Commission backs beach-management plan with shorebird protections for RJ Resorts, requires revisions

Representatives for RJ Resorts and engineering consultants presented a beach-management plan intended to regulate limited raking, seaweed handling, movable platforms and to provide a contingency pathway for future beach nourishment if extreme storms remove sand. Bob Perry (Cape Cod Engineering) said the application aims to prepare the site for potential nourishment events while incorporating Natural Heritage (NHSP) conditions.

Perry noted that NHSP (Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program) provided comments and a list of conditions the applicants agreed to incorporate. "The NHSP conditions are to be baked into the order of conditions," Perry said, and the applicants revised the beach-management plan to incorporate procedural triggers, topographic updates, and monitoring steps for any nourishment event.

Commissioners and staff clarified operational limits: raking will be limited, seaweed from a raking event may be removed but regular wrack on the high-tide line must remain, and any vehicle-based work (tractor, movable platform or temporary deck moves) must coordinate with the shorebird monitor and town health director. Staff recommended that applicants hold an annual preseason coordination meeting with conservation staff before April 1 and that any nourishment event be subject to a public hearing with updated survey data and sediment testing.

The commission approved the beach-management plans for the two resort parcels with special conditions reflecting NHSP guidance, preseason coordination, limits on seaweed removal, coordination with shorebird monitors for mechanical activity, and a requirement that nourishment proposals return for public review with up-to-date survey and C-14/site testing information.