Last Spring, following a very unfortunate drowning incident at the
Lakeside boat launch, our local State Representative, Joe McKenna, approached
the State Department of Fish and Game regarding the launch and worked to secure
funding for the area. This lead to a discussion with the Department of Fish and
Game regarding the future of the launch and some of the past concerns in the
area. The Department of Fish and Game indicated that they would be interested
in closing the launch if an alternative location (Webster’s Memorial Beach)
could be made available as a State boat launch. This would include a one-time
capital improvement commitment of perhaps up to $600,000 for the Memorial
Beach. The Town of Webster would still operate the beach, but under certain
state-defined restrictions such as charging both Webster residents and all
other Massachusetts residents the same use fee.
Around this same time the Memorial Beach
Committee started meeting. The Beach Committee was tasked with making
recommendations for “big picture” improvements to our beach. As always, money
is the biggest obstacle for making major capital investments. The Beach
Committee analyzed the benefits of closing the Lakeside launch and using state
funding to make major capital improvements at Memorial Beach. However, after
much discussion and weighing the pros and cons, the Beach Committee will not be
recommending that the Lakeside launch be closed at this time. Through their
meeting discussions with residents speaking both for and against changing
Lakeside, the Committee determined that staffing the Lakeside launch on
weekends and holidays will alleviate some of the current pressing concerns.
Specifically, parking and trash concerns, but also may help control some of the
weeds entering the lake at the launch. The Beach Committee will be making this
recommendation to the Board of Selectmen at their meeting on April 29th. The meeting will start at 6:00 pm and the
public is welcome to attend. Meanwhile, the Beach Committee and the Town will
work with the State Department of Fish and Game to determine if this is an
alternative they are willing to consider.