By Adam Swift
The town was able to complete more coastal dune construction than it initially thought it would by the end of March as part of the Yirrell Beach management plan. At last week’s town council meeting, Town Manager Tony Marino said the town completed about 500 feet of the coastal dune. Earlier in the month, Marino estimated that about 200 feet of the dune would be completed before work would have to stop on April 1 due to work having to stop because of the piping plover habitats.
The construction of the coastal dune is part of the Yirrell Beach management plan, which aims to maintain public access for swimming and recreation, maintain and protect the shorebird nesting habitat, and maintain the beach functions of storm damage prevention and flood control because it fronts the only transportation route to the Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Facility.
Marino also noted that the town was able to get the plantings for the coastal dunes and have them planted at a lower cost than initially estimated. “Dwight Dunn, who drafted the beach management plan, we asked him to come down and make sure it was in compliance,” said Marino. Marino said that there will be a meeting with neighbors to identify where five sets of stairs or access points to the beach may be placed as work on the coastal dune continues in September.
“We want to make sure we look at those five areas and make sure they are happy with those spots, then we can put in the ramps or the staircases,” said Marino. In other business, Marino presented the town council with a 21-page response to the state attorney general regarding the state’s lawsuit against Winthrop for not being in compliance with the MBTA 3A Communities Act. Council President Jim Letterie noted that the town needs to sit down with the state to discuss grants it has not received or been told it is not eligible for that were outside the bounds of those which it was told it could not receive by not being 3A compliant. He said some of those grants are now affecting public education and public safety. “The governor is now choosing to affect kids and public safety and health departments,” said Letterie.
“The federal government is giving them money for the DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) grants, the state just isn’t distributing it. We have to watch out for our citizens and we cannot let our children be taken advantage of because of this so they have to come to the table and discuss this with us because … this just can’t go on forever and have them take everything we have.”