Next stop for 'Sconset beach project: ConCom
ENVIRONMENT
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
Satisfied that it can learn all it needs to know about the 'Sconset beach nourishment project from its consultant, the Board of Selectmen signed the 'Sconset Beach Preservation Fund's notice of intent with the Conservation Commission.

ConCom Administrator Dirk Roggeveen: "We're trying to schedule a date for the hearing that will not be during a regular ConCom meeting,. They haven't actually filed with us. I think they will hold off a few days until we find a venue."

The board's vote of 4-1, combined with a unanimous vote by the Land Bank Commission to sign the notice of intent, means the 'Sconset Beach Preservation Fund can proceed with its local permitting review by the ConCom.

Conservation Commission Administrator Dirk Roggeveen said on Monday he expected SBPF to file its notice of intent in a few days. The reason for the delay is that, in anticipation of what Roggeveen believes will be lengthy presentations and testimony by SBPF, its supporters and its opponents, the ConCom wants to hold special meetings just for this public hearing; Roggeveen is working out the logistics of such a hearing process.

"We're trying to schedule a date for the hearing that will not be during a regular ConCom meeting," he said. "They haven't actually filed with us. I think they will hold off a few days until we find a venue."

By state law, the Conservation Commission has 21 days to set a public hearing once a notice of intent has been filed. SBPF Executive Director Cheryl Bartlett confirmed that they were in a holding pattern until Roggeveen sets a schedule and finds a meeting location.

The project needs 11 local, state and federal permits, but Bartlett said that the 'Sconset Beach Preservation Fund is first going for the Conservation Commission order of conditions, the Department of Environmental Protection's Chapter 91 Waterways Program license, and a final environmental impact statement from the Army Corps of Engineers because they are the most difficult permits to get.

"We have filed with the Army Corps and we need to file with Chapter 91; they need to know to proceed on that, so they also need Board of Selectmen and Land Bank Commission signatures," said Bartlett.

The 'Sconset Beach Preservation Fund is proposing to use 2.6 million cubic yards of sand from a 345-acre shoal about 2.7 miles east-northeast of the Sankaty Head Lighthouse to first build a permanent beach to stabilize the banks and bluffs along a 3.1-mile stretch of shoreline, and to then place a sacrificial beach on top of that. SBPF expects erosion to take this second, "sacrificial" beach during storms. Sand will be replaced every five years or as needed depending on the severity of storms.

The project is expected to cost $18 million, with around $15 million coming from waterfront property owners in the area and $3 million from the rest of 'Sconset's residents.

The enormity of the proposal, and its potential environmental impacts, caused the selectmen to hire consultant Applied Technology & Management, Inc. of Gainsville, Fla. to help the board understand what it is getting into by signing a notice of intent. Town Administrator Libby Gibson said that Applied Technology & Management's bid came in at $32,000, an amount that the 'Sconset Beach Preservation Fund will ultimately cover.

"The 'Sconset Beach Preservation Fund is expected to provide a gift to the town of $32,000, which will be put into a gift account and used to pay this consultant," said Gibson.

SBPF's goal is to begin beach nourishment in the summer of 2007 once the

necessary permits are in place. I