2016-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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blooms subside and toxin is not detected in the shellfish. This has been effective for the mussel farming industry at Prince Edward Island in Canada where this species commonly blooms in the fall. Opening of Mashpee Neck for oyster harvesting was delayed a few days to November 3rd because the DMF lab was behind schedule on required testing of water samples for bacteria due to extra testing during the emergency closure in October. Oyster harvesting went well through the end of the year. The program to restore the oyster fishery and water quality in the Mashpee River was initiated 2004 with harvesting starting in 2006. Quahogs were the most abundant shellfish in 2016, but soft-shell clams were making a comeback after most died during record high water temperatures in 2010. A total of 1,013 Shellfish permits were issued since March. Water quality monitoring documented continued improvement in Santuit Pond since the installation of SolarBee water circulators. The water was clear with healthy fish and no algae blooms. Measurement of water clarity with Secchi disk visibility data collected by the Friends of Santuit Pond, and chlorophyll data from our deployed multi -parameter sonde show that the pond is no longer eutrophic. The Harbormaster reported that the 2016 boating season was busy with no major accidents or injuries. Most citations were for violations of slow no wake restrictions. At a Coast Guard tactical training course in Woods Hole, a national instructor told the Harbormaster that we have the most responsive Safe - Boat he had ever been on. There were 552 moorings issued in 2016 with a waiting list of 341. Thank you to the boards, commissions, committees, departments, volunteers and people of the Town as well as Barnstable County, DMF, Friends of Santuit Pond, the Mashpee Environmental Coalition, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and SMAST for assistance and support of the DNR and these projects. Respectfully submitted, Richard York Acting Director & Shellfish Constable Report of the Planning Department To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee: It is with mixed feelings that I write my 33rd and final Annual Report as your Town Planner. It has been a distinct honor to serve Mashpee's residents since 1984. We have accomplished much to be proud of over those years, but there is so much more I wish we could have done in recent years but for lack of staff. We can be very proud of the protection of the Mashpee River Woodlands, the Quashnet River, the South Mashpee Pine Barrens, the Santuit Pond Preserve and so many other critical open space areas over the years, of the creation of both the Mashpee Water District and the Mashpee Sewer Commission at a time when so many residents' drinking water was threatened by contamination and we had begun to realize how the water quality in our bays, rivers and ponds had deteriorated (and continues to deteriorate), due to overdevelopment without proper wastewater infrastructure, of the growth of the nationally -known Mashpee Commons mixed -use downtown project, of the creation of the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge, the building of our own High School, the 5-year effort which led to Mashpee's first Comprehensive Plan during the 90s, and the 16-year effort to complete our Watershed Nitrogen Management Plan / Wastewater Plan. These are so many things that I am proud to have helped the Town accomplish, yet there is so much more to do. There have also been so many wonderful Mashpee residents I have known and worked with over the years, and for whose support and friendship I will be eternally grateful. (More on that later.) Regarding 2016, the Planning Department attempted, as always, to provide Town boards, developers and residents with the highest quality planning advice and standards. As in the past, the Department's primary work involved managing the Planning Board's regulatory process, along with similar staff support to the Historic District Commission and Sewer Commission, dealing with the day-to-day requests of other departments, boards, developers and the public as well as managing the Department and Planning Board's budget, payroll and other administrative functions. I also continued to maintain a Town lands database and prepared annual housing, land use and population estimates and projections. 122