Post by nauset on Jun 24, 2009 12:01:51 GMT -4
Owners Seek OK To Demolish North Beach Camps
by Tim Wood
CHATHAM --- Bill Hammatt knew this day was coming.
“I’d hoped it wouldn’t be this soon,” he said.
An unusual early summer northeaster, combined with astronomically high tides, carved away as much as 60 feet from the outer shore of North Beach early this week, damaging all five of the camps that remained at the tip of the barrier beach. After shuffling the camps around what remains of Hammatt’s property for the past year — including moving two camps back from the brink just two weeks ago — camp owners reluctantly threw in the towel Tuesday.
The chimney of the Shea camp collapsed Tuesday. The camp was moved about 40 feet backed from the edge of the dune just two weeks ago. BOB LONG PHOTO
As early as Wednesday or Thursday, four of the camps — owned by the Thayer, Hammatt, Shea and Kelley families — were expected to be demolished. That’s if Tuesday night’s high tide doesn’t take them first.
Hammatt, who has had a camp on the beach for most of the past 33 years, went to the beach by boat with fellow owner Scott Morris about 8 a.m. Tuesday. Two of the buildings — the Fuller and Shea camps — were slumped onto the beach. The three others, including his camp, were undermined and hanging off the edge of the dunes.
While Hammatt and Morris assessed the situation and placed plywood over the door of the Fuller camp, the Shea camp “just kept sinking into the sand,” Hammatt said. “Then the chimney fell off it while we were there.”
All of the camps have been perched on steel beams since being moved into a small area of Hammatt’s property last year as erosion encroached on their individual lots. Those beams “actually stabilized and protected the buildings quite dramatically,” Hammatt said.
But not enough to escape nature’s onslaught, which was expected to continue into early Wednesday. Steady winds out of the northeast and high course tides, more than a foot and a half above usual levels, pounded the outer beach beginning Sunday. The extent of the erosion was evident by looking at the two camps which were recently relocated. The Thayer camp, the northernmost camp, was pulled back some 30 to 40 feet, but on Tuesday was hanging six to eight feet over the edge. The Shea camp was moved back about 40 feet as well and on Tuesday rested on the outer beach at a 40-degree angle.
Debris from the camps ended up at the fish pier Tuesday morning, where a large mattress could be seen floating near the north jog. Coastal Resources Director Ted Keon said the highway department was able to fish some debris out of the water using a backhoe.
“How much more is along the shore I don’t know,” he said, adding that several town landings along the town’s eastern shoreline, including Scatteree, got “whacked pretty good” by the storm. Several recreational boats were knocked off their mooring, and the commercial boat Three Graces was stranded on North Beach Island.
On Tuesday, William Riley, the attorney representing the camp owners, requested emergency permission to move two pieces of heavy equipment onto the beach by barge to demolish four of the five camps. The debris would be brought back to the mainland via the barge.
The Fuller camp, which was slumped to the beach but structurally solid, may be moved onto North Beach Island, Keon told selectmen Tuesday.
It would be easier to get the equipment to the camps by driving it onto the beach, said Riley, but nesting piping plovers will probably preclude that. Last week, Orleans officials were upset because the equipment that was escorted onto the beach to move the two camps remained a day longer than it was supposed to, causing concern that state officials may clamp down on any vehicle use to protect the nesting shorebirds. Riley acknowledged Orleans was not likely to allow heavy equipment to travel down the beach, even with plover monitors as escorts.
Hammatt said he hoped Orleans officials would relent, since the storm probably wiped out any active plover nests along the entire stretch of the barrier beach. “Every bit of it was washed over,” he said. Allowing heavy equipment onto the beach in a narrow window shouldn’t impact the birds’ attempts to renest, he suggested.
Calls to Orleans Beach Superintendent Paul Fulcher were not returned. Keon told selectmen that Fulcher told Chatham officials nesting plovers were “beat up pretty good” in the storm, but he was not sure if they were renesting. Riley said he’d also contacted the state Nature Heritage Program to get emergency permission to demolish the camps.
Thayer’s camp had been the only one with emergency relocation approval, said Conservation Agent Kristin Andres said. Last Wednesday, the conservation commission refused to grant an after-the-fact emergency order for the Shea camp, which was pulled back from the dunes without permission. All that is moot now, she said Tuesday. The commission was scheduled to meet Wednesday to take up Riley’s emergency request
Keon said the town had approved Ryder’s Cove as a staging area for the barges. Vessel movement will be coordinated by the harbormaster’s office, he added.
There were more than a dozen camps in the First Village prior to the formation of the north inlet in 2007. As rapid erosion ate away at the beach, many owners opted to demolish their camps, while a few ended up in the water. The five that remain were crowded onto Hammatt’s property, the last piece of privately owned land at the southern tip of the beach, last year. There’s nowhere else to move the camps, said Riley, noting that the Shea camp was “already at the western property line.”
This week’s developments are particularly bittersweet for Hammatt, who had hoped to get at least one more summer out of his camp. He first began using the camp in 1976, when he and a friend refurbished it using scrap lumber and shingles. He bought the former Old Harbor Station boathouse in 1982, but that washed away in the storm of 1991. He sold his interest in that land and bought the camp he’d first come to in 1976, dubbing the building “Hammatt’s Hangar.”
The camp has been through a lot, but this week’s storm proved too much, undermining the northeast corner. While the camp “superficially looks fine,” he said Tuesday, “realistically it’s in severe condition.” He informed his insurance company and expected the town to condemn the camps, which could clear the way for flood insurance to cover the cost of their removal.
Hammatt said he hoped to salvage some of the contents of his camp, such as the stove and refrigerator, before it is razed. Asked how he felt Tuesday after returning from the beach, Hammatt said, “I’m sort of numb.”
Keon said he was surprised the camps made it through Monday night’s high tide. Tuesday night’s was expected to be even higher, “which doesn’t bode well. Even if the wind sits down, there’s still a good swell out there.”
Whether the camps will still be standing Wednesday morning is the big question.
“We all would rather have [the camps] dismantled than chase the pieces” along down the harbor, he said. “Frankly, they’d better do it quickly,” he told selectmen Tuesday afternoon.
by Tim Wood
CHATHAM --- Bill Hammatt knew this day was coming.
“I’d hoped it wouldn’t be this soon,” he said.
An unusual early summer northeaster, combined with astronomically high tides, carved away as much as 60 feet from the outer shore of North Beach early this week, damaging all five of the camps that remained at the tip of the barrier beach. After shuffling the camps around what remains of Hammatt’s property for the past year — including moving two camps back from the brink just two weeks ago — camp owners reluctantly threw in the towel Tuesday.
The chimney of the Shea camp collapsed Tuesday. The camp was moved about 40 feet backed from the edge of the dune just two weeks ago. BOB LONG PHOTO
As early as Wednesday or Thursday, four of the camps — owned by the Thayer, Hammatt, Shea and Kelley families — were expected to be demolished. That’s if Tuesday night’s high tide doesn’t take them first.
Hammatt, who has had a camp on the beach for most of the past 33 years, went to the beach by boat with fellow owner Scott Morris about 8 a.m. Tuesday. Two of the buildings — the Fuller and Shea camps — were slumped onto the beach. The three others, including his camp, were undermined and hanging off the edge of the dunes.
While Hammatt and Morris assessed the situation and placed plywood over the door of the Fuller camp, the Shea camp “just kept sinking into the sand,” Hammatt said. “Then the chimney fell off it while we were there.”
All of the camps have been perched on steel beams since being moved into a small area of Hammatt’s property last year as erosion encroached on their individual lots. Those beams “actually stabilized and protected the buildings quite dramatically,” Hammatt said.
But not enough to escape nature’s onslaught, which was expected to continue into early Wednesday. Steady winds out of the northeast and high course tides, more than a foot and a half above usual levels, pounded the outer beach beginning Sunday. The extent of the erosion was evident by looking at the two camps which were recently relocated. The Thayer camp, the northernmost camp, was pulled back some 30 to 40 feet, but on Tuesday was hanging six to eight feet over the edge. The Shea camp was moved back about 40 feet as well and on Tuesday rested on the outer beach at a 40-degree angle.
Debris from the camps ended up at the fish pier Tuesday morning, where a large mattress could be seen floating near the north jog. Coastal Resources Director Ted Keon said the highway department was able to fish some debris out of the water using a backhoe.
“How much more is along the shore I don’t know,” he said, adding that several town landings along the town’s eastern shoreline, including Scatteree, got “whacked pretty good” by the storm. Several recreational boats were knocked off their mooring, and the commercial boat Three Graces was stranded on North Beach Island.
On Tuesday, William Riley, the attorney representing the camp owners, requested emergency permission to move two pieces of heavy equipment onto the beach by barge to demolish four of the five camps. The debris would be brought back to the mainland via the barge.
The Fuller camp, which was slumped to the beach but structurally solid, may be moved onto North Beach Island, Keon told selectmen Tuesday.
It would be easier to get the equipment to the camps by driving it onto the beach, said Riley, but nesting piping plovers will probably preclude that. Last week, Orleans officials were upset because the equipment that was escorted onto the beach to move the two camps remained a day longer than it was supposed to, causing concern that state officials may clamp down on any vehicle use to protect the nesting shorebirds. Riley acknowledged Orleans was not likely to allow heavy equipment to travel down the beach, even with plover monitors as escorts.
Hammatt said he hoped Orleans officials would relent, since the storm probably wiped out any active plover nests along the entire stretch of the barrier beach. “Every bit of it was washed over,” he said. Allowing heavy equipment onto the beach in a narrow window shouldn’t impact the birds’ attempts to renest, he suggested.
Calls to Orleans Beach Superintendent Paul Fulcher were not returned. Keon told selectmen that Fulcher told Chatham officials nesting plovers were “beat up pretty good” in the storm, but he was not sure if they were renesting. Riley said he’d also contacted the state Nature Heritage Program to get emergency permission to demolish the camps.
Thayer’s camp had been the only one with emergency relocation approval, said Conservation Agent Kristin Andres said. Last Wednesday, the conservation commission refused to grant an after-the-fact emergency order for the Shea camp, which was pulled back from the dunes without permission. All that is moot now, she said Tuesday. The commission was scheduled to meet Wednesday to take up Riley’s emergency request
Keon said the town had approved Ryder’s Cove as a staging area for the barges. Vessel movement will be coordinated by the harbormaster’s office, he added.
There were more than a dozen camps in the First Village prior to the formation of the north inlet in 2007. As rapid erosion ate away at the beach, many owners opted to demolish their camps, while a few ended up in the water. The five that remain were crowded onto Hammatt’s property, the last piece of privately owned land at the southern tip of the beach, last year. There’s nowhere else to move the camps, said Riley, noting that the Shea camp was “already at the western property line.”
This week’s developments are particularly bittersweet for Hammatt, who had hoped to get at least one more summer out of his camp. He first began using the camp in 1976, when he and a friend refurbished it using scrap lumber and shingles. He bought the former Old Harbor Station boathouse in 1982, but that washed away in the storm of 1991. He sold his interest in that land and bought the camp he’d first come to in 1976, dubbing the building “Hammatt’s Hangar.”
The camp has been through a lot, but this week’s storm proved too much, undermining the northeast corner. While the camp “superficially looks fine,” he said Tuesday, “realistically it’s in severe condition.” He informed his insurance company and expected the town to condemn the camps, which could clear the way for flood insurance to cover the cost of their removal.
Hammatt said he hoped to salvage some of the contents of his camp, such as the stove and refrigerator, before it is razed. Asked how he felt Tuesday after returning from the beach, Hammatt said, “I’m sort of numb.”
Keon said he was surprised the camps made it through Monday night’s high tide. Tuesday night’s was expected to be even higher, “which doesn’t bode well. Even if the wind sits down, there’s still a good swell out there.”
Whether the camps will still be standing Wednesday morning is the big question.
“We all would rather have [the camps] dismantled than chase the pieces” along down the harbor, he said. “Frankly, they’d better do it quickly,” he told selectmen Tuesday afternoon.
