The days of no longer needing an all-terrain vehicle to navigate the Silvershell Beach parking lot are being imagined on a scale that saw the Marion Community Preservation Committee unanimously vote during its annual public hearing to recommend a $77,000 investment in an engineering study.
“For years and years and years, we’ve been trying to do something with Silvershell Beach,” said Select Board representative Randy Parker, citing the “opportunity to set up a transit … get some elevations … get a plan. … We don’t have to implement the plan right away, (but this measure would) get some of that money in return back to the taxpayers.”
“If any of you have been around the parking lot over the past three storms since November,” said Town Administrator Geoff Gorman, pointing to “puddles and significant erosion damage. … We’ve had a lot of internal discussion … the entire parking lot needs to be regraded.”
The reason the project does not fall under basic operational-budget commitments is because the state’s Community Preservation Act takes 2% on the town tax roll after a project’s first $100,000. Parker says under the CPA funding scenario, a vote at the May 13 Annual Town Meeting “saves the Marion taxpayer a bundle of money to enjoy the beach.”
That task has fallen largely on the Department of Public Works on a Band-Aid basis.
“There would be no parking lot at all if not for the DPW,” said Gorman, calling the new effort a “once-in-a-generation improvement for the beach. Because it’s owned by the Recreation Department, it’s a good ask.”
The 100-car parking lot is surrounded by jurisdictional waterways. There is “a lot more red tape,” said Gorman, presenting on behalf of the Recreation Department. The goal, he said, is to “get the cost of the entire upgrade and figure out how to pay for it.”
The $77,000 engineering project would come out of the open space reserve, and the remaining approved CPA projects would come from the undesignated CPC balance ($652,000). As in the case of most of the CPA projects recommended by the committee, the completion date will be no later than June 30, 2025.
A notable exception to the 2025 timeline is the $120,000 that the CPC voted to recommend for right-of-way easements to the Marion Shared Use (bike) Path. Because of the nature of how municipal easements work, Parker recommended the committee stipulate that the funding deadline be extended out to June 30, 2026.
The town-designed bike path is at a 100% design stage and was submitted to MassDOT last November. The state agency has made comments, and the town is presently working off of those comments. The next big step after the 100% design is acquisition of the temporary and permanent easements. There are six temporary and multiple permanent easements not yet acquired that must be appraised and either purchased or received by donation from the owners.
The committee chaired by Jeff Doubrava and including Parker, Ellen Bruzelius, Alanna Nelson, Debbie Ewing, Toby Ast, Brian McSweeny and Andrew Daniel voted to recommend six other CPA-funded projects, all with a June 30, 2025, spending deadline.
The smallest CPA request, $5,470 for installation of an irrigation system for the children’s garden next to Sippican Elementary School, happened to be the one identified by the committee as a model project for CPA funding. “I think this is a great example of CPA funding,” said Doubrava, and Ewing called it a “no-brainer.”
“We hope to get this done this summer,” said project representative Margie Baldwin, describing an “old, antiquated system there” in an “area enjoyed by the public.”
The Marion Shared Use Bike Path Engineering Update was voted a $75,000 boost in CPA funding that combined with a $47,000 payment would make whole the engineering group for completed engineering work based on an original bid of $349,000 in 2016.
State-related delays out of the engineers’ control cost them $224,000 in excess expenditures. Nonetheless, Gorman said the town anticipates no more requests from the outside. Gorman also noted that he requested a Mass Trails grant that, if awarded, would cut the CPC grant-match request down to $15,000.
The Boatyard Park Boundary Survey and Sign Posting will be recommending $11,750 in CPA funding, the amended pitch made by Marion Conservation Commission member Shaun Walsh, who explained the bump from the original $7,100 request based on the need for more permanent boundary markers. An engineering firm provided a revised estimate.
The goal of the project is to protect visitors from unintentionally trespassing on private properties bordering the Boatyard Park property off Point Road.
The committee voted to recommend $28,925 to the Bird Island Lighthouse Engineering project. The lighthouse has not been restored since 1997 and situated amidst harsh elements is in need of a professional assessment. The landmark is on the National Historic Registry and contains much in the way of custom work. The town hopes to realize some of that funding via private donations.
DPW Cemetery Records Management Software was recommended $16,744.
The one project voted a recommendation that did not come from a town agency was $30,000 from the Sippican Historical Society for “blue plaque” historical markers on sites, all on public property. The original $45,000 request, explained SHS representative Alanna Nelson, was revised to not include curriculum development.
No vote was needed for the CPC to accept the withdrawal of a previous town request for the digitization of town records, a project that Gorman reported will be grant funded. During the process, Doubrava learned that digitization of town records is categorically ineligible for CPA funding. Gorman noted that the town can designate historic files and apply on that basis but not in general.
Doubrava reported that Open Space Acquisition Commission Chairman John Rockwell requested an extension of another year of previously approved funding, but since the March 8 agenda had already been posted, CPC action would require an additional public meeting.
The next meeting of the Marion Community Preservation Committee is scheduled remotely for Friday, March 15, at 5:00 pm via Microsoft Teams.
Marion Community Preservation Committee
By Mick Colageo