Stannard Beach Association general meeting July 1, 2012

Stannard Beach Association, General Meeting July 1, 2012

The meeting was called to order at 9:05 a.m., by George Dallas, President.

Minutes of the previous meeting, dated September 10, 2011, were read. Motion to accept by Dennis Hersh, 2nded by Jim Keily. All voted in favor to accept the minutes as presented.

Treasurer’s Report: there is $51,000 in the bank accounts as of today. The town mil rate has increased by 24%, but home values are down, so will pay about the same or slightly less taxes

Our Association collected $75,600 last year. We increased to 29% valuation, which will be approximately the same as last year. Motion to accept the treasurer’s report made by John Abella, 2nded by Merle Katzman. All voted in favor to accept the report.

A moment of silence was observed for the passing of George Glassman and Mary Ann Bernstein.

DEP: A resolution and COP to nullify the 1992 agreement is at DEP and we are waiting for their approval.

An important rule to remember is that there is no food allowed on the beach. This is in the by-laws and rules and regs of our association, and is because folks leave food/ bottles/trash/coolers on the beach, causing a mess. Plastic bottles are in a grey area. Please remove all plastic bottles when you leave and take the bottle tops as well. No glass on the beach, please.

2nd Ave drainage and paving: This is a long term project. Beginning July 9, weather permitting, there will be saw cutting of heaved parts of the road and doing repairs. Long term we need to repave all of the roads, but need to fix the drainage issues first. Again, this is long term and very expensive.

Other construction. John and Laura Petchler have requested an emergency extension from the board to do construction during the season, for a few days, due to mandatory septic system repairs.

Security Guards: The guard is not armed this year . George Dallas felt this was ok as long as there are no incidents. Guard schedule will be Friday 6-10, Saturday 10 – 10 and Sunday 8 – 6.

Also Monday evening Water’s Edge will have 3 security guards on duty for the fireworks: 1. Top of Ripley Hill, 2. Bottom of Ripley Hill and 3. Top of Cedar Lane. Starting at 5:30 p.m. on Monday please give the guard the name and address of the folks you are visiting. This keeps down the overcrowding, especially of cars, such that in case of emergency our roads remain passable.
Keith Garabedian suggested letting the guards know who your guests will be. Daisy the ice cream truck /lady has been invited to the beach during the fireworks.

Council of beaches: checking 4 Westbrook beaches for mooring registrations. All moorings in Westbrook must be registered. Is free.

Disaster control: register with the town.

Nominating Committee: Sandy Seidman named as chair this year. Committee comprised of Dennis Hersh, George Palmer, Linda Pinn and Dave Caslin.

New members: Maureen Keegan and Mike Thomann at 5 beach court were welcomed.

Jessica Whelan bought 28 Avenue C from Brian Geremia.

Trash pick up: Finkelday company has been purchased by All-Waste. Pick ups are now on Monday, recycling is every other Monday, 7/2, 7/16 and 7/30..... The transfer station on McVey is also available.

Elin Katz thanked the Assn for putting up dog poop trash bag dispensers, and noted a trash can is needed by the tennis courts, where there always used to be one. Unfortunately now it often disappears. Needs to be chained, unchained Sunday night and rechained Monday morning after emptied. There are 3 poop bag dispensers and one more coming.

Directory: Ably updated by Steve and Barbara Mason. Please provide them with any contact information updates. The directory will be distributed via email as a PDF file, and can be mailed to those without email.

Beach regatta/picnic: August 5. Steve Mason will organize the regatta and we will have a picnic afterwards on the baseball field. High tide is at noon and competitions will be set up. Vy Kava is looking for volunteers for water, face painting and grills/ grilling for the picnic/ice cream social, which will be from 1-3 p.m. and offered by an ice cream truck from Glastonbury

Thank you to Vy Kava for helping to make the breakfast before and at the meeting happen. (bagels are from Cohen’s in Clinton).

New Business: Peter Black from Beach Court -
Erosion: All of the Old Saybrook end of the beach is eroding. All of the entire east coast is eroding. We want to approach the town about replenishing the beach sand. The mean high tide line at the eastern end of the beach is at the seawall. The Assn used to push in sand from the sand bar. Can we ask the town or state to replenish sand as we pay a lot in taxes. Waterfront property owners pay a higher premium in taxes for the beach, not for the roads. Discussion continued to explain littoral shifts, salt island effects on sand movement, etc – all natural forces moving the sand continually. We are in on going discussion with the DEP on this subject – we are a private beach so do not have as much clout as areas like Hammonasset, which are public.

Sydelle Baskind asked about the emergency phone numbers - go onto the Westbrook town website and register our phone number and address for emergency updates.

Tennis courts: trees are hanging over the tennis court and basketball court. Merle Katzman suggestd leaving a broom on the courts to simply brush them off.

Lynne Nathan asked if we could sawcut/repair the roads in September instead of during the summer. No, as this is our slot of time in the contractor’s schedule.

Dennis Hersh brought up the fact that there are some weekly renters who are smoking and drinking outside at 5 and 6 in the morning. Who are these folks/ owners and what about enforcing a strict rule regarding a minimum of monthly rentals. Weekly renters keep moving up and down the beach so they “don’t wake up the land”. If you know the landlord please remind them of the monthly rental rule.

Note on email sent last week. We are all here to enjoy the beach. Please be respectful of what is public and what property is private. That means stacking of beach chairs along private beach seawalls is not allowed. Cannot do that on other folks’ property. Please be conscious of that and try to respect each persons right to use the beach responsibly.

Merle Katzman – use of the beach itself. Years ago in the pre-Fishman house folks were thrown out of area from in front the are in front of Wrang to Sanzo (area that was Wrang back then). We need to be civil to each other and allow folks to use he beach. This is a legal issue that has been documented in prior legal actions.

Fireworks: going off at 10:30 p.m. last night from Pointina Beach. Since they are a disturbance that late at night, if anyone can identify who is setting them off please notify the State police.

Dennis Hersh thanked George Dallas for all of his work on behalf of our Association, in George’s long tenure as our president.

Motion to adjourn made by Dennis Hersh, 2nded by Sandy Seidman. All voted to adjourn at 10:05 a.m.

Respectfully submitted, Sharon Bender, Secretary