1998-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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- -- --- -- -�=— -- � - work, perseverance and skills of Town Planner Tom O'Hara. We have received many accolades from the Fudala. Without his expertise and dedication to open public concerning their helpfulness and efficiency. space/wildlife habitat land acquisition, this Also, we should thank Commission member (and Commission would not have obtained these parcels. Board Clerk)John Johansen for his many hours of vol- unteer work in reviewing filings for completeness and The Town, through the Conservation Commission, other duties he so ably carries out. has received a grant of up to $24,583 from the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management's Coastal Respectfully submitted, Pollution Remediation Program for creating a wet- John Fitzsimmons, Chairman land/stormwater filter in the Indian Museum parking Elliot Rosenberg, Vice-Chairman lot adjacent to the Mashpee River. Under the terms of John Johansen, Clerk the grant,the Town will be reimbursed for that amount George F. Green,Jr. after a matching 25% contribution. Thus the Town's Ralph Shaw share (for materials and services) is estimated to be Tad Wollenhaupt I. $6146. A substantial portion of that figure, over Greg Wirsen $4,250 (for engineering and consulting), has already been donated by the U.S.D.A./Natural Re-sources Conservation Service. It is thus possible that the Town's actual costs could be as little as $1902,mostly Report of the for labor,oversight and permitting costs.The project is Department of Public Works needed to substantially eliminate a long-standing problem with direct road run-off from the Indian Museum parking lot and from Route 130, resulting in To The Honorable Board of Selectmen and degraded water quality and sedimentation in the upper the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee Mashpee River.Quite obviously,this has unacceptable impacts on Herring, other fisheries and wildlife in the The year began with a mild winter. There were j upper Mashpee River. The project has been endorsed only 12 snow and ice events with no snow accumula- tions requiring plowing. The last event was on March Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and 16, 1998. We repaired winter erosion at the South the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Inc. Cape Beach parking lot that scoured a 6-foot wide by The Commission would like to thank Don Liptack of 300-foot long section of the parking lot at a cost of the Natural Resources Conservation Service for guid- $7,000. ing us through the grant process. The Spring work season included drainage In terms of challenges, the Commission's workload improvements at five locations on Mashpee Neck Rd. continues to far out-strip our capabilities to adequate- as well as additional drainage work on Route 130, Old ly meet the need. More staff is needed to do inspec- Barnstable Rd., Woodland Ave., Wheeler Road and tions of on-going projects and to clear our backlog of James Circle. projects that have never had a final inspection. Inspecting on-going projects often reveals problems The D.P.W.joined forces with the Board of Health that can be solved before any serious wetlands damage and the Barnstable County Work Release Program to is done! Additionally, 966 of 1731 (56%) major pro- clean construction debris from the LF-4 site located jects have never had a final (Certificate of behind Back Rd. Another dumpsite located behind the Compliance) inspection. Experience has been that Fox Hill subdivision was cleaned. these final (Certificate of Compliance) inspections often reveal unpermitted work, sometimes compro- The D.P.W. replaced a 5 cubic yard dump truck and mising wetland values. It is imperative that we (in added a tractor with a fifteen-foot wide mower assem- 1999) upgrade the Assistant Conservation Agent to a bly to its fleet. The tractor will be used at Heritage full-time position. Our first three Assistant Agents park needed considerable training. Such lack of experience and the loss of staff continuity has diminished our abil- The Public Works Department was successful in. ity to carry out mandated duties. A full-time position securing a Mass Highway funded contract for (with benefits) will allow us to keep a qualified pro- $275,000 to install traffic signals on the intersection ofy fessional in the position. town roads, Route 151 and Old Barnstable Rd. Construction started in the fall and should be complet- It would be remiss to not mention the extra effort ed in the spring of 1999. and effectiveness of the Commission staff, Administrative Assistant Diana Lund and Clerk Aqua 163