Meetings Ahead
Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely.
Monday, July 13
- Select Board, 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, July 14
- Conservation Commission, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, July 15
- Planning Board, 5 p.m.
Thursday, July 16
- Dog Owners Association, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Covid-19 Update
As of June 27, the number of confirmed cases in Eastham was 10. The number of cases has remained at 10 since June 4.
Special Election
The select board voted at its June 29 meeting to approve a special election to be held after annual town meeting on Oct. 6 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The town budget will be voted on and all petitions submitted for May town meeting will be carried over without having to resubmit. The warrant will open up again on July 13 for two weeks in order for any new petitions to be submitted. New petitions will need 200 signatures.
School Committee and Anti-Racism
The Nauset Regional School Committee will meet via Zoom on Thursday, July 9 at 6 p.m. The agenda includes a discussion of the Mass. Association of School Committees (MASC) Covid-19 and anti-racism suggested resolutions.
The MASC is encouraging all Massachusetts school districts to consider the resolutions locally and forward them to Gov. Baker and state representatives for implementation, according to a statement on its website.
The resolution related to Covid-19 includes a request “that the state must guarantee every school district full reimbursement for whatever Covid-19 expenses are required to follow state mandates.”
The resolution related to anti-racism requests that “every district will incorporate into their curriculum the history of racial oppression and works by black authors and works from diverse perspectives.”
It also includes a request that “all the school districts in the Commonwealth must guarantee that racist practices are eradicated, and diversity, equity and inclusion is embedded and practiced for our students, families, faculty and staff.”
Housing Plan Resumes
The project to construct a 20-unit apartment development consisting of four single-story townhouse buildings along Route 6 will come before the planning board again for site plan approval on Wednesday, July 15.
Tim Klink of Coastal Companies is proposing the construction, which also includes a swimming pool, at 4615 and 4655 State Highway.
After working out a plan with neighbors of the property, Klink will not use Wiley Lane as an outlet for the condominium project but instead has developed an access point from the state highway with a turnaround for fire vehicles.
Bridge on Bridge Road?
An open span bridge was the alternative roadway design that received the most attention during a virtual public forum on June 24 on Eastham’s low-lying roadways. The project team, which includes Conservation Agent Shana Brogan, Town Planner Paul Lagg, DPW Director Silvio Genao, and Adam Finkle of Woods Hole Group (WHG), is wasting no time in trying to vet possible design alternatives for the four roadways determined as being most susceptible to flooding in the coming decades.
Alternatives presented by Finkle included an embankment blanketed with “100 percent biodegradable erosion control matting” planted with coastal grasses and shrubs. The embankment would be made of earthen material that’s placed and compacted for the purpose of raising the grade of the roadway. All approaches will eventually involve elevating the roads, though just how much will be determined later in the process.
The bridge proposal would be most appropriate for Bridge Road, Finkle said, where it could improve tidal flow and result in ancillary benefits to the large salt marsh in the area. But it would need longer design and construction lead times and improvements would be costly.
Area resident James Arnold said that because Boat Meadow marsh was cut off by construction of Bridge Road it fills regularly. “My concern,” he said, is that “water is going to continue to rise and undercut the shorelines all the way around the entire marsh. If we don’t open this marsh up and allow for the natural flow of the water through the entire marsh by building a raised, expanded bridge along Bridge Road, then we’re really just wasting money and pushing out the problem a little further down the road.”
Though action is needed on all four roads, Bridge Road and Samoset Road have been prioritized based on feedback from the public.
Finkle said the team submitted an application to the state coastal zone management office (CZM) to fund a next phase of this project to include stakeholder engagement, modeling of proposed plans, and draft engineering design plans for sections of Bridge Road and Samoset Road.
If the grant is awarded, that work will begin in September. —Ryan Fitzgerald
