CPC Votes Down Request For River Restoration Funds

Though members of the Community Preservation Committee spoke in support of the efforts of the Coonamessett River Working Group, they decided last night that an application by the group was not eligible for funding.
“This is a sad day for me because I’m so much in favor of the restoration of this river,” committee member Ralph E. Herbst said.
But it might not be the absolute end, as the committee can decide to reconsider its votes and will hold another meeting for public comment on Thursday, September 11. Committee members also encouraged the group to reapply for future funding rounds.
The working group is seeking $48,000, with $39,000 to be used to complete the design of the river restoration project at Lower and Middle Bogs, and $8,400 to install two sets of stairs to prevent further erosion and damage to the river.
They applied under the category of historic resources, which means the property must either be listed on the state’s cultural resources inventory or deemed “historically significant” by the local historical commission.
Eighteen items associated with Lower, Middle, and Reservoir bogs are listed on the state Cultural Resources Inventory, but many of those items are associated with millwork, fishing, and farming, according to historical commission Chairman Sheryl Kozens-Long.
The historical commission members addressed the issue at their meeting last week, and though they did not specifically designate the river itself historically significant, they voted unanimously that it is a contributing factor to the significance of those three bogs.
In its decision, the Community Preservation Committee used that determination along with an analysis from preservation consultant Eric Dray, which describes the property as a “historic vernacular landscape” and said that documentation would be necessary in order to fund the project.
Mr. Dray wrote that, if approved, the project would have to abide by the Secretary of Interior Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties. In his memo, he included a 10-item list summarizing those standards, which include avoiding removal of any character-defining features, no changes which create a false sense of history, and preserving “changes that have become significant.”
The burden of adhering to those standards was something that committee member Patti B. Haney said that she did not want the group to be tied to. “You have to fit into the little tiny box that we’re given,” she said.
Calling the restoration a “very important project,” committee member Peter L. Clark said he was concerned that it was one of many such projects “for which there should by town money,” but is instead “getting squeezed into our realm.”
“I wish the town could make money available to do these things,” he said.
“The town should see this as logical and needed and fund it instead of making us trim the corners off it,” committee Chairman Barbara P. Schneider echoed.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, working group Chairman Gregory S. Pinto urged the committee to reconsider, saying that the group would do what it takes to see the river designated as a historic resource.
He said they have documentation on the historic significance of the property and the herring fishery is “described in some detail” in The Book of Falmouth.
Regarding the concerns about so much oversight, Mr. Pinto said that they currently have the oversight of the conservation commission, selectmen, department of natural resources, and the historical commission.
But Ms. Haney said that if the application were brought to Town Meeting, its members would look at Mr. Dray’s three-page memo “under a magnifying glass.”
“I just feel bad that it’s so restrictive, but it is,” she said.
The committee also voted on five other applications for funding last night.
Though the two committee members assigned to review an application by the Coastal Ponds Management Committee decided that it would not be eligible for funding, it ultimately passed.  
The application seeks $50,000 to conduct shellfish habitat assessment studies of Bournes Pond and Eel Pond.
Community preservation funds were used to conduct a shellfish study of Green Pond, which is now complete and being used to develop a management plan for the waterway, as well as a shellfish study of West Falmouth Harbor, which is underway.
Committee members expressed concerns with funding the new study when the other management plans are not yet complete, but coastal pond committee member Elizabeth H. Gladfelter said the studies will be used to provide baselines for those waterways that can be used when town committees make policy decisions.
Kevin P. Andrade and Ms. Haney voted against recommending funding for the project, but the rest of the committee voted in favor.
They also approved reallocating about $21,000 for the completion of the Sandwich Road athletic fields.
The project has so far received $480,000 in community preservation funds, but bids for the second phase, which includes the installation of an irrigation system and well, electrical service, and parking lot improvements, came in much higher than the recreation department had anticipated, according to recreation department Director Helen Kennedy.
Town Engineer Gaetano G. Calise was on hand at the meeting last night and offered to drop the plan for parking, which amounted to $35,000 of the original request for $56,000, leaving $21,000 to complete the irrigation.
The committee voted against an application for just over $10,000 to repair a fence along the Mostly Hall property on the Village Green, with some committee members wondering, in Dr. Clark’s words, whether the public benefit “climbs high enough.”
But its owner, Rene N. Poirier, explained that though the property is private, he allows the Falmouth Historical Society to bring tours 100 feet onto it.
Mr. Herbst showed the committee a real estate listing for the property, though Mr. Poirier assured them that the restoration of the fence would not change the amount for which he is selling it.
The application is the committee’s first for a private property, so Assistant Town Planner Jessica K. Erickson recommended that they work to develop some guidelines for such applications before they approve one, “so it’s not first-come, first-served.”
“We can’t penalize this person for being the first applicant,” Mr. Herbst replied. He and Melissa B. Freitag voted in favor of the project, but the rest of the committee voted against it.
The committee unanimously agreed that the restoration of windows at the nonprofit Woods Hole Library was eligible and meritorious, and recommended that Town Meeting fund the full amount requested, approximately $50,000.
They decided to only fund half of an application for $40,000 toward the restoration of an ice house on the Highfield Hall property.
Some committee members expressed reservations about the proposed details for the ice house, which, because of safety issues, would have viewing windows for the public in lieu of entry, and others brought up concerns that the group had promised Town Meeting it would not use taxpayer money for the project.  
A request for $68,000 for Spohr Gardens was withdrawn.

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