, Marshfield (immediately to the north of the Bay Avenue area) is dredged every year and the spoil is disposed of offshore. If that spoil were available to be placed on the beach in front of the Bay Avenue seawall, the high tide would be prevented from reaching the seawall, creating scour, and compromising the structural integrity of the wall. He went on to state that the beneficiaries of this nourishment would not only be the area’s residents but also those that enjoy Duxbury Beach proper, where the nourishment project sand would be eventually transported via natural processes. However, the Bay Avenue residents are not looking for the DBMC to comment/approve/recommend the nourishment
project, merely to back the warrant article at the Town Meeting.
The DBMC recommended that the Bay Avenue residents put together a Powerpoint presentation for the selectmen and for the Town Meeting. They should also consider organizing a site visit soon for those who wish to see the seawall damage firsthand.
The DBMC agreed to write a recommendation letter to the selectmen, although N. Lawson suggested that the Bay Avenue residents consider contributing some of their own money to the project. This might make the Town more amenable to contributing funds. N. Lawson volunteered to draft that letter to the selectmen.
IV. EOEA RFR
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) released another Request for Reponses (RFR) for Volunteer Monitoring Assistance Grants. J. Brawley suggested that the DBMC respond with a proposal for an eelgrass monitoring project. The monitoring project would look at the present extent of eelgrass in the Bay, the potential reasons for the noted decline in acreage, and whether optimal conditions exist or could exist for eelgrass re-establishment. The project would monitor water quality conditions, especially light extinction, as well as sediment quality as possible limiting factors in eelgrass extent. With the current lack of water quality monitoring in the Bay, this RFR might be an opportunity to establish some sort of monitoring network with the ultimate goal being to draw
conclusions regarding eelgrass. The maximum award is $15,000 for any organization, as long as the recipient provides an in-kind match of 25%. The in-kind match could be in the form of boat usage or DBMS facilities. The DBMC could provide a letter of recommendation to be submitted with the proposal.
V. Other Business
J. Carnuccio announced that the DBMC’s meetings will continue to be held for the foreseeable future on the second and fourth Thursday of every month at 7:00pm.
C. Wisneski will type up the meeting minutes for the previous two meetings and provide them to the DBMC for review and approval by the next meeting.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:25 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Corey Wisneski
Secretary
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