North Beach News Archive

Weather Forecast

Town Meeting To Consider Future Of Displaced North Beach Camps

by Alan Pollock

CHATHAM — A handful of North Beach camps which were moved to temporary quarters on the Hammatt property to escape erosion might be allowed to remain there, if town meeting approves a last-minute zoning bylaw amendment submitted last week.

At last Wednesday’s special meeting of the board of selectmen, Attorney William Riley submitted a zoning amendment which would allow up to five cottages to be located on the Hammatt land without special approval from the zoning board. The amendment applies only to the residential conservancy district—which encompasses North Beach and Strong Island—and only to camps that existed on Jan. 1, 2008, and were in use prior to that date. Riley said the language in the amendment is intentionally narrow.

“We don’t think there are any unintended consequences here that we have to worry about,” Riley said.

Beginning with the Fuller-Coppedge camp, four First Village cottages were relocated to the Hammatt property—the northernmost in the village—to stay ahead of the advancing ocean. They have been placed on wooden cribbing for temporary storage and cannot be used.

William Hammatt said he and the other North Beach camp owners are a close-knit community, “and the beach, as I’m sure you’re aware, is a large part of our lives,” he told the selectmen. Camp owners’ children have grown up on the beach, and the camps have hosted weddings, honeymoons and annual get-togethers for decades.

“I feel guilty being the only camp left out there. We’d prefer to help our neighbors and friends to continue their lifestyle as long as possible,” Hammatt said. If the bylaw amendment passes, Hammatt said he would offer camp owners some kind of land lease, recovering modest rental fees and tax assessments. He said he is not offering to host the camps for financial gain.

Though there is no way to know whether the erosion will stop at his property, Hammatt said there is reason for optimism that the erosion will stop, and possibly reverse itself. The southern tip of North Beach eroded after the 1987 break, but later stabilized and accreted somewhat.

“I’m not a science major, but I think there’s a possibility that’s going to happen here. At least that’s our hope,” Hammatt said.

Riley told selectmen he brought the zoning amendment to the planning board only the night before, admittedly “short-circuiting the normal multiple hearing process” usually used. While recommending that selectmen include the article on the town meeting warrant, the planning board indicated it would not decide whether to endorse the article until after a public hearing is held on the proposal. The board was slated to discuss the amendment at its meeting Tuesday evening.

If the article passes, camp owners would be able to place their cottages on pilings without the approval of the zoning board, but the conservation commission would still have jurisdiction over the projects. Riley said the chairman of the conservation commission expressed displeasure that the warrant article was moving forward without any public hearings first.

Board of Selectmen Chairman David Whitcomb asked why Riley waited until the last minute to submit the article.

“Why couldn’t we have done this a little sooner?” Whitcomb asked.

“I don’t think anybody envisioned the speed at which the beach would begin to retreat,” Riley said. If the zoning bylaw change is forced to wait until a special town meeting in the fall, it could be mid-winter before the new bylaw is finalized, leaving the camps on temporary wooden cribbing in the meantime.

“So there is no way to keep them in place in case of a major storm event,” Riley said.

Selectman Douglas Ann Bohman said she would support the article.

“They’ve taken some real serious hits,” she said of the camp owners, “and I would be hard-pressed to not go along with this.”

Selectman Ronald Bergstrom agreed, saying if Hammatt is generous enough to suggest the arrangement, “I don’t see a problem with it.” But Bergstrom noted that, if all of the properties to his south are washed away, and the beach begins to rebuild itself, Hammatt might find himself owning a very large parcel of beach.

“I think the issue is moot, Ron,” Hammatt said. “Even if I wound up with 10 or 12 acres, at this point the town is not going to let me subdivide it further.”

Selectmen voted unanimously to place the article on the annual town meeting warrant, but did not vote on whether to endorse the article. Like the planning board, the selectmen will likely weigh in on the article before the vote at town meeting.