EASTHAM — The Rock Harbor Improvements Committee, a subgroup of the Capital Projects Committee, has hit pause on a plan for a new harbormaster’s building while town staff try to get the neighborhood on board.
“We’re not comfortable spending more money on any other design until we have an agreement that a majority of neighbors would like one option over the other,” Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe said at the committee’s Oct. 26 meeting.
Some residents have objected to a proposed 600-square-foot harbormaster’s building with additional decks and ramps, including Donelle Denery, who wrote that she opposed increased use of “environmentally sensitive areas” in an op-ed column in the Oct. 1 issue of the Independent.
About 30 neighbors met virtually with Beebe and other town staff and officials on Oct. 21 via Zoom, in what should have been a posted public meeting under state law because two of the three voting members of the Rock Harbor Committee were present.
The following week, in response to questions from the Independent, Beebe issued a statement acknowledging the violation. “Although it was not intentional,” Beebe wrote, “I did violate the Open Meeting Law by sending a Zoom meeting invitation to a member of the Capital Projects Committee, who joined the call. I take full responsibility and will be more careful about invitations in the future.”
The Open Meeting Law requires that if a committee quorum is present the meeting must be advertised in advance and open to the public.
The Oct. 21 meeting was recorded and is available for viewing on the town’s website, Beebe wrote, adding that, while “many ideas and concepts were discussed, none of these concepts or ideas have been deliberated on or decided by the Capital Projects Committee.”
Tony Schoener, an abutter to the project, spoke on behalf of what he called the Rock Harbor Alliance, which he said began meeting in September and now has more than 50 members.
“We certainly want the harbormaster to be able to take care of the town’s business in that area,” said Schoener. “We’re also clearly interested in having as small an impact on the general harbor area as possible.”
The harbormaster’s office would also house the shellfish constable and a natural resource officer. They currently operate out of a 168-square-foot area in the Department of Public Works building on Old Orchard Road.
Beebe said the natural resource employees were usually out of the office working on projects and doing regulatory work. Permits would continue to be sold at the beach sticker office on Old Orchard Road.
During the Oct. 21 meeting, Schoener questioned whether all three employees needed to be headquartered at Rock Harbor when the resource areas were spread throughout the town and much of the work was not specific to the harbor.
“We want to minimize the amount of activity that is in Rock Harbor,” said Schoener. “One of the things we’re struggling with is we don’t really want an office building in Rock Harbor.”
“It is an office building,” responded Beebe, “but it is the place where the harbormaster can see the harbor and watch the ramp and assist people. I don’t have another place I can put them. In 2018, the town said I could put them at Rock Harbor. I understand what you’re asking me to do. I just don’t have another place where I can put them.”
The meeting went on to discussion of the location and design of the building, with a number of attendees giving a thumbs up to the idea of it being a half Cape. Recent suggestions included the relocation from 60 Dyer Prince Road of an antique half Cape that is facing demolition, or building a replica of that house and incorporating elements of the original.
Another idea suggested at the meeting was giving the building a buoyant foundation, to reduce the overall height of the building. It would otherwise need to be raised at least 7½ feet above grade to keep it above the flood level. A buoyant foundation would allow the structure to be closer to ground level because it would float if there were a flood.
Planners had included a floating design in their initial set of options, but it was dismissed because of concerns that a floating foundation would not fare well in the Cape’s icy, windy winters.
“They actually loved the idea of a floating amphibious building,” Beebe said at the Rock Harbor Committee’s Oct. 26 meeting. “I reached out to Building Commissioner Justin Post to do some research for us. Has this ever been permitted in Massachusetts? Is it allowed in the building code here?”
In an unsigned follow-up letter to Beebe, the Rock Harbor Alliance asked that, due to “tenuous off-season conditions,” the town consider a mobile or removable office. “It was stated that this option was not viable due to zoning restrictions, but we believe it would be permissible by special permit,” the letter stated.
Should the town proceed with plans for a permanent office building, the letter asked for the smallest possible structure, placed as far north as possible, and tucked into the landscape, at or near ground level. The letter also asked that the town consider using the facility only in season.
The Rock Harbor Improvements Committee’s members are Town Administrator Beebe, Thomas Gardner of the finance committee, and select board member Jared Collins. Gardner was the member who was invited to and present for the Oct. 21 Zoom meeting, although he did not speak.
