ConCom Floats Permit Parking For Kent’s Point

ORLEANS – Visitors to Kent’s Point laud the opportunities for connection, socialization and physical exercise that the popular conservation and recreation area provides. But many last week voiced concerns to the conservation commission that those benefits could be lost to many if a proposal to enact stickered parking at the parcel moves forward.

The commission on Aug. 27 held a public hearing on a proposed change to the point’s land management plan that would limit access to the property to residents and non-residents who have paid stickers allowing them to park. The suggestion comes as the commission continues to address concerns from residents abutting Kent’s Point about overuse of the property and the alleged environmental and traffic problems that have come from it.

 A group of residents submitted a petition in January 2024 raising those concerns. The commission, which has care and custody over the 27.8-acre parcel, has since been researching the environmental impacts on the site in an effort to put forth best practices for how to better protect the property, which was purchased by the town as conservation land in 1988 from Charlotte Kent for $1.8 million.

The commission earlier this year put a number of other measures in place on the property, including vista pruning, directional signage and new fencing to keep visitors on authorized trails. Those measures were taken following the completion of an environmental impact study conducted by LEC Environmental Consultants in February.

The parking lot includes space for 20 vehicles, and the proposal of permit parking is seen as another means of reducing reported overuse of the property by visitors and pets. 

 “Kent’s Point is the busiest of our 16 publicly accessible conservation properties in Orleans,” Commission Chair Drusy Henson said.

 Henson said that the permit would come in the form of seasonal or weekly beach stickers that are available for residents and non-residents. The fee for residents is $25 for a seasonal beach sticker, but non-residents are charged $165 for a weekly sticker and $420 for a seasonal one.

 Many who attended the Aug. 27 hearing voiced opposition to the proposal. Some argued it was against the spirit of Charlotte Kent’s intentions when she sold the land to the town, while others called the proposal exclusionary and elitist.

 “I almost never get angry, but I am absolutely appalled at the suggestion that residents from towns other than Orleans be required to pay for parking at Kent’s Point,” said Orleans resident Cynthia Benton, who said she has been a taxpayer in town since 1975. 

 Tom Coleman described himself as a “proud and loving dog parent,” and said that Kent’s Point is one of the only conservation properties in Orleans that allows people to interact with their pets. He also noted that the LEC study did not cite dogs or dog-walking as a contributing factor to erosion and other environmental issues on the site.

 “It’s really much more about the impact of rising seas and the major water movement within Pleasant Bay,” he said.

 Coleman also raised concerns about the precedent that would be set by restricting public access to the point, which he called a “shared community and publicly purchased resource.” 

 But public use has become a problem for some, namely those neighboring the point. Mary Ellen McAndrews, an abutter on Keziah’s Way, said that the point’s increasing popularity as a recreational area has eclipsed its primary function as conservation land. She suggested that the town consider a specific site in town where pet owners can recreate with their animals, as neighboring towns have done.

 “I think the issue here is not that we’re trying to exclude non-residents,” she said. “The issue is that Kent’s Point is a conservation property that has become greatly overused.”

 Others at last week’s meeting said that the volume of traffic coming down Keziah’s Lane to access Kent’s Point has posed safety issues for residents on the street. Devon Puglia, another Keziah’s Lane resident, left the commission with a figure: 1,100.

 “That is the number of people that go to Kent’s Point on a given week in the summertime,” he said. He said he and his children have had close calls with traffic coming down the road in the past. So too has Vicki Heustis, who said that an accident “is going to happen if we don’t deal with traffic on that road.”

 Jeff Smith, who owns property on Frost Fish Lane, said that during the summer, traffic along the road is “constant” from nine in the morning until six at night. The traffic volume has led to infrastructure issues on the road that has caused flooding on his property, he said.

 Meanwhile, Bill Wibel of Keziah’s Lane noted that Keziah’s is a private road and that the town “doesn’t contribute one dime” to its maintenance.

“And when you have 1,100 cars a day sometimes, the road gets degraded,” he told the commission. 

 But traffic issues do not fall under the commission’s jurisdiction, noted Karl Oakes, who has been one of the most vocal defenders of preserving public access at the point. He also noted that despite calls for curbing public use of the property, the LEC study did not recommend limiting public access as a means of addressing environmental issues at the point.

 “He heard it,” he said. “He’s aware of the suggestion, and he didn’t recommend it. What does that tell you? You don’t need access restrictions.”

 Oakes also challenged claims that infants had been jumped on and knocked over by dogs on the property, and said he has text message exchanges with someone he said has made those allegations indicating that the claims are false.

 “People in the town government have seen it and they’re ignoring it, because it doesn’t fit the narrative,” he said. “It doesn’t fit what they want to have happen here.”

 “People have had dogs jump on them,” countered Orleans resident Tim Counihan. “People have had their legs broken out there. People have had dogs jump up on their kids.”

 Counihan said that recreational use of the point has overtaken the property’s primary function as a conservation area.

 “This is supposed to be a conservation area for the wildlife, and I see more chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits on a half-acre lot that I have than I do on the 20-plus acres at Kent’s Point,” he said. “I don’t see any wildlife out there ever.”

 But opponents of stickered parking saw the proposal as divisive. Cindy Erickson Zarker, a Brookline resident, has been vacationing on the Cape for 60 years. She said the proposal is just another example of how increasingly restrictive the Cape is becoming to non-residents such as herself.

 “It’s like, ‘oh my God, what am I raising my children into?’” she said. 

 Albert Fournier moved to his home on the Brewster/Harwich line four years ago. He said he wanted to move to Orleans, but could not afford a home in town. But he said he enjoys visiting the point with his dog and his grandchildren.

 “I am going to be very disappointed if I can’t go to Kent’s Point and I have to tell my grandkids, you can’t come,” he said. From his perspective, issue with erosion on the property can’t be blamed on dog owners.

 “The erosion I see there, it’s climate change,” he said.

 The commission will continue to accept public comment on the proposed changes to the land management plan through Sept. 9. Henson said.