Selectmen Resume Responsibility For North Beach Patrols

Alan Pollock

CHATHAM — At the request of Orleans officials, the Chatham board of selectmen Tuesday voted to resume responsibility for shorebird monitoring and beach patrols on Chatham's three-quarter-mile stretch of North Beach. The decision clears the way for the town to extend its beach management agreement with Orleans, keeping beach access affordable for Chatham off-road vehicle users.

If the agreement is, in fact, extended for another year, Chatham would retain the right to sell its own resident ORV permits for its portion of the beach. Nonresidents would be required to purchase their stickers through the town of Orleans, as they did this year.

On Nov. 16, the Orleans selectmen—acting in their capacity as park commissioners—wrote a letter to their Chatham counterparts indicating a willingness to extend the intermunicipal beach agreement for another year, provided that several key questions are answered relative to beach patrols, ORV access and shorebird monitoring. Unless both boards vote before the end of the calendar year to extend the agreement, it expires on April 30, 2010.

Chatham Coastal Resources Director Ted Keon said staff members were unable to arrange a joint meeting between the two boards before the end of December, and so they requested a 30-day extension to allow for a meeting in January. But on Monday, Orleans board Chairman Jon Fuller sent another letter indicating that his board had decided not to extend the deadline, and would move forward with the beach agreement for another year only if Chatham agrees to take over the bird monitoring and beach patrols on its stretch of beach next summer.

“Our reasons for taking this action include our inability to set up a staff level meeting with Chatham since September despite several requests to review and address beach related problems this past summer; concerns over the physical changes in the Chatham portion of the beach; the legal status of the remaining beach and regulatory jurisdiction; increased prime bird habitat due to washovers; increased public safety requirements due to boaters and pedestrian activity at the point; and anticipated staffing changes and budgetary constraints in Orleans that will preclude our ability to provide either bird monitoring or patrol services for Chatham next summer,” Fuller wrote.

Prior to the formation of the new inlet and immediately thereafter, Chatham carried out bird monitoring and beach patrols on its remaining mainland portion of North Beach. But because of the logistical challenge of getting staff members to the beach, Orleans agreed to take over those functions last summer in exchange for modest reimbursement from the town of Chatham. Now, “it sounds like they frankly have absolutely no interest in performing that service,” Keon said.

ORV permits still hold the potential for revenue potential for the towns, however. Last year, despite poor weather and an ever-eroding beach, Chatham sold 315 resident stickers, generating $12,600 for the town. The formation of a large, flat spit at the southern tip of the beach raises the possibility that as many as 50 vehicles could occupy the beach at a time. What remains unclear is whether Orleans would require Chatham permit holders to also buy Orleans stickers.

Chatham Town Counsel Bruce Gilmore said he had a conversation with his counterpart in Orleans, and Orleans officials feel they are assuming too much responsibility for the revenue they receive.

“It's about money and it's about liability. It's that simple,” Gilmore said. Chatham has a responsibility to safeguard nesting shorebirds on its portion of the beach, “and that issue is going to remain with us, with or without this agreement,” he said. “We need to monitor.”

Obtaining revenue from Nauset Beach sticker sales is critically important to Orleans, Gilmore added, since those revenues dropped markedly last year.

“They don't want to run the Nauset Beach at an operational loss,” he said.

Chatham selectmen favored fulfilling Orleans' request to resume responsibility for beach and shorebird patrols, in order to perpetuate the beach agreement. Town Manager William Hinchey said the cost of a shorebird monitor for the beach would be relatively minor, in the order of about $2,000, but a full beach patrol could cost $8,000 to $10,000. What is important to Orleans is that the town of Chatham accept responsibility for those patrols, not that they necessarily have staff members there 12 hours every day, Hinchey said.

North Beach Advisory Committee Chairman Bob Long said it makes sense to resume the monitoring duties. “To me it's a no-brainer,” he said.

On a motion by Selectman David Whitcomb, the board voted unanimously to take over the responsibility for bird monitoring and beach patrols on Chatham's portion of North Beach, and to send that news to the Orleans board.

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Source: http://www.capecodchronicle.com/chatnews/chat121709_4.htm

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