To the editor:

(This letter was addressed to officers of Mass. Fish and Wildlife)

I write to provide you with one citizen’s perspective on the pending decision regarding the Westport Harbor Barrier Beach/Beach Avenue project. Unfortunately there continues to be significant push-back by the Town against the recommendations by DEP and NHESP that the width of the eastern 700’ of the road be no more than 18’, and that suitable barriers be installed along both sides of that stretch of road to protect the dunes from further destruction by vehicles and to prevent subsequent road widening.

At the September 27 ConCom meeting, Sean Leach of SITEC Engineering reported that Ms. Hoenig has “agreed verbally” to a road width of 20’ and to lowering the barrier height to 24”. If indeed you have revised your recommendations, I urge you to reconsider.

Regarding the road width, a ConCom member recently asked me, “Two more feet. What’s the big deal?” A two foot-wide 700’ stretch represents another 1,400 square feet of barrier dune needlessly lost. An additional two feet means that the dune-to-road grade is made even steeper and, thus, less stable. An estimate of actual dune and wildlife damage would have to include not just the obvious impact of tire tracks, but also the consequences of increased traffic, activity, noise, fumes on a vulnerable and already severely compromised ecosystem. 

One might ask ConCom that same question. Why do they and Mr. Leach (presumably acting on behalf of the Westport BOS) insist so vehemently on the additional two feet? I believe the answer can be found in the Town’s demand to lower the height of the barrier.

Although Mr. Leach insists that he is fighting for the lower barrier for “aesthetic” reasons, ConCom Agent Chris Capone recently gave a different explanation.  Capone said that a lower 24” high barrier would less likely result in serious vehicular damage when people back over it. There are drivers who, attempting a three-point turn in either an 18’ or 20’ roadway, are likely to hit any barrier. Large pickup trucks—the vehicles that have been used to perpetrate much intentional damage—may be able to back over a 24” barrier. A lower barrier simply diminishes its efficacy, in terms of deterring both vehicular and foot traffic.

Mr. Leach now insists there be enough room for three handicap parking spaces at the end of the road, rather than the two spaces they installed three years ago. Although it is rarely anyone with a handicap permit, but almost always able-bodied fishermen and others without beach passes, who park in the eastern most 200’.

It is self-evident that the protection of the dunes and wildlife that depends on this habitat is far from being a priority for some stakeholders in this project. The Town seeks to encourage more vehicular traffic, not less. And, there is no denying that vehicular damage to the dunes is already extensive.

In a 15 March 2016 letter to ConCom, the Buzzards Bay Coalition stated that "the vehicular traffic and parking at the intensity envisioned by [the Town] are not compatible with a heathy and resilient barrier beach at this particularly sensitive site.” Nothing much has changed with the Town’s “revised" plan for Beach Avenue. The Town continues "to seek to institutionalize” the ongoing degradation of the Westport Harbor Barrier Beach.

In summary, I don’t believe I am alone in pleading with you that the DEP and NHESP original recommendations be maintained and enforced. Please stand firm that no activity is allowed outside the originally mandated 18’ maximum road width, and that effective barriers to ensure dune protection be installed and maintained.

Constance B. Gee

Westport