EverythingWestport - Westport in Brief, August 23, 2015

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Sunday, August 23, 2015

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EverythingWestport.com

Sunday, August 23, 2015

“Beaches are unconsolidated sand; because of that it makes it difficult to navigate for anyone with mobility issues,” said WLCT Executive Director Ryan Mann as he and Commission on Disability Chairwoman, Elaine Ostroff oversaw the final installation last month of four sections of “access mats” on Westport Land Conservation Trust beachfront next to the Knubble.

Above: While the eastmost one-third of Beach Avenue is under discussion for possible dune replenishment that will limit vehicular traffic, Mann and Ostroff moved quickly this summer to dramatically enhance handicap access to the prettiest seashore in Westport.

The durability and portability of access mats make them the perfect solution for providing accessible beach pathways. Utilizing the benefits of a thin, lightweight polyester weave ensures that rigidity and strength are preserved over soft sand surfaces, while the polyester material is able to contour to undulating surfaces.

While the proposed dunes restoration project still has many hurdles to overcome, beachgoers with mobility issues are now enjoying the white pristine sands and sparkling waters of Knubble Beach.

Westport’s Community Preservation Committee voted last year to pay the $6000 purchase price of the mats.

“To live in Westport and not be able to go to the beach because you have mobility issues, that’s bad, Ostroff said.

Mobility mats matter for disabled, seniors and the young.

Martin Costa grew up in Westport and loved to visit local beaches, which many say are the best on the southcoast.

“I am spinal cord injured and use a wheelchair as well as short leg braces and a cane to ambulate, but since my accident in 1985, I have never visited Westport beaches because of the poor accessibility conditions,” the Westport campground owner and former DJ said.

The journey to Cherry and Webb town beach is a long, sandy walk over the dunes, a big deterrent to folks with mobility issues; the cobblestone-strewn East Beach forces seniors, handicapped and persons with mobility issues to just sit in their cars by the oceanside, unable to traverse the rocky shoreline.

All that has changed, thanks to efforts of the town’s Commission on Disability to make a local beach universally accessible through the installation of mobility, or access mats (portable pathways) that can be used by the elderly and disabled community, parents with strollers and families with young children.

Above: Commission on Disability members John Pelletier (left) and Elaine Ostroff talk with Westport Land Conservation Trust Director, Ryan Mann about the ease of use of the new mats obtained with CPA funds. In the background, Highway Department employees lay down the three sections of the new “access mats” in a trial run which according to Pelletier “were very easy to transverse.”

Westport Land Conservation volunteers installed 189 feet of five-foot-wide beach "access mats" that extended from the eastern edge of Beach Avenue by the Knubble to the ocean’s high water mark.

A trial of the access mats was performed last October and “worked quite well” according to COD member John Pelletier.

Surprising light, the flexible mats really did the job.

Universal accessibility is becoming very important, a top priority issue in many areas, according to the United Nations. This human rights group recognizes the “importance of accessibility to the physical, social, economic and cultural environment, to health and education and to information and communication, in enabling persons with disabilities to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

The plan is to lay the mats down by late spring, possibly in time for the Memorial Day holiday, and will be taken up probably after Labor Day and stored for the winter; each section only weighs 64 pounds, making the mats easily transportable by a single town worker. Weekly maintenance will consist of a town worker using a blower to keep the mats free of sand.

The method of attaching the mats to the beach sand to prevent theft or blowing away in high winds is the use of long spikes deployed by the town’s Highway Department.

A plan before the Board of Selectmen championed by Selectman R. Michael Sullivan and several Acoaxet residents and the Buzzards Bay Coalition is currently moving through the approval stages which will only allow handicapped and safety vehicles to pass through a secured gate for access to the Knubble.

All others will walk to Knubble Beach on a scenic, seaside boardwalk on top of the restored dune, with beaches and scenic views.

Above and below: Westport’s Select Board has tentatively approved of a Buzzards Bay Coalition project for a Beach Avenue dune restoration project still has many hurdles to overcome.

Click on above images to enlarge.

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