Bourne pushes for meeting with Corps of Engineers on Scenic Campground, rink improvements

Paul Gately
Updated ·4 min read

Editor's Note: A correction was made on Aug. 22, 2023, to the sewer waste disposal allocation by gallons under discussion for Bourne Scenic Park campground.

BUZZARDS BAY — The Bourne Recreation Authority eyes a reset with the Army Corps of Engineers Realty Division in Concord, seeking guidance and approval for projects long in the planning at Scenic Park off the Scenic Highway and the Gallo Ice Arena on Sandwich Road.

U.S. Rep. William Keating’s office has agreed to try and arrange a meeting between federal officials at the Corps’ New England District headquarters and the authority, which hopes to expand the Gallo rink lobby and also tie 91 Scenic Park campsites into the village sewer system at Main Street.

Authority Chair Greg Folino says his board cannot proceed with either proposal on the federal landscape without Corps review and approval, funding issues aside. A sewer connection would be far less costly than the authority trying to construct a park-wide waste treatment plant for 490 campsites.

In this April 2023 file photo, campers begin to fill the spaces at the Scenic Park Campground in the shadow of the Bourne Bridge in Buzzards Bay. The Bourne Recreational Authority has asked U.S. Rep. William Keating to broker a meeting with the US Army Corps of Engineers Real Estate division to talk about the Authority's plans to expand the lobby of the Gallo Ice Arena and connect 91 campsites with the municipal sewage system.

“Why spend $11 million, in the end, to sewer the entire park when we can’t be certain what the plan will be for a new Bourne Bridge?” Folino said in an Aug. 11 authority meeting. “So, we’ve decided to try and sewer campsites at the west end of the park. But we can only proceed so far without Corps permission.”

Authority member John Coughlin said plans for a new Bourne Bridge and its impact on the canal-side campground have become an outsize consideration, even beyond paying for a sewer connection.

More: Bridge replacements could affect ice rink, campground. Bourne officials weigh in.

Coughlin said discussions about a sewer connection have become muted with the Corps during the past year. But he says for the authority to stay abreast of camping industry changes and campground challenges, the discussion should resume regardless of progress, or a lack of it, on designing a new Bourne bridge.

“I don’t think the Corps knows what will happen with the new bridges, none of us do. But sewerage for the park has sort of become a necessity,” he said.

The next step involves Bourne permission for a tie-in

The next step with a sewer tie-in involves determining from town officials if the authority can move forward with its planning without funding, Folino said. Major decisions such as the rink lobby and the park waste connection must carry Corps approval since both entities are on federal canal-side land.

Financing considerations could include various fundraising efforts and possibly a public/private partnership, grants or authority borrowing if ultimately necessary, he said.

More: Here's the latest on Bourne campground sewer connection

Various discussions on the authority and town sides of the sewer issue have involved a park waste disposal allocation of 8,000 to 9,000 gallons per day. Treatment would be at the new sewage plant off the Buzzards Bay Bypass.

Folino acknowledges there is no guarantee of a park connection. That may be approved or nixed on Aug. 29, he said.

“I think this is going to drive the bus,” he said. “But we understand there is sewerage allocation available in the (sewer) system.”

The authority previously voted to pay a $1,500 fee for a tie-in permit. Folino said.

Authority General Manager Barry Johnson on Aug. 12 said a direct park tie-in to the town system is geographically possible and involves federal land connecting the park with Main Street.

New rink lobby would modernize the facility

The Gallo rink lobby, meanwhile, would expand to the west and east of the current entrance, including windows to afford more light to the interior. Robert Corradi, authority capital facilities director, said final costs are pending for a 4,500 square-foot lobby but are initially estimated at $4 million.

He said expanded space would make it more amenable for arriving high school hockey teams and their contingents to be processed into Gallo facilities and hockey-support amenities.

Folino on Aug. 11, meanwhile, advised Michael Jackman, district representative for Keating, that the authority “had reached out to the Corps for a face-to-face meeting” in January 2022. Since then, he said, most of the Corps’ time has been involved in planning for the new bridges.

Now, Folino said, the authority’s governing board wants to take the rink and park proposals to the top of the federal agency.

Jackman said planning, consultants and authority expenditures for sewer issues and rink lobby architects would seem to make a meeting reasonable for federal officials.

Authority spending includes $104,000 to the Horsley–Witten engineering firm for sewer tie-in work and $23,000 to architects for lobby addition plans and schematics, Folino said.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Bourne pushes plan for Scenic Park sewer hookup, ice rink improvements