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i a new six-foot bicycle trail along the westerly side of the Road (Drawing No. 16 — Schematic Design) as con- existing Great Oak Road - the overall estimated cost is templated in 1981 "Agreement". $300,000. The"Committee"vigorously opposed this pro- (3)The Board also rejected a provision in the"Memoran- ,.. posal and took the firm position that the Agreement bet- dum" the effect of which would permit parking by a ween Town of Mashpee and "DEM" dated June 1981 number of employees of DEM on specific locations of ("Agreement")and discussions prior thereto contemplated South Cape Beach, thus resulting in parking in excess of . and intended that Great Oak Road would be reconstructed 400 vehicles,being the maximum number permitted by the and improved substantially in accordance with the 1981 "Agreement". i specifications referred to in Drawing No. 16-"Great Oak Thereafter,Chairman Kirsner and other members of the V Road-rebuild alternative"and that legal alignment of its "Committee" have met with Representative Cahir, and boundary lines so as to conform to paper right of way be Robert E. Kumor in an effort to resolve these issues.It ap- addressed and resolved prior to improvement. pears that meaningful progress is being made in this direc- After a number of meetings initiated by Representative tion,and hopefully the matters may be resolved within the Thomas Cahir with Richard Kendall, former Commis- next few months so that the"Memorandum"may be again sioner of"DEM", Steve Carroll, Chairman of Transpor- presented to the Board. tation, Robert Kumor, Deputy Commissioner of"DEM" Under the provisions of the 1981 "Agreement","DEM" and attended by Chairman Kirsner and other represen- agreed to reserve a suitable site consisting of ten(10)acres tatives of the"Committee",it appeared that the serious im- on Great River, Waquoit Bay,for future use and develop- passe between"DEM"and the"Committee"was apparently ment by the Town of a Boat Launch and Pier Facility. resolved by an understanding reached between the"Com- There had developed some interest that the stated use of Nd mittee"and"DEM"(expressly subject to the approval of the site possibly be expanded to include the building of a 'a? the Board of Selectmen) wherebyI " " would ( ) DEMpro- Field Station by Boston University to conduct Marine teed with the recommended overlay and other im- research in the Waquoit Bay area and to be funded in part provements(Drawing No. 14)(II)the Town and"DEM", be a charitable endowment from the Sea Farm Founda- subject to the guidance of Representative Cahir, would tion, Incorporated. The "Committee", pursuant to a re- jointly initiate steps to obtain additional funding to im- quest from the Board of Selectmen to review the proposal, prove Great Oak Road as originally intended(Drawing No. conducted a number of public hearings. It was determin- 16),(III)all legal and architectural costs,land damages and ed that the State had just purchased the Swift Estate, that other related costs and expense that might otherwise be in- Federal Funding was available to deal with the estuary and curred by the"Town"to legally conform Great Oak Road sanctuary research which will be conducted out of the Swift to the Plan on record with the Land Court would be paid Estate and the entire eco-system of Waquoit Bay. This is from these funds; (IV)"DEM"would assume full respon- a major undertaking, funded by the U.S. Dept. of Com- sibility for any maintenance thereafter required to Great merce, and The National and Atmospheric Administra- Oak Road pending its final improvement (Drawing No. tion. For this and other pertinent reasons, the"Commit- P 16). These provisions were thereafter incorporated into the tee"was of the opinion that it would be inappropriate for "Memorandum" between the Town and "DEM" to be the ten-acre site to be used by an independent party, i.e. presented to the Board of Selectmen for their approval. a separate satellite, and the Committee so recommended It is important to note at this time that Great Oak Road to the Board. as presently travelled enroaches upon land owned by The"Committee"had requested on a number of occa- Robert Kennedy who,therefore, could not build upon it. sions"DEM"for an in-depth study and eventual report as This condition had existed for ten years. In order to ad- to "Park" capacity. This is a vital issue to the "Commit- dress the inequity of this problem quickly and conform tee"which desires to restrict any excessive use of this fragile Great Oak Road as it encroached upon the Kennedy land area. "DEM"has promised to submit its study on "Park r. to recorded plan and also to avoid possible legal action, Capacity"to the"Committee"shortly and further has in- :c the "Board" sponsored an Article to appropriate and ex- dicated that it will address the issue of"Park Capacity" pend $40,000 to correct this problem. This matter, thoroughly in the new Environmental Impact Report. however,had not been addressed in the Memorandum of ("EIR") Understanding. The"Committee"and many residents of Mashpee were The Board, when presented the"Memorandum"for con- deeply concerned about a newspaper article which pro- sideration declined to approve same for a number of jetted the use of the"Park"as being grossly excessive.The reasons: "Committee"is dedicated to its intentions to avoid any ex- (1) Board felt appropriate provisions should have been cessive use and to protect the fragile area. made for reimbursement to Town of the $40,000 so In the late spring of 1988, the "Committee" at one of expended. its regular monthly meetings, was presented with a brief , (2)In the absence of more appropriate provisions"Board" summary of the"EIR"prepared by"DEM"relative to the 4.. ;4 rejected proposal for"DEM"to improve Great Oak Road "Park."Unfortunately, these formal reports had not been _ with temporary overlay (Drawing No. 14) of Schematic made available to the Board of Selectmen, Town Depart- Design, and insisted that DEM reconstruct Great Oak ments, "Committee"or to the general public so that they 'h. ,l - 97 - .t