I attended a presentation of the Squibnocket committee’s recommendations on Dec. 18 regarding the Squibnocket Farm Association’s causeway proposal. I was thoroughly impressed with the presentation and depth of research the committee put into their assignment. Kudos and many thanks to Jim Malkin and all the committee members who put in a great deal of effort and long hours of work to come up with a recommendation that I feel will be a win-win for the town and the applicant.

Their recommendation is not only environmentally sound, but by keeping the connecting roadway and causeway further north at the approaching axis and further south on the applicants’ outlet it will be better protected from storm damage and will improve beach traffic flow. Further, by utilizing a filled road bed combined with a shorter length of causeway it minimizes the viewshed more than the original proposal. In my opinion, the significant growth of phragmites in this wetland (12’ tall) will mitigate the viewshed issue.

The key to making the committee’s proposal a reality is obtaining a lease or gift of a half-acre non-buildable parcel of land owned by a private landowner (Jeffers/Orphanos).

In a Dec. 5 letter to the Gazette, Ms. Jeffers and Mr. Orphanos stated that they were willing to lease or gift this parcel to the town for beach parking. Additionally, they were willing to offer the applicant a right of way at no cost for their private road to cross this parcel. However, although not stated in their letter to the editor, I believe this offer was probably contingent on the committee arriving at a different recommendation. I reach this conclusion based on their letter also stating that “we do not believe an elevated causeway of any length is the correct solution.”

The Squibnocket committee came up with the correct and most environmentally friendly solution, as well as a solution that can be permitted by the environmental boards. The “soft” solution favored by the Jeffers/Orphanos was to fill in the wetland and to build a berm for the roadway. In my opinion, this solution would never have been permitted, and the first major hurricane or northeaster would have pushed this fill into Squibnocket Pond and severely damaged the ecology of the pond.

I am glad the committee listened to the environmental engineers to arrive at their recommendation and only hope the selectmen can negotiate with Ms. Jeffers and Mr. Orphanos to make the committee’s recommendation a reality.

Richard E. Steves
Chilmark