PROVINCETOWN — A yearslong effort to build a visitor center for the Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary ended in October when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration canceled a $15-million allocation of federal funds for the project.
The sanctuary is an 842-square-mile underwater reserve that runs from just north of Race Point in Provincetown to just off Gloucester on Cape Ann. NOAA had been looking to the town to provide both the land and additional funds for a visitor center to educate people about the ocean sanctuary. The Center for Coastal Studies, the project’s third partner, would have run the educational programming at the site.
There were reservations in Provincetown about the project, however. The select board voted on Sept. 9 to ask NOAA to consider alternate locations for the visitor center that were not on the town’s municipal parking lot next to MacMillan Pier. That happened even though Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Supt. Peter DeCola had written to the board the week before to say that the agency was facing an end-of-year deadline for allocating the $15 million in Inflation Reduction Act funds and would not have time to study any new locations.
After the select board’s vote, NOAA grant specialist Alexis Toussaint wrote to town staff on Oct. 23 that “it is not possible to dedicate Inflation Reduction Act funding to this venture given the lack of an identified location.”
The $15 million in federal funds will be reallocated to other NOAA projects, including a visitor center for the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary in Port Angeles, Wash., DeCola told the Independent on Dec. 9.
Plans for the Stellwagen Bank visitor center had been discussed as early as 2002, DeCola said, and had begun in earnest with a feasibility study in 2017 and conceptual design work in 2020. Provincetown’s select board voted to recommend a site on the town’s municipal parking lot alongside MacMillan Pier in 2021.
When the design, the $15-million grant, and a $21.3-million total cost estimate were presented on Aug. 26, however, board members were worried about the building’s size and the project’s overall cost.
“I don’t have confidence this is a good deal for the town,” said select board member Leslie Sandberg, citing the $3.5 million it would cost to replace 60 parking spaces with a lot near Route 6 and a $6.3-million funding gap that the town would have to cover to complete the project.
The $21.3-million total cost estimate was developed in 2021, and Sandberg worried it was out of date as a result of a rise in construction costs and would eventually be much higher.
“It’s $6 million now,” she said, referring to the funding gap. “It could be $12 million a year from now. That’s never going to fly” with town meeting voters, she said, especially when the town has other pressing priorities including a housing crisis.
Select board member Erik Borg said the building was too large, and member Austin Miller said it was in a FEMA “velocity zone” and therefore too exposed to potential flood damage.
Although it was to be a visitor center for a federal marine sanctuary, the town would own and operate the building and would be responsible for maintenance costs in perpetuity.
An Earmark, Too Late
Concerns about the large gap in funding were key to the select board’s reservations about the project — so it was ironic that a state economic development bill that was signed into law on Nov. 20 included a $5-million bond authorization for the Stellwagen Bank Visitor Center.
That bond authorization was not an actual allocation of funds, however, state Sen. Julian Cyr told the Independent.
“This was the first step of a process, and there was quite a way to go to turn this $5-million bond authorization” into an actual spending measure, Cyr said. “This was not yet money the town or NOAA could count on.”
Nonetheless, the potential for $5 million in state support was not mentioned at the Aug. 26 select board meeting. Miller and Sandberg both told the Independent on Dec. 9 that the select board had not been aware of any effort to secure that much money.
“Given the gap in funding,” the overall project was too great a burden on the town, Miller said. “Had I known the State House was working on an earmark for $5 million, it would certainly have been a different conversation.”
“The select board didn’t know about this,” Sandberg said, adding that the effort to secure the state money “didn’t come from the town.”
Town Manager Alex Morse told the Independent on Dec. 10 that “we were not aware of a bond authorization or that a request had been made for it.”
DeCola told the Independent that he knew there was an ongoing effort to secure state funding, but because it hadn’t been finalized, he had been advised not to discuss it openly.
“We didn’t have any guarantees it would happen, and we weren’t really free to discuss it” in August, DeCola said.
NOAA is not allowed to lobby for state funds, DeCola added.
But the Center for Coastal Studies was aware of the possible state funding. The center, which was a partner in the Stellwagen Visitor Center project and planned to provide interpretive staff for it, had worked with Cyr’s office on the $5-million funding effort, DeCola said.
Cyr knew about the possibility as well. “Senator Cyr was always committed to this, and he did his part,” said Center for Coastal Studies director Rich Delaney. “The funding strategy was always $15 million from the feds, ask the state for $5 million, and then find one to five million more from other sources.”
Delaney and DeCola had not been expecting an extended debate about funding at the August meeting and had not prepared for one, Delaney said. He said it was “unfortunate,” in retrospect, that the effort to secure state money hadn’t been discussed in more detail that day.
Looking Ahead
DeCola said that NOAA still wants to see a Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center in Provincetown someday.
“We think Provincetown is the right location — we just need to find the right location in Provincetown,” DeCola said. A new feasibility study would be needed to analyze possible sites, especially their potential to draw foot traffic that would boost visitor numbers, he said.
“Our last feasibility study did look at the Surf Club, but it wasn’t for sale,” he said. “If the harborwalk ever gets developed, we could see if the Lagasses want to talk turkey,” he added, referring to Charles and Ann Lagasse, who own the Provincetown Marina.
“It’s a changing landscape and there’s probably some options — but we can’t just shoot from the hip,” DeCola said. “We have to make sure we’re spending taxpayer money wisely and identifying sites that will fit our needs.”
