The property at 260 Foreside Road in Falmouth was purchased with the purpose of providing additional parking for the Town Landing boating interests. Underwood property restrictions prohibited using that land for parking. At the time it was felt that additional parking was necessary as there were so many complaints from the area about people parking in front of, on their property and in some cases hampering access by emergency vehicles. For a variety of reasons there has been a drop-off in demand for parking, as there are substantially fewer moorings permitted in the anchorage that are accessed through Town Landing. Perhaps the new Cumberland access will additionally reduce the need. Much talk about sea level rise could impact the number of spaces available at the lower parking lot.

My point is that there is precious little open space in the Town Landing area. This parcel is large and the adjacent Underwood property is even larger. There are great possibilities for addressing future parking needs that would be fully screened from neighbors’ sight. As we would be benefiting the boaters, then we could use excess in mooring fees to fund improvements to the combined properties as a larger park with improvements. It would still be possible to arrange parking and park improvement in a manner that would honor the use restrictions on the Underwood property. At the very least we should keep this parcel in public hands as land for Falmouth’s future.

David Gooch
Falmouth