By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — A variety of structures offer up various activities for the people who use the Naples Town Beach and Kent’s Landing.

Could an altered layout offer more or create a better flow of traffic? What about the shallow water around the dock? Could something be done to remove shifting sand and make the space safer for swimmers and boaters?

Those are some of the questions that will be answered with an assessment.

On Nov. 25, the Naples Select Board voted, 4-0, to hire Wright Pierce Environmental Engineering Firm the bid to assess the town beach and provide some design ideas. Select Board member Colin Brackett was absent from that meeting that happened during Thanksgiving week.

Naples Town Manager Jason Rogers introduced the bid that was on the table. 

“This went out to bid about [five] weeks ago, asking multiple engineering firms to make a bid on writing an assessment and design concept for Kent’s Landing to get a better use out of the space that’s available, to look at improving the wash station, improving traffic flow for the boat launch, boat recovery and improving safety in and around the area in general,” Rogers said.

“We only received one reply. I did put a tight time constraint on the deliverables, which was Jan. 31,” he said.

He wanted the information available in time for the budget process that will be taking place this winter.

“We got one quote from Wright Pierce for $43,000. We appropriated $50,000 in this year’s budget so it came in under budget. My recommendation would be that we accept the bid from Wright Pierce,” the town manager said.

Select Board member Kevin Rogers said he hoped that the assessment would address the need for public parking.

The town manager said any approach would need to factor in the Department of Environmental Protection’s laws regarding impervious surfaces near the Shoreland Zone. 

“I haven’t measured it but I think the parking area starts outside of the Shoreland Zone. It seems we could keep it out of Shoreland Zone and capitalize on that and maximize the parking for the public,” Select Board member Rogers said.

Town manager Rogers stated the paved area is at least 250 feet away from the high-water mark.

“Included in [the assessment] is what can be done to the boat launch in general to help combat the silt [buildup] that seems to happen every single year and makes it more difficult for people to launch boats,” the town manager said.