Beach fee would aid in upkeep

Baddour proposes new $2 surcharge

Salisbury selectmen chairman Jerry Klima (left, with Robert Carroll) supports the surcharge for Salisbury Beach. (Tom Landers/Globe Staff/FILE 2002)

The cost of visiting Salisbury Beach State Reservation would rise by $2 under a state lawmaker's plan to support maintenance of the beach.

A provision included by state Senator Steven A. Baddour in the Senate's fiscal 2009 budget bill would create a Salisbury Beach Preservation Trust Fund. The fund revenue would come from a $2 surcharge that would be added to the existing $7 daily parking fee and the $20 daily camping fee.

"Salisbury Beach is a gem of the Merrimack Valley" and the region north of Boston, said Baddour, a Methuen Democrat who represents Salisbury. "Not just the reservation - the entire beach."

Baddour noted that the state Department of Conservation and Recreation has recently prepared a long-term maintenance plan for the beach, which has sustained severe damage from storms in recent years.

"But one of the issues that's kept coming up is how do you pay for the plan and the maintenance of the beach going forward," Baddour said. The fund, which would generate an estimated $200,000 to $250,000 annually from the million or so visitors to the reservation each year, is a way to do that, he said.

State Representative Michael A. Costello, who supports the surcharge, said he expects the House will include it in the final budget reported out by a conference committee. The surcharge would be effective when the governor signs the budget, traditionally the last day of June.

"It will ensure we take care of the beautiful asset we have, that drives so many visitors to the park," said Costello, a Newburyport Democrat, referring to the beach.

The fund would pay for maintenance along the entire 3.8-mile state-owned beach, including the beach sections within and outside the 521-acre state reservation.

Lisa Capone, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said the agency is aware of the surcharge proposal and reviewing it and has not yet taken a position.

Board of Selectmen chairman Jerry Klima supports the plan.

"I think this is a very positive development for Salisbury Beach because it could provide the funds necessary to support maintaining and nourishing the beach," he said.

Klima noted that an objection he and others in town have had with the state's beach management plan is that it calls for the state to renourish, or add sand, to the beach only after a major storm.

"What we are hoping they will do is to be able to nourish the beach and maintain it in order to protect against major storms," he said. In meetings with the town, state officials have expressed interest in that approach, "but the problem has been where is the money going to come from."

He said the proposed fund could help solve that issue, providing money for such measures as stockpiling sand on the beach to be used for ongoing restoration.

Klima said that even with the surcharge, fees at the Salisbury Beach State Reservation would remain competitive with those of other beaches. (Visitors with a Massachusetts ParksPass, the annual pass that offers free admission to state park facilities, would not have to pay the surcharge).

The cost to park at the Trustees of Reservation's Crane Beach, in Ipswich, is $15 on weekdays and $22 on weekends for nonmembers. Parking at Gloucester's Good Harbor and Wingaersheek beaches is $20 on weekdays and $25 on weekends. The Parker River National Wildlife Refuge's beach on Plum Island charges $5, but Klima noted that all but a small part of the beach is closed for a good part of the summer to protect nesting piping plovers.

Salisbury Beach most recently sustained significant erosion from the Patriots Day northeaster of April 2007. In the wake of the storm, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation received emergency certification from the Salisbury Conservation Commission to repair some of the worst storm damage.

According to commission chairman Tom Hughes, the state agency brought 20,000 cubic yards of sand to the beach, using a portion of it to create a new dune replacing one that had been washed away on the southern end of the beach in front of several homes.

The work also included erecting new snow fencing and repairs to some of the public access ways to the beach.

As a condition for approving the work, the commission required the state agency to prepare the long-term maintenance plan. Hughes said his panel was set to continue its review of the plan, which also serves as a formal application for commission approval of the beach maintenance work the state would like to undertake in the future.

The same plan is also intended to comply with a separate requirement inserted by lawmakers in the current budget that the Department of Conservation and Recreation develop short- and long-term plans to address coastal erosion at the beach.

Hughes supports the surcharge proposal - but conditionally.

"I think the fee could be a very good thing if the funds are used in order to enhance the management practices at the beach, including additional beach nourishment," he said. "But I would not want to see the fees used to pay for what is already happening."