New ramp considered at Hen Cove in Pocasset
EDITOR NOTE: This story was updated on June 7, 2022, to describe two separate emerging issues following the dredging of the Pocasset River and Little Bay at Monument Beach.
BOURNE — Hen Cove at Pocasset is commanding the attention of boaters and residents alike.
Local officials are considering two separate emerging issues — construction of a new boat ramp below Pocasset Heights and the bay's inadequate tidal flushing — following the dredging of the Pocasset River and Little Bay at Monument Beach.
The town has no immediate plans for its next dredge project, but Harbormaster Chris Southwood said the goal is to secure $200,000 in fiscal 2024 and more money in the ensuing years to re-build the dredge account.
Meanwhile, Shore and Harbor Committee Chairman Rich Libin said the next major shoreline project could involve new Hen Cove ramp construction at Circuit Avenue; where vessels often scrape the bottom during launches.
Ramp construction can be expensive. So, Southwood eyes the cost of such a project.
“At this time, I’m working on getting (ballpark) quotes from marine contractors,” he said.
Selectman Peter Meier said a Hen Cove project makes sense in one regard.
“It might take pressure off the idea of securing (legal) access across the railroad tracks at the Monument Beach Marina to allow larger boats access to the ramp that was re-configured there,” he said.
More: Pocasset River stairway to attract kayakers, afford water access
There are two municipal deep-water ramps in town; one at Taylors Point Marina in Buzzards Bay and another at Barlows Landing, Pocasset, where villagers bristle at increasing use of the facility by area boatyards, with crews launching larger vessels there.
Hen Cove tidal flushing, meanwhile, is becoming a goal of the Wastewater Advisory Committee. Members are concerned about the bay’s septic, fertilizer and circulation problems coupled with degraded marine life and the migration of sand from the Circuit Avenue beach to the existing boat ramp.
The cove, geographically framed by Pocasset Heights and Patuisset, for decades featured summer cottage colonies. But now there is no tidal flushing between the cove and Pocasset Harbor. And the area has gone increasingly year-round with associated demands and pressures from the environmental sphere to the recreational.
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Resident Frank Gaston and the Pocasset Water Quality Association said the cove needs immediate attention. It could use another infusion of funds from the Community Preservation Act to study diminished water flow.
“Property values are heading in the same direction as our water quality values,” Gaston told town officials May 16.
Cove flushing should be placed at the top of the wastewater panel’s list of issues, town engineering technician Tim Lydon said.
"This rises to the top, naturally and organically," he said, "without us putting it there.”
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: A new boat ramp at Hen Cove in Bourne considered after dredging
