Virginia Ryan celebrates 100th birthday

Happy Birthday to Virginia Ryan, who celebrated 100 years on Monday at the Hull home of her daughter and son-in-law, Jinnie Walsh of Hingham Institution for Savings and John Walsh of Auto Negotiators Unlimited.

Born in Williamstown on February 5, 1924, she was the youngest of three girls. Jinny worked for the telephone company during WWII and moved to Hingham in 1962 because its Main Street reminded her of the Main Street in Williamstown.

She opened a real estate office in her home to be present while her daughter grew up. The door was always open for the neighborhood kids, and in 1975, when her daughter graduated from Hingham High School, she accepted a position as a mortgage officer at South Weymouth Savings Bank. In 1985 she returned to real estate for Preferred Properties in Norwell and went to work in the Hingham town clerk’s office. The COVID19 ended her career at age 96. She spent the last few years enjoying her garden with her rescue dog, Jayden.

After many years of canceled birthday parties while growing up in the snow of the Berkshires, she requested a celebration at her daughter’s home overlooking beautiful Nantasket Beach.

Happy 100th birthday, Jinny!

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Paragon Dunes development earns mixed reviews at latest hearing

By Dolores Sauca Lorusso

As the proposed Paragon Dunes condominium project makes its way through the planning board’s special permit process, the developer continues to receive mixed reviews of changes to its design.

The Procopio Companies, which is purchasing the Paragon Boardwalk site form current owner Chris Reale of Hingham, has applied for special permit for relief from Nantasket Beach Overlay District (NBOD) regulations relative to uses, minimum front yard, roof design alternatives, and total building height.

On Wednesday night, Procopio Director of Development David Roache said working with the planning board and the Design Review Board (DRB) has been a “fruitful process… over eight months, we have made significant changes and are moving in the right direction.”

The Paragon Dunes would be a 47-foot-tall mixed use building, with 132 market-rate apartments and 7,000 square feet of retail space. The plan features 185 parking spaces under the building and along the former railroad bed that runs behind the property. The building would have clapboard siding in gradient shades of blue, brown, and white. There would be a private pool for residents and 3,000 square feet of public open space, as required by zoning.

“My sense is there is a general support for your project from the board and the town…we are down to specifics,” said planning board member Harry Hibbard.

Board Chair Meghan Reilly said she is “pleased with the changes that have been made; but the details need to be there so we will keep working through it.”

The Design Review Board and others at Wednesday’s meeting offered critiques of the plan’s look and its anticipated impact on traffic.

“The purpose of the Nantasket Beach Overlay District is to stimulate mixed-use redevelopment of commercial and multi-family property at scales and densities appropriate for an historic beachfront community...” according to the DRB, which “remains concerned about many of the issues raised previously dating back to their October 11, 2023 submission, such as need for increased setback from the comfort station, additional public vistas and view corridors, greater variation in roof heights, limiting unbroken wall length to 80 feet, and develop architectural style to better reflect a sense of place.”

“Many requests made by the DRB are not viable to the project and cannot be accommodated,” said Roache, in reference to the request for reduction of height and length of the building.

Although everyone is not in agreement, Roache believes they have “now landed on a more traditional beach funky design with size, scale, geometry, appropriate use, intentionality, and selected prominence.

“It does not feel traditional and beachy…I have said it before, it is not evocative of what we were envisioning when we put together the bylaw for the NBOD,” said planning board member Jeanne Paquin. “George Washington Boulevard is every bit as important as the beach side because it is how people come into town…it is just a big, long wall along George Washington Boulevard.”

Planning board member Steve White said the plan is “dramatically better, but there is still a way to go…. when this is built, we all must feel this is a project we can be really proud of.”

Roache said feedback from the last hearing was the need to “understand the design context, how it fits in the neighborhood, and the need for more points of reference for the scale.”

Resident Kimberly Kingston said she “heard some fear of the project, but if not this, then what? … every time they [Procopio] have come they have been asked to do more and they have given more.”

“You come into town and Horizons is sitting there like a huge pumpkin. Add this edifice in front and it mutes it…more graceful entrance into town [and] won’t be as onerous,” said resident Bill Smyth.

In response to the boards and residents’ requests for a model of the development, Procopio created a 3D digital model fly-through to give a “real-time” sense of “scale, architecture, and flow.”

Procopio presented studies that predict $350K in net revenue to the town, $700K in building permit fees, slight increase in school-aged children, and an increase in activity in existing and new business from new residents.

Regarding flooding, Karlis Skulte, of Civil and Environmental Consultants, said there was a “significant improvement to the flood conveyance to accommodate pass-through flooding to the garage areas.”

Skulte said there are 185 parking spaces in the proposal, while only 177 are required under the zoning; the excess will be for visitors and other uses. Revisions to grading were also made to raise garage elevations and entries.

The stormwater management systems within the courtyards and parking area are designed to contain water from a 24-hour, 100-year storm event. “More refined stormwater evaluation” includes treating onsite stormwater prior to discharge, he said.

“We are going above and beyond the requirements,” said Skulte, saying that total water capture increased from 6,200 cubic feet to 9,000 cubic feet.

The developer’s consultant said the traffic impact study found “no significant impact,” said Erin Fredette of Bowman Consulting. Initially, the study was conducted in October and the boards requested analysis during peak traffic patterns.

Summer has 30% higher traffic, they added another 20% over the comparison for an increase of 50% in the sensitivity analysis. The study was conducted in  2019 at George Washington Boulevard, Rockland Circle, and the site driveway during weekday mornings and evenings.  According to the study,  the proposed development is “not estimated to have a significant impact on traffic operations within the study area.”

MJ Walsh of Rockland House Road said she finds it “hard to believe the traffic study concluded there is not a significant impact from an addition 132 residential units.”

The 1928 Paragon Carousel and its accompanying museum in the clocktower are next door to the project. Paquin said she has “great concerns of juxtaposition of the project to the carousel and the clocktower… [you] must respect what it is and surrounds.”

Paquin suggested a shadow study as well as a wind impact study be conducted.

Hibbard pointed out there is still a significant loss of commercial space.

Roache countered that “square footage is not everything; the quality of the space is more important…6% return on cost is minimum level.”

Smyth said the developers have “come a long way in modifying and revamping… it is good for the community; I think it is a go.”

Resident Pam Marlow agreed the design has “greatly improved from the beginning, but it still doesn’t seem like it works for Hull.”

The planning board review of the Paragon Dunes project was continued until Wednesday, February 28, with subsequent meetings already scheduled for March 6 and March 13.

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Board begins long-delayed process of accepting retail marijuana sales applications

By Carol Britton Meyer

After two weeks of discussion about Hull’s existing marijuana sales bylaw, Town Manager Jennifer Constable told the select board that town hall staff continues to work on updates to the regulations. Members voted this week to begin accepting applications for retail sales in April.

In 2018, town meeting voters prohibited the sale of recreational marijuana, but voters had a change of mind five years later and approved amending the current bylaw to allow an existing registered medical marijuana dispensary that has been licensed and lawfully operating for at least one year to also offer adult-use retail sales, with specific requirements in place.

The town “is trying to develop a path forward,” Town Counsel James Lampke said last week.

A meeting with an outside counsel is planned to determine whether the town’s bylaw needs to be amended due to uncertainty “as to what was actually adopted [at the 2018 town meeting],” Constable told the board this week.

The town also is waiting for the state Cannabis Control Commission to issue a revised model for host community agreements between the town and recreational marijuana dispensaries. That is expected to happen by March 1.

Constable said at the time the board needed to make a policy decision about the process for accepting applications for HCAs, suggesting that the board might want to wait until the CCC issues the new template. That issue was resolved this week with the decision to move forward with the application process. The town has the ability to negotiate two recreational marijuana agreements.

Board member Irwin Nesoff, who has been asking for some time for the board to discuss the regulations, said that HCAs and accepting applications “are two different things. Whether we get 1 or 3 or 20 businesses interested in a possible HCA with the town doesn’t affect the application process,” he said at last week’s select board meeting. “It’s time to begin moving forward with this.”

He also suggested that applications accepted prior to the CCC’s finalization of the template should have a disclaimer stating that if the regulations change, the board reserves the right “to go back and ask for more information. To not accept applications now will slow the process down.”

The issue was clarified at this week’s board meeting, when the discussion continued. After a lengthy conversation, the board voted in favor (with one abstention) of posting a request for applications on or about April 1, with a deadline of June 1 for them to be returned. Two applications already have been submitted – from the Alternative Compassion Services medical marijuana dispensary on George Washington Boulevard and another Hull business, Skarr Inc., owned by Mambo’s restaurant’s Anthony Ghosn – and do not need to be resubmitted, Constable said.

Board member Jason McCann said it’s important to ensure a “clear and fair process for applicants,” adding that he wants to “[move through the process] as fast as we can.”

Constable noted that the “social equity requirements” around the sale of marijuana aren’t clear at this time.

Stephen Werther, president of Alternative Compassion Services, attended both meetings and expressed concern last week that ACS “was told by town counsel that we could fill out an application” some time ago, but it hasn’t yet been reviewed. 

“We submitted an application with 100-plus pages to the board recently as a great starting point, and I offered to send the town more information,” Werther said. “I’m trying to run my business.”

Constable said the issue “isn’t so much about the HCA. The stall is making sure what the town legally adopted on record [following the 2018 town meeting] was what it was intended to be. We have been spending extensive time reviewing the bylaw and speaking with outside counsel to ensure it’s effecting what we intended it to do and to move forward.”

Chair Greg Grey urged patience in the process “because we have to do our due diligence. I know it’s frustrating, but we’re on a path to try to get there as quickly as possible.”

In response, Werther said he “would be happy to be patient as long as we see things happening. We’ve been wanting to have this discourse for a while. HCAs aren’t that complicated, and there are some clear rules.”

For more details about the state’s Cannabis Control Commission, visit http://masscannabiscontrol.com.

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Select Board increases HRA parking capacity to 900 spaces for summer season

By Carol Britton Meyer

In a 3-2 vote Wednesday night, the select board agreed to increase the number of parking spaces on the Hull Redevelopment Authority property from the current 500 to a maximum of 900 for the 2024 season.

The original number of seasonal parking spots was 900, which was reduced in 2020 during the COVID19 pandemic, increased to 600 in 2021, and reduced again in 2023 to 500. The season runs from May 1 through September 30.

CARTOON BY PETER MENICE

This agenda item was addressed at the request of the HRA in order to discuss parking capacity and operations for the upcoming season. The discussion lasted for more than 1-1/2 hours.

Part of the conversation centered on the possibility of getting the Department of Conservation & Recreation to share the cost of police details at Phipps Street – where traffic congestion often occurs as cars leave the beach – using funds from trust fund monies that come from beach parking fees.

Town Manager Jennifer Constable said this issue can be addressed at an upcoming meeting between the town and the DCR as part of a new collaborative effort.

Beyond the 900 spaces that the HRA normally licenses to vendors, there are additional parking spots for residents who hold valid parking permits.

Another possibility the HRA is considering, according to member Dennis Zaia, is to change the operation to an automated platform through which beachgoers can prepay the parking fee through an app and also learn where parking is available.

Before the vote, HRA member Adrienne Paquin supported maintaining the 500 spaces in order to encourage people to find other ways to get to the beach rather than by car.

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Hiring of labor law firm signals shift away from individual town counsel

By Carol Britton Meyer

The select board interviewed two attorneys from the Clifford & Kenny law firm for the position of employment and labor law counsel and appointed them on the spot this week after Town Counsel James Lampke announced his retirement effective June 30.

The firm bills monthly, and either party can terminate the relationship at any time.

Town Manager Jennifer Constable explained that while Lampke served as Hull’s “primary and sole town counsel for many years,” the town is moving to a legal model whereby a land-use counsel will also be appointed as well as a town counsel.

The Pembroke-based firm currently serves about 30 municipalities across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Constable told the board that the town has successfully worked with this firm –  with a primary focus on municipal labor and employment law – in the past regarding personnel and other matters.

“Clifford & Kenny is very accessible, offering a timely and immediate response,” she said.

Jaime L. Kenny, a founding partner of the firm, told the board that both she and attorney Rich Massina – both of whom were present at the meeting – live on the South Shore “and hold it dear. I think we would be a good fit.”

Kenny has been practicing labor law for approximately 17 years. Massina counsels Clifford & Kenny’s clients on a broad range of municipal labor matters, including collective bargaining negotiations, employee discipline issues, and unlawful harassment investigations.

“I do a lot of bargaining around relationship building with stakeholders,” he said.

The Clifford & Kenny practice focuses on assisting municipal employers with a wide range of municipal law issues, including discipline and discharge and workplace investigations.

Kenny has handled more than 500 grievance and arbitration cases and is “adept at formulating strategies for the resolution of complex personnel issues,” according to a letter submitted to the select board. She has presented to various industry organizations, including the Massachusetts Municipal Association and several of its member groups. Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly named her one of the “Top Women of Law” for 2019.

Clifford & Kenny also offers training to managers and employees on topics such as sexual harassment, unlawful discrimination, discipline and discharge, conducting workplace investigations, and training on supervising in a unionized environment.

The hourly rate is $225 for any consultation, research, drafting, or other legal services.

Another option is a monthly flat fee of $525 per month, which includes unlimited phone and email access. The hourly rate would apply if an initial inquiry results in significant legal research or other tasks that need to be completed.

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Shorelines - Good news about your neighbors

• Hull High junior Fallon Ryan has been recognized by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association for her community service as part of Team Up 4 Community, whose mission is to “encourage athletes and all individuals to take decisive action to create positive and lasting change in their local and global communities,” the organization notes on its website.

Hull High junior Fallon RyaN has been recognized by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association for her community service.

According to Coach Jaime Standridge, Fallon is a junior three-sport standout athlete at Hull High, and captain and point guard of the girls basketball team. “In addition to being an amazing athlete and on the court leader, she is a well-respected role model and leader within her school community,” her coach wrote in explaining the program. “Prior to this year, Hull High had never been involved in the MIAA Student Ambassador Program, and Fallon saw this as an opportunity to make a huge impact within the school and community, hence taking the initiative to bring this program to Hull High, where she currently serves as the first-ever Hull High MIAA Student Ambassador, where she attends and leads the charge for all related events. During the last Student Ambassador event, the takeaway was to create a service project to help those in need, by collecting hats, mittens and gloves.

“Fallon took this challenge very seriously and took the initiative to organize and further promote this event at a recent girls basketball game, where fans from both Hull and opponent Carver were encouraged to donate gently used or new hats, gloves, and mittens in place of admission to the game. Both the Hull and Carver fans were very receptive to and supportive of Fallon’s efforts, and the Carver girls basketball team and athletic department did an amazing job helping to promote and further support as well. The event was a huge success and the donations box was overflowing by end of night.

“Fallon also sent an email to the local elementary school staff and students, further promoting the event, where she is further involved with the teachers and youth via the Hull Girls Bball Pirate Readers Program, and has encouraged them to continue to bring in donations,” Standridge continued. “‘It feels great to be a part of helping others in need,’ Fallon said, and I personally couldn’t be more proud of Fallon and all of her efforts – she is an amazing example of what all student athletes should strive to achieve, both on and off the court.

• ”Best wishes to native Hullonian Charlie Gould, who recently returned home from a hospital stay. Many know Charlie from his many community activities and his frequent contributions to our letters to the editor page. We know he will be back to his old self in no time!

• Siobhan Burke has been named to the University of Alabama Dean’s List for the 2023 fall semester. Students with an academic record of at least 3.5 earn a spot on the list.

• You have until Friday night to place your order as part of the Nantasket-Hull Rotary’s Stretch Your Food Budget program. Any Hull citizen may try the meal kits and special weekly offerings by going to www.SYFB.space and sending a request for a delivery. All SYFB meal kit options are free. The organization must receive your order by Friday night to ensure delivery on the next Tuesday.

• Happy Birthday (February 1) to former Times Publisher Susan Ovans. We hope you are enjoying your big day somewhere warm and fun!

• Richie Chau and Amelia Donovan, both of Hull, have been named to the Dean’s List at the University of Rhode Island for the fall 2023 semester. To be included on the Dean's List, full-time students must have completed 12 or more credits and achieved at least a 3.30 quality point average.

• Congratulations to Caitlin Rowe, who has been named to the Dean’s List at Salem State University for the fall semester. Kate is a junior at Salem State.

• Attention local photographers and artists! You are invited to enter your best photo in the first annual Town Report Cover Contest. To be considered, you may submit a Hull-related photo or drawing to the select board’s office at town hall before March 14. Anyone under 18 must have their parents’ permission to enter the contest. Visit the town’s website at www.town.hull.ma.us for all the details, and you could see your artwork on the cover of the town’s 2023 annual report.

• Hailey Gould of Hull has been named to the Dean's List for the 2023 fall semester at the University of New England. Dean’s List students must have attained a grade point average of 3.3 or better out of a possible 4.0 at the end of the semester.

• The next meeting of the Hull Parent-Teacher Organization will be on Tuesday, February 6 at 7 p.m. at the Lillian M. Jacobs Elementary School, 18 Harborview Rd. Members and non-members are always welcome to attend. The mission of the group is to support the Hull Public Schools by sponsoring fundraisers, cultural enrichment programs, and other activities. If you need childcare while you attend the meeting, reach out before the meeting to Renee Kiley at president@hullpto.org. If you have other questions, contact Caryn O’Connor at secretary@hullpto.org. More information can be found at www.hullpto.org.

•  Get your Valentine’s Day messages in as soon as possible – we are continuing our tradition of publishing free Valentine’s to (and from) our readers. You can tell that special someone just how much you care with a free Valentine in the February 8 issue of The Hull Times. Just print your 20-word message and return it to us by 5 p.m. on Monday, February 5. No late entries, please! Send your Valentines to news@hulltimes.com.

If you have news about Hull residents to share – birthdays, anniversaries, career and education achievements, weddings, births, and other milestones – send your information to us at news@hulltimes.com. If you include a photo, please be sure that everyone in the image is identified. Thank you!

Public-private partnerships could fund event venue, concessions on HRA land

By Dolores Sauca Lorusso

At last week’s meeting of the Hull Redevelopment Authority, representatives of the SOS Hull organization answered follow-up questions about their proposal for uses for the HRA land.

Questions were presented to SOS Hull’s Liz Kay and Susan Vermilya by HRA Chair Dennis Zaia, who focused on the broader scope of the presentation, while HRA Clerk Adrienne Paquin dug into the details.

Zaia asked Kay and Vermilya what they would suggest as first steps for the HRA to initiate a collaborative relationship with the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).

“As a strategic planner, my approach is to be sure we are gathering all the information together as one and reach out to DCR to understand their short- and long-term visions and intentions,” said Kay.

Kay said the town is working with the DCR on a memorandum of understanding to outline how the two parties will work together.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PRESENTATION

“If I was the HRA, as a stakeholder, I would like to understand what that is and the goal and objective of the document… every time we sort of divide and conquer by neighborhood, I feel like we are deflating the importance of maintaining the relationship with the DCR, but also how holistically we treat our land and our development,” she said.

Zaia said he already reached out to Town Manager Jennifer Constable about the HRA being involved in the agreement with the DCR.

“I reached out asking them to include us in some way, shape, or form, because we are part of the solution,” he said.

He said it is a “great beginning because I think we all know the DCR and the town have not always played well together in the world of communication… the new town manager and new [DCR] commissioner have a willingness to set the table together. I think we will see some positivity there.”

SOS Hull also suggested that the town and DCR hire a consultant to facilitate dialogue between key stakeholders to develop a “cohesive vision for Hull.”

Zaia also asked the SOS representatives how the examples in their presentation – Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway, Christopher Columbus Park, and Faneuil Hall Marketplace – can generate “financial stability in the absence of capital from another entity.”

Kay said that private dollars from New England Aquarium founder David B. Stone and Boston Harbor Hotel developer Norman Leventhal “jumpstarted” Boston’s redevelopment initiatives along the waterfront in previous decades.

“Between those private dollars and not-for-profit entities, and funding from travel and tourism and historic preservation, and others, they started to build a constituency of organizations that were seeking to develop Boston Harbor’s waterfront,” Kay said. “They are city people identifying ways to take their dollars in for tax revenues and benefits for their companies, and investing dollars in initiatives to build new enterprises for cities and communities.”

Kay also referred to the Marginal Way in Ogunquit, Maine, where a non-profit stepped in to fund management and care of a waterfront property after the Army Corps of Engineers pulled back.

“It has spearheaded a not-for-profit organization to fund the management and upkeep and care of that property to keep it open to the public,” she said. “The principles all play the same way, they just have to be right-sized.”

Zaia said many proposals the HRA has received suggested making all the “amenities happen,” and he “struggles” with that fact.

“[There] needs to be some dollar investment to move this kind of initiative to make the property more valuable, sustainable, and better,” he said.

Kay said the HRA has funds in its bank account.

“I don’t know legally if you could crate a not-for-profit arm of the HRA,” she said. “[I am] making it up as I go here.”

“It is OK, we are all making it up,” said Zaia, who expressed his thanks for the “clarity” Kay shed upon some areas where he was “stuck,” and now he can see there are “bridges from both sides.”

Paquin focused on the details of the plan, and asked how SOS Hull sees the main festival area and overflow parking aspects of its proposal. She wanted to know how the group would “not leave us with what we have now – a kind of dirty field that is mixed-used space for parking, but then sometimes for concerts; is that what you are envisioning?”

Vermilya said SOS Hull is not looking for the property to look like it does today.

“We would like to get a landscape architect that s experienced in the coastal communities and knows about resiliency, what will work on that land, as well as what will protect the land,” said Vermilya.

She added that in recent storms, water pooled on the property, and “as part of whatever happens on that land, we would be looking at how we mitigate the ocean coming over and swamping the area.”

Vermilya said the parcel closest to the DCR parking lot is where her group envisions an event venue area that could be made of semipermeable pavers. The pavers also would allow the mobile stage to move more easily and be used for parking when needed. They would also like to complement the parking with a bus depot.

Paquin asked about the vision for seasonal concessions. Vermilya said she thinks “we are leaving money on the table by not putting some sort of concession in that area…so many people come to the beach, park, and leave.”

Vermilya noted the town could benefit from tax revenues from those concessions if structured correctly. She envisions the HRA, or another governing body, would issue a request for proposals every year, and priority would be given to existing town businesses.

Kay said she is excited that the town manager is seeking to bring together some kind of business group in Hull to help “reinvigorate activity.”

“Research needs to be done on what is most viable there for those businesses, be well promoted to the community, and have a collective vision on how to support those restaurants and businesses,” she said.

SOS Hull also believes there needs to be a change in behavior over time regarding traffic and parking.

“The reality is they could access the MBTA and be coming in on buses…park in the DCR lot and take pedicabs over to the beach [to] introduce them to the community,” said Kay.

Paquin also asked about SOS Hull’s ideas on potential funding sources for parking.

Vermilya mentioned funding through the state’s Shared Streets and Spaces Grant Program and the Department of Housing and Community Development’s Massachusetts Downtown Initiative.

Town Planner Chris DiIorio said the town is always looking at public-private partnerships. For example, the Shared Streets and Spaces Grant Program was used to improve pedestrian flow near the Mezzo Mare restaurant property, which is owned by the town.

On Monday, February 12, DiIorio, the town manager, and a consultant will meet with the HRA about a proposed Business Improvement District.

“Your presentation has given me more robust information on what I am going to pitch to the members of the authority on Monday March 4…this is the date we have set to do our talks to each other,” said Zaia.

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$12.5 million seawall project includes permanent traffic changes near Allerton lagoon

By Carol Britton Meyer

Bids for the replacement of the seawall along Nantasket Avenue adjacent to the lagoon at the foot of Allerton Hill were due at the end of last week, and once under way, work is expected to take about 18 months to complete, a consultant told the select board last Wednesday night.

The project involves replacing a large portion of the seawall along a section of Nantasket Avenue from Stony Beach to Point Allerton Avenue and beyond, as well as relocating overhead utilities, raising a portion of the road and changing it to one-way, adding a crushed stone path alongside the seawall, and creating an overlook with a view of the ocean. The project calls for the new seawall to be constructed landward of the existing seawall.

ROCKY OUTLOOK. The seawall that runs along Nantasket Avenue near the lagoon on Fitzpatrick Way is the subject of a $12.5-million replacement project. The current wall is reinforced by boulders stacked on the seaward side.  [Courtesy photo]

Russell Titmuss of GEI Consultants updated the board at last week’s meeting.

The town match for the $3 million state seawalls grant that was awarded is $1 million. A Federal Emergency Management Agency grant will cover more than $5 million of the total cost, which is estimated at $12.5 million, including associated road work. The source of the remaining funding is unclear.

Click here to view the presentation from the select board meeting.

The schedule for the work depends on the release of the FEMA funding. All permit applications have been filed and are under review.

The GEI report resulted from a full condition survey and study, performed in 2019, when the process began, to develop a comprehensive long-term rehabilitation and upgrade of the seawall and to develop short-term and long-term alternatives for repairs and upgrades.

Part of the process is performing a traffic impact and access study because part of the road will become one-way.

“The impacts will be considered before moving forward,” Town Manager Jennifer Constable said.

Public meetings will be held to share information in late February or early March, depending on the weather.

The project, which calls for construction of a new concrete seawall, is among FEMA’s Massachusetts coastal flood and erosion mitigation projects. The project is designed to reduce the risk of flood damage and coastal erosion, increase resilience against sea level rise, and maintain links to the infrastructure, homes, and businesses beyond that area.

The existing deteriorating seawall allows waves to crash over its top during some storm events and is failing due to its age. Erosion is also undermining the toe of the wall.

If the seawall were to fail, flooding would result in the closure of both Nantasket Avenue and Fitzpatrick Way, which are the only means of access to Hull Village and Pemberton Point.

It was noted that the Fitzpatrick Way/Nantasket Avenue area flooded during a recent storm.

“I can’t promise there won’t be any more floods there with the new seawall,” Titmuss said, “but a portion of the wall in that area will be higher.”

Constable observed that “two of the last three storms caused some of the highest tides in history.”

The construction will take about 18 months, with an expected lifespan of at least 50 years. The bids were due back Jan. 18. About 18 contractors have expressed an interest in the project.

In the event of partial failure of the seawall before the work is completed, armor stone from Crescent Beach will be used to fill the gaps.

Constable noted that the select board meetings are recorded and can be viewed on hulltv.net on demand, and that the presentation is available online.

In other business at the meeting…

The board’s Jan. 31 agenda will include an update and possible discussion about recreational marijuana sales, at board member Irwin Nesoff’s request. Two applications have been submitted for host community agreements, and a third is expected.

“We are doing significant due diligence to ensure the board has all the necessary facts and information,” Constable said.

Also, upon Police Chief John Dunn’s recommendation, the select board offered Anthony Bates, Michael McDonald, Thomas Bellew, and Thomas Waters conditional offers of employment as full-time Hull police officers, pending the successful completion of physical exams and the Municipal Police Training Committee-required physical agility test.

Once those steps are accomplished, Dunn will present the appointed candidates for the board’s approval to attend the Municipal Police Training Academy as “student officers.”

Water company: Cold weather caused recent underground pipe breaks

By Carol Britton Meyer

WEB EXCLUSIVE CONTENT: The recent extreme cold weather caused numerous water main breaks in the Weir River Water System, including on Kenberma and Arthur streets and Atlantic House Road in Hull.

There was also a water leak in Hingham and a water main break on Rockland Street near the Hull town line. All the repairs have been completed, according to the water company.

WRWS Managing Director/Superintendent Russell Tierney provided an explanation to the Hull Times.

“During this time of year and when there is a stretch of very cold weather, the frost begins to form in the ground,” he said. “When there are rapid changes, the ground can shift and cause radial cracks in the mains. This is a majority of the leaks we have found over the past few weeks. All leaks have been addressed, and we are continuously monitoring the areas of these breaks to see if any additional ones come to the surface.”

Customers in both towns were alerted to the possibility of discolored water until the repairs were made.

“Residents and customers can help by reporting any potential leaks, low pressure, or discolored water to us right away,” Tierney said. “These are indicators that something could be going on in the system and give us an area to focus on. In some cases, if necessary, we will send a leak detection crew to check the area.”

Customers with issues to report should call the water company, 877-253-6665, email wrcs@veolia.com, or visit www.weirriverwater.com.

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