A copy of this letter and photos also submitted to
Town of Marshfield MA Administrator: John Clifford.
*2 samples of concrete and rebar accompanied this letter:
June
23, 2006
Town of Marshfield MA Selectmen:
Michael A. Maresco
Patricia
M. Epstein
Katharine N. O'Donnell
RE: Sunrise Beach / Ocean
Bluff Beach Petition
Please find enclosed the original copy of our
“Sunrise Beach / Ocean Bluff Beach Petition”. This 13 page petition contains 179 signatures from Marshfield residents,
Marshfield registered voters, and Ocean Bluff property owners. Also included are 4 pages of photographs.
As
year round residents of Ocean Bluff we have personally witnessed the destruction of Sunrise Beach. The past 2 seawall construction
projects have resulted in tons of construction debris littering the beach. This debris consists of large concrete blocks
and rebar materials protruding from the sand (see photo pages 1, 2, & 3). This debris is a public safety hazard. The
residents of Sunrise Beach / Ocean Bluff request the beach be restored to its pre-construction state before someone is seriously
injured.
During the summer of 2005 a young boy fell on the Brook/Foster
Street beach ramp. His injury was serious enough to require an ambulance.
The
Brook/Foster Street beach access is still unsafe for public use and does not provide adequate emergency ambulance access (see
photo page 4). We request that the town proactively replace’s the stairs and removes all seawall construction debris
from the beach before more personal injuries occur.
Marshfield town
officials inspected and approved both seawall construction sites. The residents of Ocean Bluff do not understand “Why
or How” town approval was granted. Even to an untrained eye: a walk down the ramp and on the beach provides obvious
evidence of an obstacle course full of public safety issues.
We also
request that the selectmen review the 2005 seawall construction company contract with the town. The town engineering department
is reluctant to provide us with a copy of the contract. We request answers to the following:
• Is the construction
company responsible for the removal of debris?
• If so, why wasn't the contract enforced?
•
When was the construction site inspected - high or low tide?
• Who approved the inspection of this construction
site?
• Does this construction company have additional contracts with the town?
• Is this
construction company bidding on future contracts with the town?
We
made numerous onsite requests to the inspectors throughout the construction process expressing our concerns for dumping construction
materials on the beach. To date, our requests have been ignored by the DPW and town engineers. The recent most frequently
used response to our questions is... “No Comment”.
Hence
forth, with the assistance of Marshfield Beach Supervisor Cindy Castro, we created this petition.
*
Our conversations with town officials have been fully noted. Our log is available upon your request.
*
The enclosed photo’s are just a very small sample. We have 100’s of “before, during, and after construction”
photo’s available upon your request.
* Additional copies of
this signed petition are available upon your request.
We
urge the selectmen to put a stop to littering Marshfield’s beaches with town approved seawall construction debris.
Seawall construction contracts should not result in the town’s additional
expense to remove debris from our public beaches.
Sunrise Beach,
Ocean Bluff residents and property owners
THANK YOU
for your attention to this pertinent public safety
issue!
We look forward to discussing this issue with you....
no later
than June 26, 2006.
