Chatham Selectmen Working on New Nauset Beach Agreement with Orleans

CHATHAM – Selectmen in Chatham are looking to extend an agreement with Orleans over Nauset Beach for another summer after it expires on April 30.

The beach is shared for ORV use but Orleans collects all the revenue as it conducts most of the maintenance and patrols. Selectmen in Chatham recently voted to meet with Orleans officials to extend the agreement and then meet again in the fall to create a new pact.

Selectmen in Chatham agreed that a new agreement needs to be made after Orleans officials expressed an interest to end patrols of Chatham’s portion of the beach.

“One thing that has concerned me about this whole issue since I’ve been on the board is Orleans is making a lot of money for the use of Chatham property,” said Selectman Dean Nicastro.

The towns used to split the proceeds from the non-resident permits more evenly until an ocean breach shrank the size of Chatham’s portion of Nauset Beach.

Selectman Amanda Love said some changes that could be made in the fall include sharing patrols with Orleans and adding a surcharge to non-resident permits for the use of the Chatham section of the beach.

Chatham also would like to eliminate the $16 surcharge for resident permits which helps pay for the Habitat Conservation Permit Orleans acquired from the state. The permit allows oversand vehicles to have more access while still protecting endangered shorebirds, such as piping plovers.

Love discussed the possibility of the two towns filing for the HCP jointly.

“There are so many advantages to filing jointly,” Love said. “If we meet with them early next year in September, October, while we are creating our budgets, I think we would have a much better position going in.”

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