Seascape Association Board Meeting

September 27, 2022

 

Attendance:

 

Art Schick

Bernie Loughran

Joan Boyer 

Marianne Beardsley

Ellen Clark

Brian Murphy

John Honey

Michael Shea

 

Committee Attendees:

 

Rob Hardy- Dock

Jane Shea-Tennis

Jack O’Connor-Nominating

Tim Gallagher-Beaches

Terry Gallagher-Hospitality

 

Absent board members:

 

Michele Sax

Warren Fish

John Beigel

 

Opening

 

President Art Schick recognized a quorum and called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm.

 

Meeting Minutes

 

The meeting minutes of the previous board meeting dated April 6, 2022 were reviewed and approved.

 

Committee Updates

 Security

 

• Art reported that Seascape shared the security with Silver Beach which worked out well saving about $2000. Tom Griffin provides the board with weekly activity reports.

• There were a few issues; the most serious being a fire on B beach during a weeknight made with logs brought on to the beach and wood slats removed from the new dune fence. 

• There was one other incident at the end of the summer on A beach.  The neighbor went on to the beach at 2:00 am to remove the people and they left.

• We agreed to ask Tom to continue with the same security plan for the 2023 summer.

 Roads
 

• Jane Shea reported that Mike will address the large pothole in front of the construction on Waterside.  The drains and catch basins need to be cleaned and a suggestion was made to provide Truax a spread sheet to identify drains.

• There is an issue with the drain on Seascape Lane again which Mike is addressing.

• There was a specific request to clean out and look at the Highcrest drain and identify a possible sump pump.

 eaches

 

• Tim Gallagher reported there are permits to renew for A and B beaches at $100 each. 

• No sand for either beach is needed.  The drainage dug on A beach has helped with the rain runoff.  B beach has a lot of sand build up right to the parking lot.  There is no need for the snow fences this winter. The dune is building up, but it is not encroaching on the beach.  A beach has a lot more sand too, only on the beach, not on the dune. Tim suggested having Dave Collins sift the sand to remove the seaweed. The vista pruning is planned for A and B beach lots and vegetation will be removed from the drains.

• Tim suggested having new beach tags this year and a suggestion was made to have car stickers for beach parking.

• The beach monitors have been successful at a cost of $3000-$3200.  Marianne put it in the budget this year at $3264.

• This summer some of the beaches in the area closed due to bacteria.  New Silver beach closed three times because they failed testing.  They get tested by the Barnstable County Program because every beach that is a public or semi-public beach must get tested, per Mass Regulation 105.  Megansett failed too.  It was incorrectly reported over the summer that “all the beaches from Megansett to West Falmouth failed.”  

• We are not required to test, but once we are on the testing program, we cannot get off it. 

• The natural flow in and out of Megansett helps to keep our beaches clean.  New Silver Beach is a Southwest facing beach and they get the bacteria.  Once the winds change from Southwest to Northwest, those Southwest facing beaches that have a bacteria problem get cleaned out naturally.

• Tim suggests that we do not need to do the testing.  We can rely on the Megansett public beach testing for now.

• The board agreed to not put up the snow fencing this winter.

• The board agreed to have beach monitors for 2023.

• The board agreed to not do beach bacteria testing.

• The board agreed to decide in April about new beach tags for 2023.

• The board agreed to not have car beach stickers.

 

Tennis and Pickle Ball 

 John Honey and Jane Shea reported that we had twenty-three tennis members pay this year and two new lifetime members. The nets will stay up weather permitting until sometime in November. New benches and a squeegee have been purchased.  The lock disappeared, but reappeared.  A suggestion was made to have a separate budget for the tennis court landscaping. The old bench needs to be removed.  We have maintained the sign-up book because it works well.

 The board agreed to have the tennis fund cover the tennis court landscaping.

 Dock and Ramp

 

• Rob Hardy reported on the need to repair the dock, ramp, and railings.  He obtained three estimates, $4000, $4400, and $6200.

• Rob recommends that the new ramp could be a one-piece structure, all aluminum, non-skid, and can be removed at the end of the season.  It is fixed to the dock with big eye holes and pins with wheels that move up and down with the tide.  The company is in Gloucester and the cost is $4000-$4400 with delivery.

• When we take the docks out this year, we could plan to take the decking off and examine the frames, which might need some sprucing up. The plan would be to put the decking treks on the dock in the early spring.

• Todd Taylor will pull out the dock in early November. 

• Rob and Marianne said they would make sure the list of dock and ramp keys is accurate.

• The board agreed with Rob’s recommendation to replace the dock ramp with an aluminum one was a good idea.

• The board approved $10,000 for the dock repairs, $4500 for the dock ramp, and $5500 for the boards on the dock.

 Hospitality

 Terry Gallagher reported that the parade and the cocktail party were well-attended this summer.  The tent remains the biggest expense at almost $900, the cost increases each year. Mike Shea offered his tent which we will revisit at the April board meeting.  

• The t-shirt sale made about $100.  To sell more shirts maybe we should start selling the shirts a little earlier. A suggestion was made to sell hats instead of shirts, or in addition to the shirts. A suggestion was made to upgrade the website to sell the Seascape apparel items. 

 These suggestions will be revisited in April.

 

Administration

 Joan Boyer said there is no new activity to report on for the committee. 

 

Budget

 

• Marianne reported that the budget has many challenges ahead which will help to be covered by the capital improvement plan.  

• For now the road expenses are the same, crack sealing in the fall or spring and road resurfacing every two to three years. The road fund covers these expenses.

• The landscaping is trickier to estimate this year with the new contractor and the upgrade in the work.

• The beach expenses are covered.

• We pay the insurance in the fall.

• The dock will require at least $10,000.

• Previously we budgeted a deficit, presently we do not have a deficit.

• This year we had a record number of 115 paying members.

• At the time of this meeting, we have $4500 cushion to spend if needed.

 

Board Discussion Items

 
        A.  168 Waterside

 

• Art reported that the open Order of Condition on 168 Waterside Drive was closed and we received the condition of compliance which is being recorded. Holmes and McGrath were hired for the engineering. Everyone is satisfied with the results and the homeowner will be paying their dues.
   

1. 9 Waterside

 

• At this time the sale of this property has not closed because the investment company triggered an extension of thirty days. 

• Art has exchanged several emails with the head of the investment company and there will be a positive mechanism in place to get the dues paid.

  

1. Seascape Ln and Highcrest Rd drain issues

 

• Holmes and McGrath will develop a proposal for these two areas.  Falmouth Engineering did come and look and will provide a proposal.  Art also met with Lawrence Lynch today to discuss the drainage issues and proposals. 

• It could be $8000-$10000 range to do an engineering study. 

• The drains on Seascape Lane need to be replaced and we would need four 1000 gallon tanks which would be placed slightly off the street.  The cost to do this work could be $20,000.

• On Highcrest the drain is full of vegetation and overgrowth. At one time there possibly was a sump pump in the drain.  Lawrence Lynch when on location pointed out that these two drains at this location are in the valley of that whole area.

• Proposal to get Truax back to look at the drains, clean them out, and see what currently exits. We should provide Truax with a spread sheet identifying the existing drains.

 The board agreed to provide a spread sheet and have Truax clean out the drains.

  

1. Website

 

• Art spoke with three different web designers regarding updating the website. They discussed public and private sections, content for public and private sections, paying dues through website, sharing information such as an electronic calendar, pickle ball notifications instead of emails, Membership directory with permission, and rules and regulations etc.

• The cost would be $3000 to update. Proposal to hire the webmaster would cost $75/hour. The yearly maintenance cost would be $400-$500.

• The board discussed that this is a lot of money given the size of our overall budget and the number of families.  It would also be an ongoing expense to pay for it.

• We could attach paypal or venmo to the website easily to handle the dues paying and we could get a volunteer to manage the content.

• Presently Art has been the content manager and Tim has been the webmaster.

• Art will send out an email to request if anyone would volunteer to be the website content person.

 

• The Board declined to update the Seascape website.

1. Rentals

 We discussed the idea to add to our By-laws the rule that Association rentals must be one or more weeks at a time. We agreed to table this item until the spring.

1. Cameras

 We discussed the idea of adding video cameras to the beaches and declined to move forward.

1. Golf Carts

• We discussed the idea to have golf carts registered with the Association but declined to move forward on this item.

• Suggestion was made to bring it up at the annual meeting.

• ​

1. Speeding

 We discussed the idea to slow down the car driving particularly near A beach corner and the parking lot. Another area of concern is the straight away along Waterside from A beach to B beach.

• Art will discuss ideas with the road committee.

​

1. Kayak rack on B beach
   We discussed the issue of too many kayaks and boats being stored and left over the winter and decided to revisit this item in April.

• Art plans on sending an email to ask people to remove their kayaks. 

 

Closing
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm.

 

Submitted by,

Ellen Clark

Secretary