5/20/1999 CONSERVATION COMMISSION Minutes

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MASHPEE CONSERVATION COMMISSION Minutes of 20 May 1999 i a Commissioners present: John Fitzsimmons, John Johansen, Ralph shaver, Greg Wisn, Tad wllnhaut. The Chair called the meeting to order with a quorum present at 6:55 p.m. 6:55 PUBLIC COMMENT: Edward Sinkiewicz of 170 Captain's Row came forward. He stated he has lived at this address for 43 years. He asked for a waiver on the $109 assessment sent to hien by Mr. Sherman for cutting grass on his beach. On 14 April 1993, he was removing dead vegetation from his beach when Glenn Marshall appeared on his private property and verbally assaulted him for removing the vegetation from the beach. H screamed that he was ruining the Mashpee River. He told Mr. Marshall t leave and Mr. Marshall ll screamed at him that he would be sorry and that h was going to turn him in. He got in his truck and he drove on private roads that had posted 15 mph and fair exceeded that. An hour or so later, 1r. Sherman showed up and informed hire that he was overzealous in raking the, what he calls swamp grass, from the beach. He stated he really calls it dead vegetation and he displayed photographs of the area. In the letter, it stated he had used a mower t remove it. He received that letter on 4 May 1999. He used his mulching mower to bust up the dead vegetation so that it was easy to pull up. He feels that if you pull it out, the vegetation under it would grow much better and faster. why he removed it is because of all the dead vegetation, if you leave it there, all the bugs get underneath it and when his grandchildren play on the beach, all they do is slap themselves and the stink is unbearable. It is embarrassing to them to bring people down there. Mr. Sinkiewicz stated he would like to show the photos and gave a history of what Pirates Cove was like in 1965. No vegetation, pyre beach. After 1965, there was a Sweetheart Deal in which the Ma h ee River was permitted for dredging by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts but instead the affluent area was dredged. After that, the River started getting real bad. This is the Town's problem, they didn't take advantage of this illegal dredging in the affluent area to cone back and dredge the Mashpee MashRiver. He stated he would like to show a picture of ghat 'it was like and what he olid to remove the vegetation. This is what it was like on his beach (pointing at the photos) and this is what it was like after he cleaned it. Since he has been there for 43 years, they used to get a lot of drainage from the street so the Pirates -Cove Association put in a $4393 cath basin in front of his property. He, in turn, invested $10,000 on beans, crushed rock and driveway and these are some of the things he has done over 10 years. He displayed photos of ghat the clan diggers have done on his beach. He asked iif it was fair for the Commission to