Committee hears update on capital presentation; West Dennis bathhouse set for separate review

Dustin, the town staff member, updated the South Dennis Beach Committee on Jan. 8 that the Select Board’s capital presentation excluded several million-dollar projects for separate review and that the West Dennis bathhouse will require its own scheduling and a funding request.

“Big-ticket items there, 1,000,000 dollar projects or more, were taken out,” Dustin said, adding that the project team will request additional funding so an owner’s project manager (OPM) and architect can be retained. He said architects previously declined to sign a contract because the project estimate was too low, so the town will ask for more funding to ensure designers will engage.

Dustin emphasized that the West Dennis bathhouse is financed differently from other capital projects because beach improvement fund revenues and day-pass income back it; if the committee’s funds are not spent for the bathhouse they cannot be repurposed for unrelated projects. He said the town has a pool of consultants (a “house doctor”) to speed project startup once funding is available.

The committee will hear coastal-engineering alternatives from Woods Hole Group at its Feb. 12 meeting so members can review options before the project proceeds to the Select Board. No vote or funding decision was made at the Jan. 8 meeting.

Committee members urged the town to keep momentum and warned that delaying the funding discussion could cost months. Dustin said he will notify the committee when the separate meeting for large projects is scheduled.