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Draft Recommendations from the Sub-group Three:
Wings, Saints, Little Breakwater, Spruce Hill
Background
We are responding to two fundamental "outside" trends. The first is rising sea levels and
climate change. This leads to more frequent and greater individual-event storm surge
threats, on top of king tides with sea levels which may be 3 ft higher by the end of the
century. These in turn lead to faster erosion that sometimes includes beach access and
parking infrastructure. The second is a growing demand for beach access from vehicles,
cyclists and pedestrians and handicapped that far exceeds the supply. This is confirmed
by the survey, and many individual conversations and observations.
We note that, if we assume all the day stickers and two thirds of valid weekly stickers on
a typical summers day use saltwater parking spots, there would be 166 spaces left for the
~6,600 seasonal stickers sold. That means space for 2.7% of seasonal stickers. This rises
to 4.5% including all the freshwater spaces available. [based on current spaces and 2014
sticker data] Demand clearly outstrips supply.
We also note that on peak days, people are willing to walk over half a mile. The MNH
has to fend off about 40 or so people trying to park for beach access to Wing's Island on a
busy summer day. People would also park that distance from Crosby beach until street
parking was banned last year. Given the extent of private ownership, marshland and
sensitive habitat in the coastal zone, Brewster can never meet this demand with sufficient
'close-to-beach' parking. Nor should it, because interference with the natural systems
there makes the coastal zone more vulnerable to storm damage, and the things we spend
money on are most likely to be destroyed in a few years. Also public parking should not
be squeezed into residential neighborhoods.
Brewster should add or designate more spaces for beach access on higher
ground, wherever possible within walking distance of the less used beach areas. Even
this will likely be insufficient to meet demand, so it is also in the commercial interests of
the Town to explore the feasibility of shuttle services. A Brewster more like Eastham,
where everyone who wants to can get to a beach on the best peak season beach days,
would serve citizens, visitors and the local economy much better than today. With a
lower than average season sticker price, there is immediate opportunity to fund
investments for this higher level of service.
We put our landings in two categories.
For Saints and Little Breakwater, the recommendation is simple: use cost-effective
measures to maintain as long as possible. These are not in the most vulnerable areas, but
that does not mean they are safe. Because of their proximity to homes and private land,
there is no opportunity to retreat or increase access, apart from remote parking and shuttle
bus service. They have small public beach widths (180 ft and 65 ft), and higher than
average "spots/100 beach feet" densities (Saints: 20 - highest in Town, Little B: 11,
average 3). A pilot shuttle bus service ought to go to beaches that have more space. We
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should carefully maintain the visual access from the northern parking spots at Little
Breakwater, providing year round bay-view access for those with mobility challenges.
For Wing's Island and Spruce Hill, the recommendation is to immediately initiate
feasibility studies to develop substantially more access. These are major and neglected
opportunities, perhaps the best in Brewster. They both have large areas of publicly
usable beach (>3000ft and 645-820 ft), which are the most underutilized in Brewster (0
and 1.5 spaces per 100 ft, where the average is 3) While they both need access through
conservation land and/or wetlands, that can be achieved safely with good design, as it is
either already achieved, or being done in similar areas.
Wing's Island is regularly used by the private non-profit Cape Cod Museum of Natural
History in many of its educational programs. This highly-regarded institution is very
successful and popular, has growing attendance and is a leading tourist attraction in
Brewster's overall economy. The museum has ~ 150 yards of old-style floating/anchored
boardwalk across the tidal wetlands, built about (30?) years ago, that is problematic, often
breaking and going under water at high tide. It has to be maintained by the town. Just to
the west is Drummer Boy Park, with large open spaces for parking, parts of which are
often used for outside events in the summer. To the East of that is a section of recently
acquired Conservation Land, which could have a trail to a new boardwalk crossing to
Wing's Island. The shortest marsh crossing distance from here to Wings Island is 140
yards.
We recommend a feasibility study to add ~100 designated stickered beach parking spaces
in the general area behind the bandstand, with trail and modern helical pile boardwalk to
Wings Island, looking at either connecting to the existing trail on the island, or to a new
(~100 yard shorter) trail, to the western beach. This study should include simultaneous
replacement of the existing ancient 'unfit for purpose' anchored platforms used in the
crossing from MNH with a similar modern helical pile boardwalk.
This approach would benefit both the Museum and the beachgoers. Currently the
Museum needs four people out in the car parking areas to prevent eager beach parkers on
busy days - over 40 vehicles a day have to be turned away. The walk from that parking
to the beach is well over half a mile. The walk from Drummer Boy parking would be
significantly less than half a mile. The museum would gain much more reliable Wings
Island access, as well as some relief from the pressures of beach parking. The study
should also look at the ways to integrate this added use at Drummer Boy with its existing
uses, and at potential grant opportunities.
Spruce Hill
We recommend a feasibility study to increase parking here, initially to at least 60
spaces. It would cost very little to open access at the end of the pre-existing trail, which
leads to over 800 ft of typically unused beach. Collapsing dilapidated storage sheds
should be removed in any case, and with other open areas, plenty of parking area is
available. Better organized parking could actually save some of the Spruce Trees from
death by root compression, as the current parking is undesignated. There are no close
abutters - open Town land to the east, and wooded area of Sea Camps to the west. The
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trail surface on the cart-way could be slightly improved so it will work for pushchairs and
buggies. It will not have handicapped beach access due to the stairs down from the dune,
but there is potential visual access for the handicapped. If shuttle vehicles are ever
added, they could even offer service along the trail, from car park to beach. We should
be imaginative and cost effective in selecting the kind of low-impact, high-appeal,
vehicle.
The Brewster Historical Society has just relocated from the small building here. It is
important to seek future uses for that building that either support summer tourism, or are
not needed during the peak tourist season. We need to be able to use the space around it
for summer beach parking. There is considerable capacity to expand beach parking here.
This is also one likely parking alternative (along with Eddy School) for 'Eastern shuttle'
remote parking, if that is needed. It is Town land that is both convenient from 6A, and
for service to Point of Rocks, Ellis, Linnell and Crosby. However, these four additional
beaches all have an above average ratio between parking and beach space, so opening the
parking for Spruce Hill and Wings Island beaches is a higher priority. As Wing's Island
depends in a new salt-marsh boardwalk, Spruce Hill could likely be achieved first.
The stairs have to be replaced every few years. We should look for any more durable
methods of building stairway access, or continue to maintain the stairs if there is no more
cost-effective approach.