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Date: 9/22/2021
SOUTHWICK – Waste at Kings Beach isn’t just an eyesore, it’s a public health problem, members of the Board of Health said at a meeting this month.
Finding a public health solution is easier said than done, however.
The sorts of boaters who ignore signs and leave their trash on the beach – or even their excrement – won’t walk uphill to a trash can or portable toilet where a truck can get in and out to empty it. And waste facilities may be prohibited by the conservation restriction on the land.
“If you put up a sign, it’s not going to stop people from throwing trash,” said Board of Health member Jean Nilsson. “Signs are ignored.”
Board of Health member Mikenzie Cain said she lives near the property and walks it often. She said the trash is largely confined to the beach area, and the rest of the 146-acre conservation property, which was saved from development through a combination of local fundraising, town funds and state grants in 2019, is in good shape.
“It’s where everybody docks their boat on the pond. It’s the only sandy beach,” said Cain. “It’s a lot of empties from drinking. They’ll drink on the beach. They won’t necessarily dump their trash from the boat, but it’s [waste from] partying on the beach.”
She said police walk the property regularly, but nobody can monitor it at all times. With limited police patrols on the lake, particularly at night, it’s hard for police to catch litterers in action.
Dick Grannells said the town’s Lake Management Committee has also heard complaints about trash on the shore of the conservation land, but said his group has no authority over that beach. He said he forwards complaints to Citizens Restoring Congamond, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lake, and the town Conservation Commission.
Town Health Director Tammy Spencer said she has received complaints about trash and feces in the beach area. At least two sets of signs asking boaters to pick up their trash have been stolen, she said. She said there’s a dirt road connecting the beach to a gate on South Longyard Road, and a truck could get to the water to service a portable toilet and trash can, but town officials believe development restrictions on the land would prohibit installing a toilet.
Cain said even if a toilet or trash can were installed, there’s a substantial incline from the beach to the dirt road, and many late-night partiers on the beach would likely ignore them. Trash cans would also attract bears, she said.
She said the only way to keep the beach clean would be for volunteers to clean it regularly, as Citizens Restoring Congamond did last month. Nilsson said local Boy Scouts also had a cleanup day in the area recently.
Kings Beach is part of a large parcel of land on the east side of North Pond that was purchased for $5 million between 2017 and 2019, with some of it paid by state grants and attached to the Southwick Wildlife Management Area, and some of it funded through donations, the Community Preservation Act and local taxpayer funds, and held as town-owned property to provide walking trails and preserve the undeveloped character of that side of North Pond.