Parks and Recreation Jointly with Waterways Commission Meeting May 12, 2026

Chris. Okay.

Okay.

I'm going to call the meeting uh park board meeting to order at um what time is it?

5:15.

5:15.

Uh motion for the minutes.

Motion uh motion for the minutes.

Second.

All those in favor?

I.

Any discussion? Nope. Motion carries.

Okay. We need uh we're going to go into new bu B bu uh business. We're having a joint meeting with the waterways management commission and we have to uh I need a roll call. Well, madam chair, I would like to uh make a recommendation that we open up our meeting with the waterways um for the joint meeting.

Second.

All those in favor? All right.

Okay.

Thank Madam Chairman, I'd like to suspend our meeting with waterways and go into the open meeting for the public uh response to the AON against it point um potential improvements.

Okay. Motion made.

Yep. Second.

All those in favor?

Roll call vote ma'am.

Roll call vote.

Yep.

Joe Vier, yes.

Jim Vier, yes.

Joan Burau, yes.

Waterways.

Now, we're going to call our I'm sorry.

We called the joint meeting to order.

Now, we're all going go we're all going to go into the open meeting. So, we need a roll call voice vote in order to go to that meeting.

All right. Roger.

Roger race.

D. Yes.

Eli Pow.

James Simmons.

Okay.

Madam Chair, sorry.

Okay.

Having technical difficulties. Sorry.

Yeah. We need new tech.

For whatever reason, the service new tech guy.

I just want to make sure my phone is off. Might be a better Who's presenting at the meeting, this meeting today.

Who are you?

My name is Joe James. I'm architect.

Can you step up to the mic, sir, please?

Well, we need to get this going. Joe, hold.

We have technical difficulties.

My name is Joseph James. I'm a landscape architect with a Ponomous Practice out of Bristol, Rhode Island.

My computer is not compatible with your system and it's not projecting without crazy glitches. So, we're trying to get the presentation.

Okay. Take it. Okay.

Okay.

Could you just give us a little background on your architectural firm?

Uh yeah. Yeah. Um I started my office autonomous practice um for about four years ago after working in Cambridge for almost 20 years for an office. I've done a number of different uh types of p uh types of projects ranging from college campuses and master plans to public parks to high-end residential. Currently I have work with the town of Bristol, Rhode Island where I'm located. I have um this

project, a couple of hand uh high-end residential projects and uh agricultural education center in Marlboro uh New York in Brooklyn.

Um I'm a licensed pract landscape architect here in Massachusetts, in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York.

Yeah, we good to go.

Send that over.

Send it again.

You can send it to Becky's email. We can put it up on there.

Whatever you need.

I just need Yeah. Sent to my I sent it to your Were you on the We couldn't get on his for whatever reason. So, sorry.

Sorry.

Wasn't planning on today.

Just wait on that. That's just cut the screen off for a minute.

Well, good turnout for this. Thanks for all he showing up today.

Was it sent from Christine?

Are we live right now?

Yeah, I noticed.

Joe, was it sent from you or Christine?

Press it. Turn it off.

Oh my god, this thing is just so Steve, how's the temperature of the water out there?

Still cold.

It's not stopping everyone from coming back though, but in the low 40s.

We're waiting.

Want to do your little stick that you now open? You got office hours for your stickers, right? I saw that online today.

Meet and greet.

Coffee and donuts.

Meet and greet with a hobby master.

Technical difficulties.

Sure. There'll be lines out the door.

Oh yeah.

People do coffee.

Maybe bring your own.

Oh, you know you ain't buying them.

So James. Oh my god. We're getting there. Sorry.

Hour and a half to go.

164.

All right. So, the attachment isn't I don't know.

I don't know.

Well, I don't see.

How we doing down there?

Hi Sherry.

Hi.

How are we doing down there?

That's outside my That's outside.

No idea.

Here that was wasn't the tech.

Yeah, I think that I think that the system that he has is not compatible to the system here at the time.

Go ahead.

Which is I need to get out of that email. Oh, maybe here. Guess they should have tried this.

Yeah, we're almost out of there.

There we go.

Time to get them in.

It's It's in the deleted ones.

I put it there.

I was going to say don't don't get greedy.

Sell it and take the cash.

That's where I was though.

System.

What are you going to do after that?

It's not showing garage.

It has that like falling down out building a slab for the garage. There's the Where's the attachment all the way on that?

That' be nice.

Yeah. Yeah. For a couple months.

Might just get rid of everything.

Yeah. I would take You want to try again?

What is the problem? Jesus in California.

Sometime before December.

Same.

And you know why? I pulled a shaft on it the other day.

Unless you're really really handing.

Yeah. Got to rebuild the shaft system again.

The the windows in this week do some wiring and then easy there. One of the my neighbors with You can somebody I'm done with this hasn't run in two years.

Oh probably don't need a water pump to be honest.

Yeah.

Somebody else has get way longer out of those things if you think. Trust me right now.

Window of service. I don't know.

No, no, it's it went before. Okay.

Just they took a while. They can handle the mud and stuff. I run my back and they can handle a lot.

Yeah. Seriously.

It's a great

question.

They're favorable in terms of warranty and they're pretty pretty good price point.

that Mike over there.

Good guy.

I know.

He's a mechanic.

They own Atlantic.

We'll take It's going to take a second.

Just cuz it's large.

He's a micro mat. I can't. He's got a regulator. Blue one.

You got a nice business over there.

Yeah, they're right. They're jamming.

re I used to see he likes to fish. He fishes a lot. I think he's got a little kid now.

He's in the same boat as me.

I got out in the river last night. It was unbelievable. It was so good.

Fishing.

Yeah, fishing was great. Really was great.

Yeah.

We're waiting for the email to be sent.

The email from him to me. We're just waiting for it to be sent. It's the server. It's just taking its time. It's a big file.

What's the uh your computer doesn't The system wasn't hooking up to his Mac.

Wasn't it wasn't reading it.

Is there

It's still It's still thinking it.

I just I don't know why it's don't even know what they want to talk about. Now it's like So we may have to do a second take on this.

It is funny so many meetings at work and it's like I don't know that's too tricky for me. I can do that.

Yeah, leave it on Netflix time.

Yeah, that way you can hear but we're not talking about but in the meantime it's been telegraphed to the uh I think miss the old chalkboard flip chats powerpoint presentation

just not best laid plans.

Here we are.

It's coming right up on my phone, but I just can't I guess out of my pocket.

It's taking it's taking me 40 years to figure that out.

If the high school was over here, we just get one of their kids. Get one of those girls from home. They'll fix the car.

I just tried descending it for myself to There we go.

Is this a different version of the presentation than what was on the website?

No.

All right.

Can we just pull it up off?

Hold. I I It's coming.

I think Maybe.

All right. Yay.

Sheesh.

You have it now.

Yes.

We're back live.

Just got to get it on the big screen and we're good to go. We had a halftime show in the beginning.

Sorry.

Okay. Call the meeting to order again. I think our technology has been issue has been rectified. So, okay. So, battery power is you got it.

Close.

All right.

Almost.

We're almost You're almost the winner, Mike. It's not getting from here to there.

We had to unplug so I can find it.

There it is. Here we go.

Okay, there we go.

You want me just scroll when you want me to.

I mean, do you want to just put just Yeah, we'll just get this started.

Yeah, we don't have to do any of this.

This is all right.

So, there's And it doesn't You can't zoom in anymore.

on the bottom right.

Oh, I see. It's hard.

That's not it.

Doing anything.

Do I need to download it?

I think it has download.

Don't do that.

Um, that's all right.

You could just reintroduce yourself and take it.

Well, thank you all for your patience.

Apologize for uh technical difficulties.

I'm Joe James. I'm a landscape architect with Autonomous Practice. We're an office in Bristol, Rhode Island. Um I've been working with the Brewster Thornon Design Group architects and PAR Corporation who are civil engineers over the last few months to develop a feasibility study um for the Aonaganset Park and Das or Arthur Das Landing.

All right. What do we got here now?

I don't know. Just try exit.

Just exit out.

X X.

Oh jeez.

Dear Lord.

No.

No. No. No. No. No. We're so close.

Let's stop this.

Oh my lord, guys.

Blood block. All right. Okay. All right.

Our agenda for today is to go through the goals. um what we've heard about this project, walk through some analysis and assessment, kind of what we saw, what we studied about the properties, and to walk through some opportunities and some preliminary concepts for the park and for the landing. So the goals scroll on this um the goals were established by the original RFP that brought us to this

project but also in conversation with the parks and recck department, the harbor master and the planning director.

So the first goal is really to establish the highest and best use for the property. Um to maximize the use to protect the property from sea level rise and from natural disaster to provide economic benefit to the town to encourage public use and to provide accessibility throughout the site wherever possible. Um so this study does not is not the first of these types of studies. This builds upon previous

studies such as the open space and recreation plan. Um, specifically the goals of providing a range of active and passive recreational facilities and programs that address the needs of all Dartmouth residents, increase and improve access for water-based recreation, including activities in and around Dartmouth's coastal and inland waters, increase and improve access to open space holdings, for active use and

passive recreation enjoyment, provide recreational programming that promotes opportunities for lifelong involvement, and for activities of people for all ages and all abilities and to develop new facilities andor upgrade or repurpose existing facilities to enhance recreational use and opportunities.

This also builds from the pattern uh harbor management plan specifically in the categories of land use, recreational use, living marine resources, public access, and flooding and climate change.

I won't go through all of the different specific goals, but it um should be able to help facilitate a number of these and a preliminary concept should reflect that. So, jumping into analysis and observations.

So, we're going to start with elev the elevation of the land and flooding. We know that the land's susceptible to flooding um and rising sea level and the effects of that are visible especially at the parking areas and behind the existing seaw walls. Um, we read this, it correlates to the report from the sustainable coastal solutions on the left hand side from uh June of 2022. Um,

it's probably gotten a little bit worse since the report um came out. Um, so the report noted a number of kind of low spots vulnerable at elevation four in um of above sea level. And as we look at an elevation mapping, the blue is progressively get starting at uh low darkest color is sea level and then it goes up to an elevation of um 10 on site or eight on site, excuse me. Um the

orange line here is the the number four contour. So those are the areas that we're seeing kind of sea level rise or seed come in. Um, you should note that there's a few actual closed contours inside near the the uh basketball courts, which means that water is getting kind of trapped in there at times. It doesn't seem to drain out um or at least from the elevation model. Um

Um, finally, it's actually worth noting that the FEMA flood line for this property is at elevation 21, 10 feet higher than the um the actual land itself. And so, new buildings have to be 2 feet above that. So, any kind of new um structures would need to kind of accommodate um adjustments or you accommodate that and also be you know certainly cognizant of the risk of it.

Um so we feel like there's an opportunity here um to use hard and soft measures to reinforce the shoreline wherever we can um and also understand that the site will be at risk throughout its um throughout its lifetime.

Moving on to vegetation.

So uh in terms of vegetation, the landing side has a row of street trees in here. Um but otherwise the extent of pavement really kind of limits the opportunities for trees and other vegetation. The park side um is sparssely populated with trees and there's hardly any other kind of shrub or ground covers um plantings at the park itself. Um it's mostly primarily lawn um and then the beach. Uh while the

exposure might be nice for the beach um you know for a day on the beach otherwise the playground and the picnic areas seem to kind of suffer from a lack of shade. So I think an opportunity here would be that um adding trees to the site um specifically near programmed areas such as the playgrounds and the parks and the the kind of swings and picnic area. Um, we would do this not

obscuring any of the kind of sight lines associated with the concert area and certainly not obstruct any kind of potential for overflow parking associated with the concerts. Um, additionally any kind of other natural areas in in the form of a vegetative burm or a living shoreline could truly add uh visual interest as well as natural habitat for the property while um providing resiliency uh to storm surges.

Those are a few images of uh the vegetation on the site.

In terms of program, you know, it's a good mix of active and passive uses, although what we've heard is that there are some fan favorites associated with the park. Um and there are some that are kind of less used. Uh overall we understand you know the the um the gazebo and the stage is very popular with the uh summer concert activities.

Um as well as the bucket and the public beach, the picnic area. Um basketball court and the u volleyball court get a little bit less use. Um we understand basketballs may be used more just associated with concerts and volleyball could potentially even be less than that.

So I think there's an opportunity to provide pro provide better access to these um program uses in terms of vehicular circulation.

Um landing side is very well organized um in terms of its parking spaces and it seems to work for boat launches and the other kind of activities associated with the landing side. The park side has a number of spaces that are clearly marked and indicated, especially for ADA spaces kind of up at the the top of the lot, but otherwise there is nothing really indicating where people park and how it

should be organized as a parking parking lot. And that could potentially limit the amount of parking you could actually have on the lot.

So, you know, we see um you know, it's very unclear where actually people should park when you kind of come in the drive.

And then there's kind of evidence of uh donuts and other kind of vehicular mischief that might take place um by people driving around on the parking areas. So, the opportunity here is really kind of thinking through some kind of organizing features, whether it's um ballards or um wheel stops or post and chains, something that could actually help organize the site um in terms of parking spaces and kind of

limit any kind of uh vehicular mischief on the site.

Um in terms of pedestrian circulation, um there's limited accessible circulation. um pedestrian paths and each one happens to kind of dead end at a feature. You know, either a bench or you go out to the gazebo and then back back to the parking areas or other areas or out to the beach. Um there are some breaks between the guardrail that separates the landing and the park. Um but there's no real accessible path that

connects the two. Um so a good opportunity could be a potential harbor walk on the landing side that could connect um to a new circuit within the park. We also note that there are some kind of just simple connections that could be made, you know, either between the different parcels or, you know, there's paths that abruptly stop when you enter the park. Additionally, um, you know, accessible connections

aren't really made from the parking spaces to locations in the park. You can see on the right there's right at the ADA spaces, there's no path that connects you to the sidewalk, just beyond the uh, post and chain.

In terms of lighting, uh the site tends to be a little bit underlit for the park. However, the limited hours kind of work with that, you know, closing early.

Um and I think a gate could help potentially with um safety for the evening, but it could really uh benefit overall with some some improved lighting. Um the tall height of the light and the kind of 45 degree angle that they project at works good for concerts because there's limited light, so they're trying to, you know, reach out as far as they can. However, we understand that they kind of cast a

glare across the harbor because you can see them um from a long distance.

Um in terms of the structure, generally speaking, the structures are in pretty decent shape. There was some exterior painting and lighting upgrades needed.

The electric outlet at the gazebo should be raised because of sea level rise and potential flooding. Um the interior space at the the bucket in the concession stands uh is somewhat constrained in terms of its organization. It could be benefit uh benefited by a more efficient layout. Um the lavatories at the bucket concessions um need a few minor modifications uh so that ADA bathrooms are actually

compliant. They're just slightly out of compliant right now. Um lastly, the harbor office is kind of small. We understand the harbor master would like to move over to uh the site or like be benefited u by relocating to the site as opposed to the attic space across the bridge. So um now jumping into opportunities and preliminary concepts.

So, we looked at uh some primary uh opportunities to implement hard and soft resiliency solutions along the waterfront to protect the property from sea level rise as best we can. To expand and enhance natural areas associated with those kind of soft solutions. To provide shade in the form of trees to help encourage public use throughout the year. To reorganize parking. to expand access

while maximizing and encouraging public use and promoting accessibility.

Um to add to existing circulation paths to create accessible circuits and expand passive use for the site and to improve lighting for nighttime safety.

So here's a preliminary concept plan for the site. Um this addresses all of these opportunities and there's a slight variation on this that we'll show also.

So you can see from here the parking has been reorganized. Um it's a similar footprint as before, but we've um uh paved it and striped it and organized it so you could maximize parking spaces. Um we've distributed ADA parking. So there are spaces associated with the bucket and the concession stands in the picnic area. And there's ADA spaces associated with the park.

um the uh paving because it's been paved, it's an impervious surface would require pre-treatment for um any kind of runoff. So, we've we've could done you could do that in the space in between the the landing and the um parking area of the park or a series of uh vegetated natural areas just north of the parking area.

In terms of circulation, we've added some circulation uh expanded the path network and um provided circuits and options that connect all the different features. We've provided uh additional trees on the site at benches and picnic tables while creating kind of two primary lawn spaces, one associated with the the um gazebo and the concert area and then one for overflow parking. And

then the plan shows two locations for a relocated Harbor Master office. The first is actually located above the the um the bathroom portion of the bucket here on a second floor and this the other location is potentially on the asphalt of the parking or the uh basketball court. So breaking this down in a little bit more detail, looking at hard solutions at the waterfront, the waterfront resiliency solutions at the

landing are primarily hard solutions um rebuilding and reinforcing what already exists such as the uh the stone seaw wall or pre-cast seaw wall uh next to the dinghy um dingy's uh parking area.

and then a re um a reinstated bulkhead protecting the marina and then a seaw wall with revetment transitioning into simply just revetment over towards the park area. And so these are examples of what that would look like. You know the stone seaw wall, the sheep pile bulkhead revetment with seaw wall and also just the revetment.

And then as you move closer to the park, we're thinking about transitioning to more soft solutions for the water's edge, thinking about a living shoreline at the point, and then series of constructed dunes on the backside and vegetated BMS to help um provide resiliency.

So, some of that takes context clues from all of the expansive natural areas here in B uh Dartmouth and also thinking about um Kima State Park in Warwick as a a precedent where there's kind of a vegetated buffer of planting between the shoreline and the parking areas and the park.

Um, in terms of vegetation, this is an expansive um, planting of additional trees that would frame a space associated with the gazebo area, provide shade for the benches and the areas along um, the uh, playground and then associated with the swings and other areas of benches and uh, picnic tables.

In terms of uh vehicular circulation, you know, this is organizing the site um to provide um up to around 100 parking spaces for the park side primarily on asphalt, but we'd still have the gravel at the bucket and then overflow on the lawn during concerts.

And in terms of circulation, the orange is showing the circ the network of paths. So creating a circuit that people could kind of um wander through the park and kind of make a loop and um expand the kind of passive uh recreational use, but then also connect over to the landing and connect to a harbor walk sitting on top of the new seaw wall over to um the pier marina.

kind of an alternate of this would focus more on a parking lot that is uh kind of associated with the bucket, more of a paved lot associated with the bucket and then a larger um gravel and lawn lot. So something that would be more impervious to um to uh or sorry more pvious for water and creating a kind of a a gravel drive surface with lawn um parking areas and then organizing that with the um

post and chain that you have as a precedent already on the the site. Um, so that would get you a similar number of spaces around 97. Um, and kind of organize in a different way. Just looking at options for that. Um, a good precedent for that is like Casey Farm in Saunderstown where there is gravel drives and then a series of parking areas that are separated by uh kind of wooden wheel stops that they've

they've created.

circulation on this is or pedestrian circulation is quite similar. Um, but it would still connect to all of the different paved areas of ADA spaces and then over to the harbor uh and the marina landing side.

In terms of lighting, the first concept really just kind of simply relocates the existing figure uh fixtures to work with the parking areas as reconfigured.

um they would still be the kind of not uh they would kind of be the semi- cututoff version where they're kind of pushing light out to a larger area. Um and then a second alternate to that would be thinking about more fixtures using full cut off fixtures that would kind of just primarily shine down on the lot. That would be, you know, something we would have to consider in terms of

park hours and whether or not something like that would make sense.

In terms of the architecture, um this is the bucket first floor plan. So, primarily uh there are interior renovations, you know, providing a shallow counter along the perimeter of the bucket in order to kind of um improve functionality and the service of the inside of it and a little bit of reorganization inside um kind of the back area in the kitchen. But then there's um there's an existing walk-in

here with an additional um kind of a small addition to it which would act as service and could potentially be used as a different service window. So you could maybe maybe order at the bucket and pick up hot food back at the kind of service window and then a potential awning over that to keep you know stay outside of the sun and stay outside of the rain.

In terms of the harbor masters building, we've looked at two option. This is a standalone structure that would be on the basketball court at the north portion of the parking area and would provide, you know, a good location that gives an expansive view of the entirety of the harbor. So the first floor is primarily um storage and kind of a walk a breakout area, breakout space, but the

primary office and the harbor master office and everything would be on the second floor raised above that 23 foot elevation.

An alternate for that would be the space above the bathrooms at the bucket, which would be just building on the existing building and um raising that up to raising a second floor on top of that, providing a harbor master, an office space here, and then providing a deck surrounding it with a you know large staircase going up to the top.

And thank you. So, we'll open up for lots of questions and lots of feedback.

And sorry if that was a little bit rushed and I apologize for how small it is on the screen.

It is on the website, correct?

Of the Yeah, I believe Jess posted it there.

Yes.

open it up to questions.

Yes.

Can you describe a bit what the process has been so far for gathering public feedback and also how you plan on incorporating that feedback like what mechanisms do you plan using on using to incorporate that feedback into this?

So this has been the feed the public feedback thus far. We've been working with um parks and rack and harbor master and the planning director to get feedback from them originally but this is the kind of moment of public feedback incorporating it will be in discussion with uh our clients and you all so uh we got to we want to this is an open meeting so I we have to have you on a

mic so I don't know how we're going to you can stand up and ask a question and go to the mic.

Is it on? I mean, yeah, you're on. It's great.

Doesn't sound like.

Yeah, if you can. Yeah, you have to go up to the Thank you.

delivery. Um, do you need us to identify or just ask question?

Yeah, you can. Just as long as people can hear it.

Uh, Edward Pico, 188 Hicksville Road.

Uh, two questions. one for board members and one for the uh designer. This is this project is currently not funded.

Correct.

Correct.

Okay.

Do we have a potential budget for what we're looking for for either of these variations just yet?

We we are seeing this this presentation for the first time. So that's that's not you know we we don't have that hasn't been discussed with the board yet.

Gotcha.

Can I answer also? Oh so a a budget is part of this study. We will prepare a kind of a high level cost estimate associated with this after this meeting and and and after we incorporate feedback. And I guess my second question which would be for you is on either of these designs what type of time frame would we be looking at for project development and completion?

That is a good question. Um typically something of this scale if you went from day one you have uh all of the funding in place and you start design through construction. This is probably a two-year project designed through construction.

I'm going to ask address the board members first to see if they have any questions be, you know, does anybody on the boardways? Okay.

Yeah.

Yes.

Thank you, Joe, for this uh uh presentation. Um why would you do a a parking area when you run into so much problems with runoff and things like that? Why wouldn't we just go right to the permeable um area and keep keep it simple that way?

I think we were we were looking at two options for it. Um but I think the gravel and lawn is it makes a lot of sense. It's obviously uh less expensive.

It is um it is a uh it requires a little bit of a different organization in order to understand where all the parking spaces is. And so one one thought with the striped spaces was about maximizing right number of spaces but but only a few as you indicated it's 92 versus 87 something like that.

Yeah. So it's it's negligible but would be have a nice permeable surface that certainly would be easier to live with.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Any other board members have any questions?

During this study, are we taking it into account? So, a lot of times when we have to do things at the beaches and the parks, we have to take into account the natural wildlife and the preservation of that. Will you be looking into any pieces of that of how we can not disrupt their anything like that?

Um I think if you know if we took this to further development yes absolutely but I think for this feasibility study um you know I think we're thinking about expanding natural areas for wildlife um not necessarily removing them as much.

Have you worked with uh parks and beaches in the past where you've had to do things like that?

Uh yes in parks and arboritums. Yes.

Okay.

I mean, looking at the presentation, um, I agree. I don't want any asphalt down there. I don't have a problem with it near the bucket. Um, which is fine.

Small, there's, uh, processed gravel right in there or or the asphalt, reclaimed asphalt that's there now. So, this permeable um, as far as the asphalt goes, that's a no-go to me. Um, it came to a vote and that's not acceptable. Uh, lighting is also concerned. Uh we are a basically dawn to dusk operation with the uh concerts going a little bit later, maybe 8:30ish or so. Uh we run

into a problem later in the year as we get closer to September as far as being dark. Uh and we actually start a little bit earlier on those days to try not to to get people out of there to get them home. Uh lighting thing, I I know that's a concern. Uh it has been um through the village for a long time uh with the light bleeding out over into the harbor.

Um even on the roadway a little bit. Uh we need do need lighting. I I agree. We need some type of lighting. Something that maybe we could turn on and off quickly uh at the entrances, even even the landing site. Uh we do have people coming at nighttime, so we need that. Um as far as dunes, um that was that was processed once before to us by another organization, other company that came in

uh several years back. Uh again, it's a no-go for us as far as a sighteline sight picture sitting on the beach looking out. Um, what they were trying to propose was basically a 8-ft dune with cutouts, which made no sense to me at all. Uh, cuz if you have a cutout, water can come through.

So, it doesn't really work. Um, we told him if you want to lay raise the land 10 ft all the way around, that'd be great, including the land. That would be wonderful. Then we have to worry about it for the next 200 years. Um, trees.

Um, our former planner, Donald Perry, I actually he had he had I'm not sure if he has it now, uh, different type of trees that were would actually survive down there. I mean, we have planted some trees, but the salt water and the the acidic soil that's there has a tendency of just killing them. So, I don't know what type of trees I don't know if you can if you if you have that in mind,

what type of trees we're looking at. We wouldn't want anything too tall um because they just fall over because of the soil that's there. Um the picnic area like you you talked about picnic tables and benches. We I think that's wonderful as far as the walkway uh throughout the park. I mean we did some we did some things there. Um some of the ones you showed was as a result of the DPW when they uh redid

Gulf Road uh part of the state's requirements that they had to have handicap ramps and you can't have it to gravel, you have to have it to concrete.

So those pathways to nowhere had nothing to do with us. that was just something they had to have for the ADA, as you well know. Um, as far as tying it into the walkway to the village, I think it's wonderful.

Uh, the cutouts between the landing and the um the park works out well for the voters if our bathrooms are open and they come over and do that. I would like to see one more thing. Uh, and I know that'd be on the water side where that um walkway would be on the back side of it near Monkey towards Monkey Island, that area there. some type of a canoe uh landing area where people who were in

kayaks and canoes, non-motorized boats because it's pretty shallow there could come in an area where they could tie up and come to the park if they wanted to from that end of it. Some of the boaters the beach Joe or well soft.

Yeah. So even if it's a small floating dock, you know, something like maybe at the yach club has a small dock on that end. We talked about this once before, Steve, I think a while back. Even with the other one, when they were talking about putting that retaining wall with a with an actual boardwalk on that side there on top of it, someplace where the people could sit and overlook that area.

Something that instead of them coming into your landing side because there are a lot of people on the boats that'll just kind of, you know, yeah, they'll just come over. I mean, but you know, people who come over with there's a lot of people on small watercraft or whatever, even non-motorized, they could come in tie up there, not interfere with the commercial and the recreational side

of the land, and they can come over to our side and still have access if they want to come in. Again, bathrooms, the bucket, that type of thing. U, that's something that I think we've talked about uh in the past as our board uh during that presentation. So, I think that's something I don't know if you can maybe incorporate that on that back section there where the the um like past the gizbo.

No, around the car. Keep going. Keep on going. Right in that area there. There.

It's very shallow there.

Yeah. Yeah.

Um especially low tide. But that's a would be a great place again for somebody who has a rowboat or something else that because there are a lot of moorings in that area. instead of them coming in and interfering with the the other side where the new with the new area was built. That's something they could come there and access that point.

Again, just as another opportunity, you know, non-motorized type thing.

That beach behind the gazebo where you had the uh kayak rental. Yes, that that was a good place for that. Um and then from there all the way down to again we can we can work on that area there. It's kind of like a non-utilized area. Um, it's kind of, you know, the vegetation is not so much tidal thing, but it's just a lot of muck that's back there. But I think that that's something

where we need separation from the beach area. Obviously, I mean, nothing motorized there. We don't allow that.

But along that corner there, if there's going to be some type of a walkway, that may be an area where we can expand that type of recreation, uh, that portion of it, and that will tie into the walkway itself. Um, as far as the recreational component, the uh basketball court and the uh volleyball court, we're not going to go backwards in recreation. We would more expand those than anything else. So again,

you're talking about hard stops, that's a hard stop, at least for me in my vote.

Um, we don't have enough recreational space in this town to begin with, never mind taking things away. Um, and down that part of the town, we have the new playground facility that has just been within the last couple of years. uh we want quite honestly want to expand more on that and provide more recreation uh the people if possible with our limited resources that we have. So to take

anything away again is not something that from the park from my perspective I won't say park because I won't speak for them from my perspective is a hard no for that. Um, other than that, I like the concept of the grass, you know, and a few other things. There's some, you know, modern things like handicap. I'm all in fixing the bathroom. Not sure what you're talking about. Maybe it's

something if you send it to us, if you send it to our uh person, if we send it to to Becky forest, we may be able to incorporate that right now uh in our budget because we don't want to be deficient in that. and even the bucket because we know there's no money for this at all, but even if they sent that over to us, again, we may be able to accomplish that internally to try to

fix some of those things that are there.

Madam Chairman, that's all I have.

Okay.

Anyone else on the board? Let me Jim to Okay.

Yes, Steve. I brought this up at a prior meeting, but the Wednesday night concerts have been going on and they will go on and we're managing traffic flow with rope, saworse, cones, and I asked if interested in it. Something that could be a semi-permanent gate type thing that would work better. And it's not so much for us, but it would help regulate and then everything just gets pushed away or folded away rather than

put in the shed. And I don't know if that's something the park department's interested in, but making it work easily as far as what the the flow in and out of the between the landing.

Right. Right now where you put up the rope to stop traffic, that's cones, rope, saw horses. So, if there were a gate that opened when the concert's over and a gate that closed to separate the two sides when the concert is being set up, rather than just pulling out ropes, you've got a gate there. That might also help with nighttime whatever on on your side of it or on our side.

Probably on our side because right now we're cutting the landing side in half and oh, put some type of a of an obstruction there to a swinging gate. And that's something that I think if you talk I mean again If it could be designed as part of this about that or the concept could be laid out as part of this. We could do that before we get into a big project.

That's feasible.

Okay. All right. So, I think she was first. So, that girl that Sam, could you bring?

Thank you.

Hi, how are you? Um, my name is Lauren Hely. I'm in the Dartmouth Community Band. So, we do the concerts on Tuesday nights. Um, they're free concerts. Uh last year we had about 67 members. We don't necessarily all go to every concert, but um this looks really nice.

Um there are some things that Parks and Wreck have been really generous to provide for us kind of um cuz we're all volunteer. No one gets paid. Um we just subsist off of, you know, our own funds and donations. Um so they've been really kind as to allow us a place to store music stands, um chairs, and they opened the gates for us. Um, one thing that I did notice based on your plans here is

that there is kind of like a path. I'm not sure how much of it is real path and how much of it is just grass, but between the storage area that's like between the bathrooms and the gazebo is where we have a like music stand rack that gets kind of like pushed out to the gazebo every Tuesday. And so that's been difficult for us to basically in general get anything from kind of parking lot

area to the gazebo itself.

And um they've also allowed us to drive through the gate that is sort of there now that they have locked um to park a couple cars behind the gazebo. I don't know if you guys do that for Wednesdays as well, but um it's helpful in terms of loading like you know big drums and things like that. So I would say for us definitely having a you know we don't

have to pave the whole thing but if we had a few paved walkways especially in that one zone to get from parking lot to gazebo would be helpful because we can't wheel instruments and stuff like that because it's all pretty much smaller wheels.

Yep. And then you use the the little there's a storage shed as well or is that No. So we don't use a storage shed.

That's it. That's behind.

If you go to the picture with the bathrooms, that's where and it says storage and there's a sump pump in there. That's what we use. Um, what would be awesome in our magic future plan is if we had a little spot extra to put some music during the summer because how we do it right now is all the music lives in my basement and then every week I put it into my car and I drive it

there. Um, and I have to dump my whole car pretty much to fit it all in there every week. So, even if it was just a seasonal storage and it's not necessarily like perfect flood storage, um, that would be awesome for us to leave a few boxes of music with our folders so that we don't have to take it out every time. And then one thing that you didn't mention, but I think in terms

of just enjoyment of the space between the band stuff and just like when I bring my son to the beach and stuff like that is I do notice that there is a large like geese population and so the geese are kind of all over the grass and now the grass is not really a great place to lay your blanket down or whatever. Um, so I know there are things you can do. I'm not super familiar with

exactly what, but I know there are some like things that geese sort of don't like that you can put in place. And that's something that I think could be helpful in increased usage of the grass area in general. Like you could have a little pickup frisbee game there if you wanted to. Um because the grass itself would be kind of a bit nicer.

Thank you.

I think was there someone else? There was uh Mr.

Pink.

Okay. Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Um my name is Andrea Maha. My husband and I have lived just above the village on Elm Street for the last 10 years. I have a bird's eye view from my kitchen window of all the pedestrian traffic going up and down. I I've noticed over the years we have so many more young families, so many more children who are very autonomous going out on their bicycles. I did not see any bicycle

storage. I'm sure that's something that would have been considered but a place to put bicycles. The other thing and and I I could be wrong, but I think the pathway from the village goes across the street from the entrance to a Panagansa Park. Is there a dedicated pedestrian entrance that we could do like we did in the village and light up so people people that come across a bridge from

the west side of Ghill are usually traveling reasonably fast and little kids sometimes don't make wise decisions. I would I would love to see them pro protected as much as possible.

And that's it I think.

Thank you. There is um there is bike storage there now. I am one of those little families that rides their bike to but there is bike storage.

Yeah, I imagine if it's if it's there now, the parks department is not going to go back remove it.

Yeah, we probably just didn't identify it on the You're looking for something physically on Gulf Road as a um a push button type walkway sign. Is that what you're looking for? All right.

We installed in the village if you're crossing flashing crosswalk at this in the in the plan the aerial you're talking about right there at the entrance at the West Smith Neck Road separating the drive from people walking in. So you don't have Can you give her the microphone back?

The microphone back. What you're what you're explaining, ma'am, is the there is a separate if you in one of the pictures there, we I talked about the uh handicap accessible walkway that goes to nowhere. That is the entrance for pedestrians. It's right there. It's an actual cutout in the fence for that. It's adjacent to the driveway.

It's in that area because it goes and it coincides with a crosswalk that goes across the street to the existing sidewalk that's there.

I see that was put in by the DPW. So, if if what if I get you right, you're looking for some type of the walkway signage. uh the the one with the actually push button crosswalk thing at that location there.

If we are going to increase opportunities for recreation, I think that draws more people. Some of them may or may not be aware of where the crossing is. So I think I think designating it in a way that everybody knows where it is as well as all the drivers know where it is also we can we can certainly be a lot more that's probably going to be a DPW thing because it is certain restrictions. I

believe there needs to be a a roadway speed study conducted there for uh a pedestrian count before they can put those up legally.

Yeah.

Um so that would be something that the engineer would have to reach out to the DPW and have or maybe they can do it themselves. I know you guys do you guys do roadway work too.

I don't typically do roadway work.

That would be something that but our engineers on the team do do roadway work.

That would have to be there.

We have to go through a DP.

That would have to be the uniform code.

They'd have to follow that rule there. I know there's a chapter in section, I think it's 852, 855 in Massachusetts specifically that discusses midream crosswalk signs like that. I think we only have two of them in town. So, that has to be done. This would be a speed study, road study done that road there if I if my memory serves me correct.

That would be a DPW thing, which is fine. I think it's a great idea.

You want me to call them?

No, no, no. It'd be part of it'd be part of the process for that. I mean it could be a recommendation in this feasibility study that comes out of it right that just recommends to DPW to I would appreciate that I thank you very much for the consideration okay you had to question I'm gonna forgo because my concern was basically what was the traffic okay you're in front of you this gentleman this

one this gentleman in front up front here.

Okay, go ahead.

I have it first. I have it first. He's my neighbor. I have uh my name is Walt Suchan. I live on Salt Creek Road and uh I did send an email to um uh Dan from the the planning commission. Is that Yeah, we have a Okay. Well, let me let me just tell you some of the details because that crossing right there and uh we we take it often going to the park. Um

so that that crossing when you go to that crossing you look you look to your left which is the uh coming from the west and Gulf Road that the cars are coming at the Gulf Road speed and they come around a corner and you they don't appear right away and they're often going I say 40 miles an hour is the speed on Gulf road coming from the other direction from town that's when people are accelerating

to go on Gulf Road. So this is the first thing you face and then so what kind of warning do the uh drivers have? They have the only warning they have is at the crosswalk on either side of the crosswalk there's a utility pole and there is a sign that says you know pedestrian crosswalk but it's right at the crosswalk and each way there's only a sign on one side of the road. So, you're looking and

you say, "Okay, on this side I'm looking, but the other side there's no sign."

And there are no other signs on the road to give the uh driver's warning. There's there's nothing on Gulf Road that there's something coming up.

And there are no speed limit signs on Gulf Road except except if you're coming from the west, you go past the crosswalk, past the uh uh the park and then where the uh town landing starts, there has been a 25 mile per hour warning sign put up now because says you're going to make a curve and there's Smith Neck Road and then you have a couple of signs on the

bridge that say 25 miles an hour. So this is this is a problem for people crossing. And if you go into town and you can into the village, you can see nice the crosswalk that was put up with all kinds of signs and blinking lights and whatnot.

You know, I I think it's important that this be corrected quickly and before something happens and before this project is implemented.

Uh just another subject very simple. I didn't I didn't understand on the u I understand there trees and whatnot. What about the grass? Is there really going to be grass?

I mean that that that surface there was terrible and I I I don't know does anyone else have any comments about that?

You mow it.

You mow it. There's nothing there.

It is pretty depleted in its condition, right? It's pretty thin.

If you go out there now, there's nothing.

It's mostly It's mostly sand in the parking lot.

It's what?

In the parking lot. It's not in the park.

It's the parking lot. You're saying the grass is depleted there.

Not the parking lot, the rest of the park.

Where where the where the concert is, there's grass there. And unfortunately, this the way the soil I think I we kind of touched upon that that because of the salt and the type of material that's there now.

Well, anyway. Well, that's that's probably why the grass is like that. We we So that's so that's so that's how it has to be.

Okay.

Okay. What are we going to do?

Okay. Uh Gary Juvenile. I live on Salt Creek Road. Uh I've been in town here about 34 years living on the same street. Uh we've had quite a tremendous uh population growth, particularly in drivers up and down the streets. And I I want to just reiterate a couple of the points that Walt had brought forward in regard to safety. I drive out of that street, Salt Creek, every day. Take a

left, take a right, look left, look right every time. But between the telephone pole or the tangent coming from the uh Dykes bridge into town, into the village, uh you've got about 275, maybe 300 ft at most. Cars traveling 40 if they're doing 40. A lot of times they're coming down there at 50 and 60.

You've got about 3 seconds to get out of there. your vehicle by the time you turn and start accelerating, they are right on your tail. So, I agree with Walt. I think safety has got to be addressed uh immediately. We've already seen the death of one young man hitting the bridge. Uh just a few weeks ago, we've had a vehicle that ran into the telephone pole. I've been out walking

when young kids have come out of the park burning rubber and have actually gone up onto the sidewalk.

So, it's a very serious problem. They go up and down our street burning rubber.

Um, I think it would be really prudent for the town to think about some of the long speed bumps on either side of that area approaching the park that would, you know, kind of force a slowdown into the, you know, 30 mph zone. Something that's a bit more reasonable for passing that area. And I think most people realize on the bridge, although it's 25, you know, if you're doing 30, there's

tailgating it'll push it to 40. I mean, there's a lot of pressure. And then it's always the joy ride coming from the village over the bridge where a lot of the cars like to just step on it and you know zoom down there and we've all been young. I think we all understand that.

But safety is predominant. We had a woman that was killed on the you know the peyram side of the bridge and so the accidents have been there. We've already had two deaths. We've had accidents. You know to ignore the request I think would be uh inappropriate. I think everybody on this board agrees with your sentiments, but we don't have control over there. I, as Mr. Vieira said, I

think we have to deal with the DPW to do a study, but I, you know, your concerns are warranted. I mean, that is, you know, that is true.

I mean, we can all, you know, we will definitely take the recommendations to them and to, you know, the safety officer or whatever, but like she said, we have no control of the street, so be able to put signs up or speed bumps or anything. It's nothing. It's totally out of our control, but uh I it's great recommendations. I, you know, we would forward it to them and yeah, I mean, and see what happens.

You talked about your site view coming out of West Smith Neck Road and and I would say that if you say that because of the tangent 40 mph zone, which is what it is, um some of that area may be protected. I think the town has a rightaway. I'm not sure what the rightway there is, how much property we actually own. Um further back, I mean, that would be a a DPW function, especially in the

springtime to cut that stuff back. We've tried that once before and it didn't turn out very well with some of your neighbors from there in the DNR next saw. So yes, there were some issues that were there. So I think that's kind of a we're juggling a bunch of things at the same time.

Um the bridge the speed on the bridge again that was conducted by an engineer.

The speeds that are there, the new part of the bridge is something that was done. U the other part in front of the park all the way up to Lenny Gonzalez's bridge on upwards. Uh that road was done many years ago. Um, it does fall under the chap, you know, chapter 90, uh, 40 mile per hour zone, but I think that if you're concerned about sight picture, I think that the DPW would be the first

step. Maybe talk to Mr. Barber there or Paul Chico or Mr. Martin uh, from there and maybe they can go back and cut some of that stuff back on the right ofway.

Um, I don't really know who owns the property. I think it's DNIT on both sides.

Yes. Yeah, I know that they're little stickers about uh cutting things back, but if it is a safety issue and they deem it safety because of the speed and whatnot. Um the speed bumps and stuff like that, it once again that's something that an engineer would have to look at. I know that the town has not been palatable. Um because it fixes one problem but creates another.

Mhm.

I'd like to call it a launch pad um in certain areas uh on the road because of the speed. Uh we got to be cognizant of that too, right? Like you said earlier, people will be people. We want to put an obstruction on the road which causes somebody to lose control of a vehicle. As that young as that woman who died, there was an obstruction that was there and that's how she died. It

wasn't speed so much. It was other things. I know the woman personally. Um but I think you have all valid points and there are things that I think are well beyond either the waterways or our or our position to do it. But I think if he puts it part of the study thing, I think we're all on board with that to address it.

Okay. Uh but for your immediate concerns, I would strongly suggest maybe reaching out uh to the DVW uh regarding a site picture, that's something that could be done pretty quickly. Uh as far as speed limit signs on the on the road.

Uh and again, I know firsthand that that's not going to happen. Uh again, without a speed study for the road, there are very few roads in Dartmouth that are actually speed studied. You see, you you can see them that we just don't put signs up anymore.

Um at least the state doesn't, you know.

Um but I think our board can request some of this stuff and to get it, you know, a recommendation.

Yeah, it's on the opposite side. It's again, I think that the neighbors coming out of there, I think if you call, but when we put it in our thing, we again the flashing lights and things of that sort, I think it's great, right? Um, site picture stuff again, I think, uh, I know on our property and Steve's property, there's nothing there. We've kept that cut back purposely for that reason because we know better. Um,

again, we don't control other departments or other nonprofits and what they do there. Uh, maybe cut back a few things here and there. Maybe they can go out there themselves and do it to kind of help us out.

So, okay. I I did have a couple of other items. Um, I I did like some of the layout of the parking lot. Uh, I think the aggregate makes sense, but uh you indicated there would be like the chain type of to reduce any of the donuts and so forth in there. That would be really helpful.

Um, you could do that or you could do wheel stops, something that would help break it up so that people wouldn't do donuts and Okay.

make it clear where parking spaces are.

All right. Then maybe a couple of concerns. I I know when I go to the beach, I like the sun. I don't know how much from tree and foliage and shade you really want to have. I mean, people are going there to go to the beach and you kind of want to lay out in the sun. If you lay your blanket out on the goose turds, which we do have a lot of, uh,

you still want to get sun, right? So how much shading you actually do I I think would be questionable. Not only from the experience, but also line of sight. You know, it is kind of nice to have that line of sight when you know you're in the area and appreciate the sunsets that go there. They're tremendous. And then that brings up my next element, which is lighting, right? Lighting just ruins it

from the standpoint of sunsets and and nighttime and people that want to go walking around. So, you know, how do you limit the lighting but yet provide the kind of safety you're looking for during the events on Tuesday and Wednesday night and not have it be, you know, seven days a week because someone, you know, five guys want to play basketball or volleyball at 10 o'clock at night.

You know, how do you really kind of reduce the hardscape impact on the community?

And uh I think that's it. I mean, even consider lowlevel lighting for path walking would be a different consideration than high level lighting.

Some of they can put on put on timers too where it goes off at a certain time.

It only goes on certain days. We do that down at the baseball field like for our pickle ball court and stuff. We have it certain hours that it goes on certain days we can set it for. So, you know, those tend to change. You know, it's like the initial thought is established, but then down the road that never maybe gets maintained. So I would think mitigating some of the problems that you

brought up to. We're we're in the process now of um controlling access to these facilities once they're officially closed for vehicles.

So we're in the process of that and upon against it is actually on the list uh to re to rectify these donuts, you know, our uh the the artists that we have with their vehicles on our grass seat or lack of grass surface. So we're going to try to straighten that out allowing pedestrians to go in there but to keep the vehicles out when we're closed. So, we're in the process throughout actually all our facilities,

all the park facilities. We're in the process now of trying to control um that because of vandalism, um lassoes and other things that have gone on there, uh inappropriate people by North Park. So, we're trying to control uh things like that to try to make it a little bit better, especially for the neighbors because we're we're very sensitive to that.

Okay. Thank you.

Anyone else? This gentleman back there.

All right. This gentleman then I'll push you.

Push your button.

taking first.

Yes.

Okay. Buddy Baker Smith in precinct 8.

Um, no, this this park is a tremendous asset to the community and families and um I really appreciate a lot of the ideas on kind of the and making a big investment in the in the park, but the biggest threat to this park is um the rising sea level. Um, and so I'm just wondering, um, for all of this plan, um, if we don't put the effort into change the vulnerability of that piece of land, uh,

all that's kind of going to go for not.

Um, and so what I wasn't clear about is when you showed the earlier slide on uh the currently what you were aware of in terms of the flood uh zone and high tide storm surge.

Will what you're proposing change that those contours and how is it going to change those contours? uh the exist, you know, to just replace the existing asis would seem to be not future oriented because we see what the current climate or current conditions have done to the uh existing kind of level of the the wall and stuff.

So, is it going to be a higher wall? Um yeah. So the the proposal with the um the seaw walls and the revetment would be to not just stabilize the existing shoreline but also raise raise the level of um or stopping flood waters and sea level rise coming in especially on the landing side above the high tide line and getting it over that four that 4ft elevation. And then as you go around the

corner to the park side, um you would be raising it to also stop like the kind of vegetative buffer associated uh with the park side would also raise it above that four level. But I don't think you'd raise it much more than that, right? We can't go to like six or seven because now you're putting a wall of, you know, against the water level. Um and we're really like stopping ourselves from uh

engaging with it at all. Mhm.

So the the hard and soft solutions would do as they would go above that four elevation but probably not drastically higher than that and that would need some additional study beyond uh this kind of feasibility study that we're at right now.

Yeah. So if I understand you, so looking at if the current the current um wall or uh um level of the ground would be raised by about four feet. Is that what you're saying?

Sorry. It's um it is currently under the four elevation and we'd raise it over the four elevation but not raise it by four feet. we'd probably be re raising it, you know, 18 inches to two feet, okay, for regular for regular ties and regular um kind of uh king tides and high water lines.

Um but to like if the FEMA flood line is at 21, that's 10 feet over the highest elevation of the property, right? So like it is longterm um you know the the reason that we're raising um the building like a harbor master office to a higher second level is to protect it from flood waters but the rest of the site um would would end up you know eventually flooding at the times.

So it would still have some flooding.

Yeah. I think that impervious surfaces, more natural areas, things like that would help benefit this the property um by being able to be resilient to that kind of flooding.

Yeah. Okay. I would I would just thank you. I would just encourage the the committees um don't go dollar short on this. Um for all the investment and for the future of the park, your biggest threat is the water. And as difficult as it is in terms of what it means for design and what it means for use, if you don't deal with it, you've lost it all. So I really encourage you to really confront that

issue and and within reason, but this isn't the time to ignore it, especially if you want to make an investment in such a valuable thing.

Thank you.

One one moment, sir. I have somebody on the board that Oh, so okay. Sorry.

Yeah, I was just saying sort of in line with the two comments about the um maintaining permeable surfaces and the comment about the depleted grass. It seems like given the scope of the project already, it's an opportunity to find something besides grass if there is that you know is more conducive to filtering harmful runoff and working and something that is actually going to survive in a sandy salty environment. So

that that could be a solution to the grass issue and and maybe helps in the overall resiliency of the site uh looking into the future.

Do agree with that. We did add like more natural areas kind of on the sides of the park and like behind the the uh gazebo, but given the function of the concerts and the function of overflow parking, you need to find something that works for both of those.

the young the young lady down there.

Hi. Uh my name is Alexi. I live in precinct 5. I've been in town for three years. Um I have uh a little bit of feedback. So I'm wondering whether the shade from the trees would be enough considering that we're seeing high heat days increase in Massachusetts. We're seeing days over 95 degrees in the summer increase, which therefore poses a danger to young children, other vulnerable populations. And so, have you

considered putting potentially uh like a temporary canopy that could be erected when there are heat advisories, or are there alternative? I mean, I love trees, don't get me wrong, but like is there something that could like sustain more recreation outdoors more safely on these high heat days? That's my one my first question.

Yes, certainly. And especially I mean as you see uh given the shape of the the two playground areas there's mostly you know the shade that we're planting in trees would offer us shade for the people in the benches but not necessarily across the entirety of the playground. And I know the playgrounds especially rubber surfaces heat up considerably in the in the summer. So yes, we could think of something like

that. Okay. Um, and my second thing is that I think there could be additional opportunities for passive engagement through something that highlights local heritage culture, whether it be like a community created mural or maybe like QR codes that you scan that take you to photos of what it has looked like over time here. Something kind of more passively interactive, but that still draws interest. And that probably

wouldn't be really expensive.

Certainly Bruce Brooks.

Um, my question is how much effort has gone into the buildings? Um, they're going to be municipal buildings. If you were to put it on top of the existing building, you're going to go over the 50% value. you're going to have to totally renovate that whole building for one. Two, if you put a separate one, which is great, you get the breakaway walls and everything else like that, but

being a municipal building, we now need now handicap accessible to the second floor.

And so you're talking about elevators in the flood zone.

I just curious how much effort you guys have put into those designs and what is really feasible or not.

I'm going to have to defer to the architect for that one and not answer that. But yes, noted.

Noted.

Okay.

Then we'll get to you.

Yeah. that was okay.

If I could just comment in regard to some of the points that Buddy had brought up around the rising sea levels.

I mean, it's this a peninsula water's going to be coming in from all all sides, storm water. So, we're going to continue to have the surge. I I would think in fact, you know, the higher the wall goes, the more water that's going to be retained in the playground area. So, you know, limiting the amount of elevation is most important. And, you know, limiting what we do from hardscape and allowing more

natural runoff I think is just inevitable. It's a sandbar really out there and uh you know the impact of storms and current and tides are changing that kind of regularly and it's uh I think for us to try to battle the the weather with a budget is you know not feasible financially. I I just can't see that.

Okay, Mr. Medeiros in the back.

Thank you. Uh Steve Maderis uh precinct 6. Um so I had two questions. One you mentioned the timeline could be two years potentially. Okay. So what is that design through construction project of this kind of scale?

Okay. For the actual let's say we go to that to the end and we get the implementation of it. What does that look like? How is does the park have to come offline for an extended period of time? Is this going to be done in more like the late fall into the spring so that we don't affect the use in the summertime or is it are we going to have to have it shut down potentially during

the summer uh where it would wouldn't be used for you know a particular amount of time just ballpark based on your experience.

I'm just trying to get an idea.

Um often we would try to phase implementations so that the park wouldn't be completely offline. I mean, if uh in terms of what we're looking at, there are portions that could be done incrementally so that maybe maybe the playground's still accessible, but the parking isn't and there's other ways to access it or maybe you'd have to park on the landing side and we could negotiate that or Yeah.

Okay. Um Yeah. And I I think this is a great overall I think this is a great spot and I think if we can maximize it and do more with it, I think it's great.

The other question I had, so my son is a lifeguard. He's been uh down there for a couple years now as a lifeguard. With the additional changes on the like with some additional vegetation, things like that. Have any of the sight lines change? Is any of the the beach side going to be just a little bit less just sight lines wise that's a big concern for him? I know. He said that's of all

the beaches he works at, that's the one he's most nervous about cuz there's more little kids there cuz it's it's it's a kind of an easy area for families to kind of spread out. And he's just concerned about the, you know, the ability to make sure that you whoever's, you know, working at that beach can actually make sure they can still see every everything and and uh make sure everyone stays safe.

We haven't really proposed anything from uh the sand the edge of sand and lawn out.

Okay. That's why we were so against one of the proposals that we saw. They wanted to bring like six feet high mountains and there would be no way to see the beach.

Secondly, what he spoke about earlier was the the beautiful site being able to see the sunset and all that. Now you got this you'd have to go over this mountain to get to the I mean Yeah, absolutely.

It was kind of something we just didn't think would be something we wanted to do.

It could be a safe bet. I think that there would be nothing there obstructing the beach.

Yeah. I just I just I know it's it's hard to tell with the plan to see all obviously you see all these trees popping up. I'm not sure where they are in relation to where everything currently is. So, not only not only the lifeguards, but the rest of our staff that's there. We have personnel inside the bucket. We have people who are there monitoring things, our our gate guards and stuff

like that. They are all part of the team. They all with radios for the most part, not all of them to be able to talk back and forth. You know, we use not two sets of eyes as Yeah.

I'm sure your son knows. We everybody who's there is observing from even the landing side. We've gotten calls from Steve. you've seen things that have happened. So, it's kind of a team effort down there. So, anything that would be obstruction that would would break up that sight line for safety is is again it's a no-go as far as I'm concerned.

You know what I mean with that with the trees in the grove area. We'll call it the Grove because parking area uh along uh Gulf Road, things of that sort. I mean, the trees will help stop the drifting of the snow onto the roadway if we do have some vegetation that's there.

here. We're all in favor of that because that's a pain in the neck for anybody who drives that road when the wind's blowing. Um, again, I think a lot of the things that you guys have brought up to us, some of the stuff I think that in collaboration with the uh waterways, we can probably rectify some of these issues. Um, with some of the ideas, some of the things that can be done, some of the

things financially, I don't think the town has the capability at this time, nor will it have the capability for 20 years to come to do a lot of the things that you want to I'm not going to be a negative Nelly, but I'm realistic in the whole thing when you put things in perspective um for some of this stuff.

And I know that looking at Mr. Brooks over there, he could probably agree. Um but I think the ideas that you guys have brought up, some of the things we can address from that QR code, I never really thought about that. Um we've had some artists, matter of fact, everybody's been around to Round Hill, Mr. Boba, Tom Babaiki, uh on our beach house, he actually made it look like a flying saucer with aliens. Uh we got

mixed reviews on that. I thought it was pretty cool myself. Um, and he did it for free, which was even better. If it's free, it's for me. I'm all in favor of that, right, for the town. Um, but I like the idea of those things. I think the board itself, we're pretty open-minded. We do have a very broad range of ages here, uh, with different ideas, different generational ideas. So,

um, and we're willing to, you know, take anything, uh, at face value. We'll work with you guys on Gulf Road. I I do have a little bit of an in here and there with that. Maybe I can kind of help out a little bit with that. uh and maybe get push that in that direction along with the selectman. Maybe we'll be able to do something with that for that crosswalk

uh for the safety there. Maybe even get a hold of Eversource so that Tom maybe put additional lighting on Smith Neck Road specifically there. I mean not Smith Neck, Gulf Road specifically there for that. Um so I mean I appreciate the the some of the things I mean some of the things are not realistic because we don't have the money for it. Um and I get it. Um, hope someday maybe Jeff

Bezos will donate a couple of billion to the town. You know, maybe he feels nice to us because he likes Buzzards Bay and maybe we can get a lot of this stuff done. Uh, but and it's a first for me with a community band. I didn't realize that quite honestly. That's because I was in a community band 100 years ago.

So, that's a good thing.

Anyone else?

Okay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I make a motion to uh adjourn the public meeting.

Do I have a second?

Roll call.

Roll call. Vote.

Joe Viera. Yes.

Sarah Freshman. Yes.

Sher Tedro. Yes.

John Burau. Yes.

Motion carried. Oh, Waterways. Yes. I'm sorry.

Yes. Roger Race. Yes.

Dor. Yes.

Eli Powell. Yes. James Simmons. Yes.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

Journing the open meeting.

I request that we can return back to our popular board meeting.

Second. Do we have a second on that?

Thank you for your patience with the technical difficult.

Can we take a five minute break?

We got there's no I have nothing. You can adjourn.

I was thinking swelless.

Yeah.