Highlights, Winter 2011-2012

•            In 2007, the Conservancy initiated its Underground Utility Project, to remove some 72 utility poles, many with aerial transformers, and to relocate wires underground along Bay Street, Fort Road and the surrounding mile-long loop of Larkin Road, Bluff Avenue, and Plimpton Road. This major infrastructure enhancement is seen as a storm damage mitigation measure and as an economic development engine for Watch Hill Village and the region, as well as a significant aesthetic improvement.

The engineering studies, which were completed in late 2009, relate to all aspects of the full project. Total project costs are estimated at $7 - 8 million. To date, the Conservancy has committed some $1.1 million of private funds to the project. We are actively pursuing private and public sources to fund the balance.

In 2010 we completed the first phase of construction, from Bay Street, through the Larkin Block and along Fort Road to the Beach Club. As of the end of 2010, that undergrounding was completed, and now uncluttered views greet the visitor to the Village and the harbor.

The next phase, in which we are currently engaged, includes Bay Street and Larkin Road. The Conservancy is cooperating with the Town of Westerly in a three-element Town Bay Street Infrastructure Improvement Project, which will include the installation of the Conservancy’s underground utility infrastructure, as well as the Town’s storm drainage remediation work and its replacement of the antiquated water line which serves the area. Construction began after Columbus Day and will continue until the end of April, when it will cease for the summer season.  Work will recommence in the fall with completion estimated by year end, 2012.
 

•           The Conservancy's Napatree Conservation Program, which we operate with the Watch Hill Fire District, continues to be a success.  Last year a record seventy-nine children participated in the free Napatree Investigator sessions; both adults and children regularly attended the Saturday morning nature walks and a variety of other offerings. Water quality testing, horseshoe crab tagging, surveys of mammals and invasive and endangered plants, and cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the protection of the nesting piping plovers, ospreys, least terns and other shore birds are other important elements of the program.

•            Early in 2011, a group of scientific experts, invited by the prestigious Rhode Island Natural History Survey (RINHS), published their evaluation of the Napatree Program. The report, based on the group’s site visit in the summer of 2010, commended the two organizations for making “…a significant contribution to the long term stewardship of an important natural resource of Rhode Island and the East Coast.”  Participants in that report continue to be involved as Scientific Advisers to the Conservancy.

• Our Architectural Design Initiative Program offers free architectural design services to property owners throughout the Watch Hill Historic District. We have provided these services to the Waldo Hennessey partnership, the Watch Hill Yacht Club cabana owners, the Watch Hill Limited Partnership, and to several private residential owners. We are always pleased to hear that property owners are finding inspiration for their new construction or renovation projects from our 2009 primer on the historical architecture of Watch Hill, Watch Hill Style.

The architectural design standards and the zoning height regulations, which we initiated several years ago on Bay Street and which are now part of the Westerly zoning ordinance, are providing significant protection to the heart of Watch Hill Village.·  
      

• Our newsletter, the Watch Hill Conservator, features timely articles on issues affecting Watch Hill and the shoreline and reaches a readerhship of aproximately 1,100. We print three issues a year, one in mid-late-winter and two in the summer, one each in June and August.  Our editorial approach is objective and is designed to bring important information to members of the Watch Hill community.  Included are articles on a variety of topical issues relating to the environment, conservation, design and preservation.  Our children's newsletter, The Naptree Investigator, celebrating our children's educational programs, is published as an insert in the Conservator.

•           Land acquisition.  We continue to explore approaches to increasing our inventory of protected properties, which now include wetlands along Colonel Willie Cove, properties on Napatree, East Beach, and Ocean View Highway.

•           Watch Hill Through Time and Watch Hill Style, continue to spread the word about Watch Hill’s history and architecture.  Both books are available at local shops, via order forms from the website, or from the Conservancy office.

•           The Conservancy continues to explore approaches to promote highway safety in Watch Hill.  Our efforts, focused over the last two years on Ocean view Highway, have been expanded to include cooperation with the Fire District and the Improvement Society through the District.

• The Conservancy's website, rebuilt in 2010-2011 by Kipany Productions of New York and Fleming and Company of Newport, has a fresh "new look and feel."  Please visit it at <thewatchhillconservancy.org>.

 

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