Meetings Ahead
All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting, go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Follow the link to the agenda for instructions on how to watch and participate.
Thursday, May 28
- Public Pier Corp., 2 p.m.
- Select Board with Board of Health, 4 p.m.
- Planning Board with Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m.
Tuesday, June 2
- Conservation Commission, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, June 3
- Historic District Commission, 4 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Coronavirus Update
As of May 25, Provincetown had one confirmed active case and one death from complications related to Covid-19, and 27 additional cases were considered recovered.
Reopening Policies Vetted
After weeks of planning, the town manager’s recovery coalition began Tuesday to unveil recommendations from a 70-page report (available on the town’s website at provincetown-ma.gov/archivecenter/viewfile/item/24230) they presented to the select board and the board of health. The two boards are charged with setting policies for the summer of 2020.
The discussion began on Tuesday and continues Thursday, May 28, at 4 p.m.
On Thursday Health Director Morgan Clark will present results of a community-wide survey created to get residents’, workers’, and property owners’ opinions on how public spaces and businesses could be allowed to open safely without causing a surge of Covid-19 infections.
The select board will then take up the suggestion to shut down Commercial Street to cars from Standish to Court streets in order to create more room for outdoor shopping and dining. The recovery coalition’s recommendation would ban cars Thursdays through Sundays from 6 to 10 p.m. starting June 4. This could be extended or ended by June 30, depending on how it goes, according to the report.
The coalition has also suggested banning parking on Commercial Street on Friday nights from Bangs to Johnson streets from 6 to 10 p.m. through Labor Day. This would allow more room for people to spread out during the East End Gallery Walk.
All kinds of other changes are on the table regarding restaurant seating, which will be discussed on Thursday as well. With relaxed restrictions for outdoor seating, restaurants could put tables outside in parking areas, as long as this did not increase overall seating.
Restaurant seating could also be expanded into beach areas on a “case by case” basis, the report states.
The coalition recommended that retailers be granted regulatory relief to display merchandise outside, so the entire summer could become a Monumental Yard Sale Weekend.
Doing business outdoors with a lot more takeout food will require more public picnic areas. The coalition proposes to add picnic tables and a handwashing station to the new Waterfront Park, recently purchased from Elena Hall at 387 Commercial Street. Other seating could be added to a small area at the end of the Johnson Street parking lot. The coalition asked the board of health and select board to consider placing roll-out beach access mats, also known as “Mobi-Mats,” to sections of the beach by Ryder Street Extension and by the pier to allow people to spread out. —K.C. Myers
