Minutes

Meeting Minutes 9/19/17

1:00 PM

Mayo Creek Restoration Committee

Present: John Riehl, John Portnoy, Jake Puffer, Walter Baron, Pat Winslow

-Review agenda

-Motion to approve the minutes from 8/10/17 John Portnoy, Second Jake Puffer, pass 5-0

-Revised Minutes from 8/14/17 will be placed on the next meeting agenda

-Mike Flynn expressed concern over the accuracy of the meeting minutes and that as a result

residents were not properly informed about the project

-Pat Winslow stated that it is difficult to capture everything that everybody says without being

redundant, and that additional comments were welcome.

-Hydrology Meeting date 10/11/17 at Dave Bennett’s office

-Idea to have a smaller working group that includes John Riehl, John Portnoy representing

MCRC, Dave Bennett representing HVCC, and Tom Cambareri, and Neal Price (Hydrology experts).

-Idea is to focus exclusively on hydrology issues.

-Maria Hollis expressed her concerns over the cost of having Bennett appear at the MCRC

meetings and that HVCC is bearing the expense. MCRC has received information from Bennett

without paying for it.

-John Riehl stated that the MCRC had no funds to cover HVCC costs regarding Bennett

Environmental.

-Maria Hollis stated that Bennett was hired to represent the interests of HVCC not to be apart

of a working group for the town. HVCC has an interest in continued participation, but is held to the

decision of their Board of Directors regarding their budget to retain Dave Bennett.

-John Portnoy stated that the idea of the workshop should be to come to a consensus on the

hydrology science. Neal Price and Tom Cambareri both have many years of experience and are

experts in the field of hydrology. Their expertise may be useful to HVCC. Tom Price is being paid by

MCRC.

-John Portnoy would like to have a written consensus document

-Pat Winslow stated that the Comprehensive Waste Water Management Committee was still waiting

to here response to the comments submitted surrounding the Water Shed Report. The Committee

was looking to join with the board of water Commissioners into a single Water Quality Entity.

-Abutters asked why Mayo Creek? is the town mandated to do this project.

-Pat Winslow stated that the town is mandated to lower nitrogen levels entering Wellfleet Harbor.

Samples taken by the Provincetown Center for Costal Studies show that water quality exiting both

Mayo and Duck Creeks is degraded. The focus of the Waste Water Committee was to look for the

most cost effective way to achieve compliance with the standards set. Natural remediation is much

cheaper than a conventional sewer system with a treatment plant. The Mayo Creek restoration would

be one of several tools implemented by the town to achieve compliance.

-John Portnoy notified the committee to an ownership change on a couple abutting properties. The

proposals are to rebuild the buildings on their existing footprints. The elevations are listed above the

1.3ft maximum tide height under restoration.

-Wellfleet Harbor Conference 11/4/17

Possible poster regarding carbon sequestration

-Mike Flynn stated that his feeling from people around town was that this project should not proceed.

Expressed concern regarding the backyard of his property. He stated that it is very private and lacks

the odors associated with low tide. He is concerned how this will change with restoration of the

marsh. Would there be heavy equipment used for the channeling of creek?

-John Portnoy stated that the odors come from an anoxic environment and that restoration would help

with drainage and allow more oxygen to enter the system.

-The phagmities that are located closest to the house will not die back since they will not be exposed

to salt water.

-The tidal gate would provide the ability to slowly increase the water level within the creek. Current

creek elevation level data is gathered through LIDAR. Much more on site specific elevations would

be needed before restoration is completed to ensure properties are not flooded.

-Excavation of channels in the creek could be done with a rotary ditcher which is commonly used by

Cape Cod Mosquito Control.

-Mike Flynn questioned wether the Herring River Restoration project had anticipated the need for the

golf course to be raised or moved?

-John Riehl stated that it was known from the start that the golf course was in a location that would

need to be raised or relocated.

Adjourn 2:30