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Dune shack subcommittee still on ice
Banner Daily Update Mon. Dec. 17
By Kaimi Rose Lum
Banner Staff
One year after the National Seashore superintendent announced plans to reactivate the Seashore’s dune shack subcommittee so that it could begin working with the park toward a dune shack management policy, no chair has been appointed to the subcommittee and no meetings of the group have taken place.
Price told the Seashore’s Advisory Commission last week that since the person whom the park originally picked to chair the group — Rich Delaney — withdrew from the position last spring, the park has been unable to find someone to take his place. Price said he has been having “numerous discussions” with Advisory Commission chair Ron Kaufman, as well as with “internal Park Service folks,” about what to do.
“I do want you to know there has been activity, mostly behind the scenes, on this,” Price told the commission.
Planning for the future management of the dune shacks, a number of which are still under long-term lease and other legal agreements with the National Park Service, hinges on the formation of the subcommittee – at least according to the strategy announced by Price in December 2006. The superintendent said at that time that he wanted a group composed of representatives of the families that have long-term leases on their shacks, as well as a representative from the town of Provincetown and two Advisory Commission members “who have a strong interest in the shacks,” to steer the development of a dune shack management policy.
The planning process would involve public hearings and would follow the outline of an Environmental Assessment, a type of review required under the National Environmental Policy Act.
“Because we are dealing with historic resources and we are dealing with natural resources, we have to make sure we are in compliance with [NEPA],” the Seashore’s chief of interpretation, Sue Moynihan, said in an interview following the meeting.
“We know that we need to have public involvement and we know that we need to not have a process that isn’t open and doesn’t invite public involvement. …The direction we were heading with the subcommittee was that we were trying to get representation from as many interested parties as we could.”
Moynihan said that because of its members’ knowledge about the shacks and “their extreme interest” in the issue, the subcommittee is an important asset.
The park has been reluctant to divulge the names of those already on the subcommittee in the absence of a chair, she said.
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Dec 13th, 2007