Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Eastham are in-person, typically with an online-attendance option. Go to eastham-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for details. All meetings are at Town Hall unless otherwise indicated.
Monday, July 24
- Visitors Tourism and Services Board, 3:30 p.m., Small Meeting Room
- Select Board, 5:30 p.m., Earle Mountain Meeting Room
Tuesday, July 25
- Conservation Commission onsite, 8:15 a.m., Town Hall
- Conservation Commission, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Cooks Brook Beach Closed
High levels of bacteria have forced the closure of the popular bayside Cooks Brook Beach until further notice.
“The elevation of the beach has dropped dramatically this year, and historic peat is being exposed along with very old cedar tree pieces,” creating an organic environment that is highly conducive to bacterial growth, Health Agent Hillary Greenberg-Lemos wrote in an email. A statement released by the town on July 17 included the same language.
The geomean water quality standard for enterococci in marine water is no more than 104 colonies per 100ml for a single sample. Recent samples from the beach “have been all over the place from passing to over 2,000 colonies,” Greenberg-Lemos wrote.
The Barnstable County beach monitoring dashboard indicates that Cook’s Brook failed bacterial testing on July 6 and then again on July 10, 11, 12, and 13.
According to town staff, the Cooks Brook Beach situation is unrelated to the closures from high fecal bacteria levels on the Cape and South Coast after the July 4 holiday weekend, which included Pilgrim Lake in Orleans, Pamet Harbor in Truro, and Kendall Lane in Provincetown. Those beaches have since passed inspection.
Bus Stop Shelters Requested
The select board on July 10 approved a letter to the Regional Transit Authority drafted by chair Art Autorino to request the construction of additional shelters at two popular Eastham bus stops. One is the stop across from town hall, outside the Eastham Superette, for southbound travelers; the other is at Town Center Plaza for northbound travelers.
The benchless Eastham Superette stop faces a handsome bus shelter across the road for riders going in the opposite direction. One local rider told the Independent last month that the stop was one of the two worst on the Outer Cape, along with the stop at Maurice’s Campground in Wellfleet.
The letter was addressed to CCRTA Board Chairman Robert Lawton Jr. and Administrator Thomas Cahir.
“We understand that the DOT repaving plans for the Wellfleet section of Route 6 include new bus shelters. It would be fantastic if you could do two for us,” the letter says. —Amelia Roth-Dishy
