VIDEO: Council kills proposals to sell town-owned beach path, rebuild Ninigret Park tennis courts

Proposed budget OK’d – up for voter approval on June 2

By Will Collette

There’s weeping and gnashing of teeth by the owners of properties on Charlestown Beach Road. Their plan to get the town to sell them a town-owned beach path so they could close it off to people they don’t like went down in flames at the May 12 Charlestown Town Council meeting.

While the Council unanimously approved the general budget proposed for FY 2015 that begins on July 1, the two “warrant items” (ballot questions) that cover two separate issues did not fare as well.

The Council voted unanimously to withdraw the proposed ballot question that would direct the town to sell the land to the highest bidder, with a starting bid of $4,000. 

The local property owners, most of them non-residents, have wanted to eliminate this beach path for quite a while to keep riff-raff and undesirables from getting to that portion of the beach that is not covered by life guards.

These owners claim that these riff-raff misbehave on the beach, drinking, smoking, being loud and using some of those words that George Carlin famously referred to as the Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television. They claimed that some of these undesirables were trespassing on private property and were using the underside of the beach houses as public toilets.

Nick Augelli (and not Kyle Donovan as I had originally reported) said that on Prom Nights, you can find some kids doing the nasty under their beach houses.

If you're still trying to remember George Carlin's Seven Words, here's a refresher:

The owners admitted that the sale and closure of the beach path might not solve their problem since there is a vacant lot that could be used as an alternative pathway for these degenerate bad people.

At the Budget Public Hearing on May 5, residents opposing the sale of the beach path presented several powerful reasons to support their position:

• Pat Kent said the proposed sale reflected badly on Charlestown’s priorities.
• Former Town Council President Deb Carney pointed out that the sale of the beach path actually VIOLATES Charlestown’s Comprehensive Plan which actually mandates that Charlestown acquire MORE such small beach paths.
• Budget Commission Chair Dick Sartor pointed out that the town NEEDS that beach path when Ninigret Pond needs to be pumped. Without that town-owned right-of-way, the costs for required periodic dredging will go a lot higher.

That was more than enough for the Council members. George Tremblay (CCA Party) made the motion to strike the question off the ballot, saying that he saw “nothing to be gained” for Charlestown from the sale.

Council Boss Tom Gentz (CCA Party) said he was swayed by Sartor’s point about the cost of dredging to support Tremblay’s motion. All of the councilors agreed that this proposal is a bad idea. Tremblay’s motion to strike the proposal passed unanimously.

It's interesting how the CCA Party boys - Gentz, Slattery and Tremblay - had nothing but scorn for this proposal on May 12, when it was their own votes at the April 14 Council meeting that moved this budget item forward. Councilors Paula Andersen (D) and Lisa DiBello have opposed this measure from the start. 

I think the CCA boys did their big flip-flop not on the merits but because they realized what a stupid and unpopular move this was, and that the voters would have crushed it. That's not a very good way for the Three Stooges to launch their re-election campaigns.

The second “warrant item,” asking voters to authorize the Town to spend up to $260,000 to rebuild four of the old tennis courts at Ninigret Park. Public Works Director Alan Arsenault says the original construction of the courts was flawed and that rather than continue with patchwork repairs, the town should re-do the courts and do them right.

Councilor Slattery made the motion to kill this ballot question by stating that this expenditure was not a Budget Commission priority. Both he (and CCA Party colleague Boss Gentz) felt the patchwork repairs by DPW are terrific and that an expensive re-do was not necessary.

They both claimed the courts look fine.

Town resident Joe Dolock stood to disagree. He noted that he has a regular tennis group that uses the courts every week. He stated that the courts are not in very good condition at all with spider cracks and some larger cracks over two inches wide.

In the end, it came down to money. This Council has not been bashful at spending taxpayer money, such as paying $2.1 million plus lots more in legal costs to kill the Whalerock wind energy project WITHOUT a taxpayer vote. However, they decided not to let the voters decided whether or not to spend $260,000 to rebuild the tennis courts. 

Unlike the ballot question on the beach sale, this ballot question would have been consistent with the town Comprehensive Plan and the Ninigret Master Plan. 

Nonetheless, the Council decided to kill the tennis court reconstruction proposal. Badminton, anyone?

The only matter the voters will be asked to decide on June 2 is the town budget. The proposed town budget is a big issue which we’ll have a couple of weeks to discuss.