By GAYLA CAWLEY
SWAMPSCOTT — Another night of discussion yielded no decision on whether cooking fires would be allowed on Phillips Beach this summer.
A public hearing, continued from April, was held during a Conservation Commission meeting on Thursday night, regarding the notice of intent filed by the Board of Selectmen to allow residents to have cooking fires on Phillips Beach.
As summer continues on, the discussion was continued to the commission’s next meeting. Conservation commission members continue to be most concerned about how the fires would be monitored to protect the vegetation.
The commission, when the issue was brought before them in April, was also concerned with the timeframe fires would be allowed.
An initial proposal put forth by Patrick Jones, a member of the Board of Selectmen, was for four beach fires daily from 6 to 11 p.m. in designated areas, where a permit would have to be obtained from the fire department. A $25 nonrefundable charge and a $50 deposit would be required, which was meant to give incentive for people to clean up the area. Fires would have to be extinguished by water and could not be buried.
Last Thursday, Jones came back with a proposal for fewer days and shorter hours the fires would be allowed, which would be from Thursday to Sunday from 6 to 10 p.m. Fires would have to be 100 feet from the vegetation line. In terms of enforcement, he said police and fire officials patrol at dusk and then randomly during the night.
But Tom Ruskin, chairman of the commission, said the only way to ensure the vegetation would be protected was to have a “lifeguard” to monitor the fires at all times they would be allowed. He said that person could even be a high school student, someone commissioned by the town, to call police or fire officials if something is amiss, such as an unpermitted fire.
Otherwise, how would someone know to call police or fire if there was smoke during the timeframe fires are allowed, he questioned, and added that potential responders might just think it was from someone with a permit.
“That solves your problem,” Ruskin said of the lifeguard. “It solves our — we’re not crazy about having fires ever, but it solves the problem at least of … fires out of control. It doesn’t solve the neighbors’ problem. You’re still going to have smoke in your house, but sorry, you know, there’s the town to consider too. We have to consider the town’s needs as well as the neighbors’ needs, and we allow beach fires as long as you protect the vegetation. And I think that is the biggest issue that this commission had many times over and over again.”
Jones said the constant monitoring is a matter of operational cost, and whether the town could afford it.
In April, Jones said even with no fires being allowed at Phillips Beach, there were still illegal fires occurring last year. He said the intent is to regulate them.
Cooking fires are allowed at Fisherman’s Beach, after the conservation commission reluctantly gave the go-ahead for them last July, finding that the area was not under its jurisdiction because of the lack of vegetation that would be affected.
But the commission found that the conservation area at Palmer Pond and dune vegetation would be altered at Phillips Beach, and the activity would apply to the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, leading them to require town officials to file a notice of intent for fires there.
In last year’s system on Fisherman’s Beach, a placard was given to someone to mark their fire once permission was granted. The fire must be attended to at all times by an adult who lives in town. Up to four permits can be issued at Fisherman’s Beach.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.