MAYFLOWER BEACH PARKING LOT The appeals board denied a beach committee request for a parking lot variance at Mayflower Beach at a meeting Monday night, August 7. The board decided that the beach committee could not be exempt from the town's tree bylaw which requires that one tree be planted for every five parking spaces. Despite beach committee member Larry Leon's remarks that nothing but beach grass could grow in the sand around the proposed parking lot, the board voted unanimously to deny the request for variance.
No "substantial hardship" had been shown, the board ruled, and the granting of a variance would mean there would be derogation of the neighborhood. Several compromises were suggested as to what plantings may be substituted if shade trees could not grow in the sand. Pine trees, rose bushes and flower beds were among the suggestions. Board member George Fallon, however, commented that the appeals board was "not a beauty board"and that the final decision on which way to comply with the town bylaw was not theirs.
"If we are to be judges of beauty I can think of lots of things I'd rather judge than trees," Fallon remarked. Leone told the board that conservation commission members Dr. Norton Nickerson and Curt Livingston had agreed that nothing could grow in the beach parking lot, but appeals board members apparently were not convinced.
"The parking area could be done a lot better than what they're thinking of doing," board member Gerald Mc-Carthy commented.
A pre-hearing was held at the Department of Environmental Quality Engineering Friday, May 4. The prehearing involved the complaint of Gertrude Moody, a resident whose house will be surrounded by the proposed Mayflower Beach parking lot. As a result of the pre-hearing action, a hearing will be held at the DEQE Board of Appeals in Boston. No date has been set for that hearing. Moody was not one of those earlier residents with land adjacent to the parking lot who protested the lot earlier this summer. Those protests were eventually overruled.
CHECK FOR COLE'S POND LAND Curt Livingston, chairman of the Dennis Conservation Commission, accepted a 117,750 check from the Office of Environmental Affairs last week. The check covers a 50 percent reimbursement from the state to the town for the purchase of a section of land with access to Cole's Pond. The state funds are part of the "self-help" program, a state project which allows for a 50 percent reimbursement for land purchased for conservation purposes by towns. The land in question borders Crowe's Pasture and is adjacent to at least 70 more acres of town conservation land, Livingston said.
Evelyn Murphy, Secretary of the Office of Environmental Affairs, presented the check to Livingston at an Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod meeting at which she was the featured speaker. The' 'self-help" program began in 1961 and has presented Dennis with some $579,000 in funds so far, said Joel Lerner, Director of the Division of Conservation Services.
Reimbursement for the 18 acre land parcel was originally approved in February of this year, Lerner said. He said that Dennis has been' 'very active" in the self-help program. Funds in the program are given on the basis of conservation land as well as "social concerns" which include requirements that participating towns have approved housing and affirmative action programs, Lerner explained.
NEW ANTIQUE BUSINESS The appeals board approved a special permit request from Robie Dimock of Rt. 6A, Dennis, for the operation of an antique business at 528 Rt. 6A at a meeting Monday night, August 7. Dimock said that he plans to use an existing building on his property for the business. He explained that parking could be provided for in the front yard area and the board agreed to his request with the condition that adequate signs be posted indicating where the parking would take place. Dimock told the board that he planned to stay open from 10 am to 4 pm six days a week. The permit approval was unanimous.
BEACH FOR RESIDENTS? The beach committee will discuss the possibility of an all residents-taxpayers beach at a meeting, Monday, August 14, at 7:30 pm. The issue is being addressed after the committee received numerous requests for an all residents beach from irritated residents who couldn't find parking spaces at town beaches. Complaints were also made at a July 26 Taxpayers Association meeting. The committee will delay other items in order to deal with the issue, said Helen DeGaust, beach committee secretary. "We'd love to have anybody come who has ideas," DeGaust commented. She asked that those interested in attending call 394-3560 so that enough space will be provided at the meeting.
SECOND ROUND INSPECTIONS Dennis's 72 full service food-serving establishments are presently undergoing their second round of summer inspections, according to Theodore Dumas, Dennis Health Director. Nancy Harriott, summer health inspector, is checking the restaurants for 43 items, which "include mostly sanitation, food protection and cleanliness," said Dumas. The inspection scores so far this round have been high, Dumas commented, and many of the problems found during the first summer inspection in June have been corrected. "It looks like this round will look pretty good," he remarked. The inspection is expected to be completed by August 25.
ARTWORK REQUEST Those interested in having their artwork displayed in Dennis Town Hall are most welcome. Mary Malone, town hall secretary, requested that local artists bring in their work both to dress up town hall walls and to help the artists in sales. "We like the pleasure of having them hung here," Malone commented, "and then people come in and say 'that's lovely, I'd like to buy it.' "
The artist's name and the price of the work will be attached to each piece and a record kept of all artwork, she added.
TRACKING A DOG Police Dog Officer Tom Grandy has issued a summons for Richard Williams, Signe Road, Dennis, to appear in court on Monday, August 21 to explain why his dog "Joe" has not been destroyed as ordered by the selectmen.
The board heard of several reported instances of the German Shepherd biting people off his own property during a public hearing July 25. That night they unanimously ordered the dog destroyed, and Officer Grandy served the notice on July 26. Williams had ten days in which to appeal, a route he apparently did not take. It was therefore Williams' responsibility to carry out the orders of the selectmen, returning a certificate signed by witnesses.
"As far as I know, he did not destroy the dog," said Grandy on Tuesday, August 8. The officer has not been able to locate the dog's owner, and took out the complaint in second district court on Monday, August 7.