Meetings Ahead
Meetings in Truro are often held remotely. Go to Truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for an agenda and details on how to join.
Thursday, July 25
- Ad Hoc Building Committee, 4:30 p.m.
Friday, July 26
- Cable and Internet Advisory Committee, 1 p.m., Town Hall
Conversation Starter
Longnook Questions Answered
In a Facebook livestream on July 18, Dept. of Public Works Director Jarrod Cabral and Health and Conservation Agent Emily Beebe addressed the closure of Longnook Beach, which has ocean-loving, steep path-braving residents and visitors up in arms.
“We had a patron complaint to the beach office,” Cabral said. That spurred two staff-wide site visits this month — one with representatives from the Center for Coastal Studies — and the initiation of a land survey by drone.
“When the team visited the site and evaluated the pathways, it was very clear that it’s an actively eroding coastal bank” with debris and silty soils, Beebe said. “At this point, it did not appear to be safe at all.”
Over the next month and a half, the drone will take measurements of dune topography and allow staff to track the land’s movement, Cabral said. After that period, with evidence of the dune’s pace of erosion and associated safety hazards, the Woods Hole Group will be brought in.
The town had been fielding questions about which side of the dune was most worrisome. When open, Longnook has two paths down to the beach, on the left and right sides of the parking lot.
“The entire dune there is hazardous,” said Cabral. “It’s not a matter of if it’s going to collapse, it’s a matter of when,” he added.
Town staff said they would post updates about the closure at Longnook Beach weekly or every two weeks as the site analysis continues. In the meantime, they encouraged residents and visitors alike to acquaint themselves with less hazardous beaches in town. The beach office is now looking into adding parking at some of those beaches, Cabral said.
“Operating on past practice,” like the fact that the dune at Longnook hasn’t collapsed before, is “just not how the town of Truro wants to keep its citizens safe,” said Beebe.
As of press time, coastal geologist Mark Borelli of the Center for Coastal Studies was slated to lead an information session about Longnook erosion at the Truro Library on July 24. —Sophie Mann-Shafir
