MINUTES
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Critical Planning Committee
Thursday, July 6, 2006
3 PM
Eastham Town Hall
Present: Marc Stahl, Bernie Kaplan, Karl Weiss, Mike Cole, Joan Sullivan
In addition: Mary Elizabeth Burgess, David Skiba, Martin McDonald, Mike Abeid
Marc called the meeting to order.
The minutes of the meeting held June 1, 2006 were approved and will be posted.
Joan reported on the activities of the CPC Sub-Committee on Bay Beaches. That Committee had met on June 14th. Action taken included a discussion of problems at Thumpertown Beach as illustrated by photos taken the first week in June by sub-committee member Ed Sedloch showing the flooding caused by the collapse of a catch basin some weeks before, the deterioration of the staircase, the sand accumulation at the top of the staircase and the debris on the beach (all liabilities for the town). The Thumpertown problems were reported to the Recreation Director who informed us the town had been working on the situation. Currently, a new catch basin has been installed, the debris on the beach has been removed and the staircase has been repaired. The Committee set up a
monitoring system for all bay and pond beaches as well as Eastham Rock Harbor and the newly formed Eastham taxpayer only section of Nauset Light. They voted to change the committee name to the Fresh & Salt Water Beach Committee to reflect the enlarged scope. The sub-committee felt that they should become a separate town committee in order to deal with problems like that at Thumpertown directly and immediately. Three members of the sub-committee toured Rock Harbor Eastham with Henry Lind. The large paved parking area is leased to the state for public access for boaters and the smaller sand parking area is for town residents.
A general discussion of town beaches followed including the importance of the health of bay beaches to the town, the possibility of having a platform inserted in the long Thumpertown staircase, the removal of the dredged sand at Rock Harbor Eastham to another site, improving the quality of dredged sand, providing dog bags at all beach entrances and better utilization of Eastham Rock Harbor.
The next item on the agenda was the issue of the town committee structure and how to improve its effectiveness. Karl stated that some committees were statutory and outside the study, but the others are under the jurisdiction of the Selectmen and should be reviewed by them. Martin said the Selectmen had discussed the overlapping and repetition of the committee structure and had suggested that CPC come up with suggestions for better utilization. Each Selectman oversees 6 or so committees. Bernie stated that committees are useful and functioning and their minutes provide information on activities. He suggested writing each Committee chairman to determine the most critical concern of each Committee. Mike stated that the problem lies with the relationship of the committees to the
town government and that their functions and avenues of communication should be well-defined for effective utilization. Marc, Bernie and Joan will look into this. There has been some difficulty in obtaining the charges of the committees. Mary Elizabeth will e-mail these to Marc.
The last item on the agenda was the status of the North Eastham Village. Sandtec, the selected consultant for the project, will be meeting with the town administrator to work out the details of their proposal. Currently there is $37,000 of grant money available for Sandtec services. The work will be performed utilizing the current available funding. Mary Elizabeth is applying for grant money from other sources to complete the necessary funding.
Marc announced that all committee members whose terms were expiring had been reappointed. Some new appointments are expected at the July 17th Selectmen meeting.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4: 25 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Sullivan
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