Boat ramp committee
On July 21 the Monterey Boat Ramp Committee met at town hall at nine thirty. They spent two hours discussing the boat ramp issue. Present were Rod Palmer, Scott Jensen, Brian Puntin and Steve Aranson. Steve was there in part to represent the FLG (Friends of Lake Garfield). Several questions were raised as points of clarification. The first was why are we here? The answer was to find a permanent year round location for the boat ramp in town. State law mandates that all great ponds (lakes over 10 acres) have access for the public. Both parts of Lake Garfield fall into this category. In the past, people have had access to the lake via Kinne’s grove. Since that is no longer an option and the public has been voicing its concern, the Select board wants to weigh the town’s options and have something to present to the state before the state took it upon its self to put a boat ramp in without town input. A public boat ramp would also give the states Environmental Police access to
the lake, keeping it safer from reckless drivers.
The second question was what about the existing boat ramp? There are several concerns with using the existing ramp year round. Most obvious is that there is a safety concern with swimming being immediately next to the ramp. The other concern is the small amounts of pollutants that come off of each boat as it enters and leaves the lake may affect the swimming area negatively. More on the existing conditions is later in this article.
Controlling the number of boats on the lake was discussed. It appears if there is year round access, the town can have better regulations in place to regulate number and speed of boats on the lake. Having a parking lot with limited space and possibly collecting a daily parking fee was also discussed.
The select board had several criteria in evaluating where to put a new boat ramp to solve the problem. They were proximity to other private homes, topography of the land, adequate parking, ease of access from public roads, lots should have no existing homes on it and finally the ramp should be on the large part of Lake Garfield. These were guidelines only. The committee is also waiting for a copy of the states Public Access Guidelines to further clarify requirements of potential solutions.
Another option raised at the meeting was to move the beach instead of the ramp. The drawback to this may be that the state will not be willing to fund a new beach location. These options will be discussed farther down as well.
An assessor’s map of Lake Garfield was opened up and each individual property was evaluated against the criteria set by the Select board. Topography and existing homes quickly ruled out a great majority of the possibilities. The committee was left with 4 locations that could be a new boat ramp (or a new town beach). Some were single lots, some were pairs of small lots together. All the lots would require the state to take the land by eminent domain. Many of the lots are on private roads that the town would have to take over maintenance on. A list of each potential lot (or lot combinations) is as follows:
#1) Map 106 Lot 2 a.k.a Thorn Property.
#2) Map 107 Lot 32
#3) Map 102 Lots 69 & 84 & 85
#4) Map 102 Lots 52 & 63
#5) Map 105 Lots 15 & 14
Other possible options are available.
#6) The town owns land just north of the three culverts that connect Brewer pond to Lake Garfield, better known as the “tubes”, This is another option for a boat ramp, with parking on town land immediately across on Sylvan road (which is private). The beach could be shifted south to further separate the ramp from the beach with a small amount of land taking if needed from lot 52 on page 101 (opt #7).
There appears to be other options besides taking entire lots by eminent domain and increasing the burden of the town to take over private roads. All these options impact abutters to some extent, but probably less than the other options. The town owns all the land around Brewer Pond (the pond on the opposite side of the road from the existing town beach). There are at least two places were a beach could be made on Brewer Pond, either at the dam (opt #8) or on the south east corner of Brewer Pond (opt #9) directly across Tyringham road from the existing beach. Both areas have large enough areas for parking lots. No property would have to be taken. State funding to build a new beach, instead of build a new boat ramp will be little if any.
In my opinion a public hearing should be held to make sure everyone in town has there say in this. Also, a more in depth analysis of each potential remaining site should be performed.
Respectfully submitted,
Brian Puntin
| 
