| The Buzzards Bay Village Association, Inc.,
D/b/a the Buzzards Bay Vitalization Association
2007 Annual Report
November 8, 2007
The year 2007, saw your Association begin the arduous task of operating with limited resources and yet experienced an expanding program of things to do to make Main Street/Buzzards Bay a viable and visible downtown area on the Upper Cape. Through its lay leadership, assigned staff and professional consultants revised the organizations business plan to reflect what must be and can be done within this difficult operating scenario.
Three Mile Look and Bridge Park Updates
It stressed that the “Three Mile Look” connecting Perry Ave to the Cape Cod Canal be completed and it will be by years’ end. It further mandated that the Association begin detailed negotiations with both the Town of Bourne and the Army Corps of Engineers – co-owners of the Town Park on Main Street, on how best to proceed to make the park – now unofficially named "Bridge Park" into an destination point to attract visitors and shoppers to Main Street. This process has begun and should be completed by the end of the year. Once this accomplished the Association can then proceed to acquire the necessary fund to complete the task. We have engaged an award winning Falmouth based landscape architectural firm- Stephen Stimson, to take the project to the next level of final design options and cost estimates.
Linkages with the BFDC important!
In addition, the new business plan challenged the Association to be part of the Bourne Financial Development Corporation efforts in undertaking a number of essential studies to gain investor interest and confidence in all of Main Street from circle to circle. The BBVA is represented on the BFDC's board by our Chair - Jeff Luce and the BFDC’s president, John Harding is a member of the BBVA board so that speedy communications and dialogues can take place. In addition, the BBVA sits as a member of the Main Street Steering Committee composed of several business leaders/association executives and town officials.
Transportation Key to Main Street!
The leadership also counseled the staff to stay abreast with projects in the works along Main Street and promote their existence to encourage additional development or rehabilitation and to keep an eye on efforts to restore passenger railroad service from Buzzards Bay to Middleboro. In this latter capacity, Tom Moccia was appointed to the Bourne Board of Selectmen’s Transportation Advisory Committee.
The Association commissioned a Buzzards Bay transportation study by Wes Ewell. It has been endorsed by the Bourne Board of Selectmen, the Barnstable County Joint, Regional Transportation Committee, the Bourne Financial Development Corporation and the BBVA board. It is now the subject of a review by the Cape Cod Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) which establishes priorities for federal transportation funding on Cape Cod. We will make a formal presentation to the group at its December meeting advocating several improvements in the Main Street road systems.
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In a related transportation matters, your Associaion has been active in pressing the Mass. Highway Department to re-build the Cohasset Narrows Bridge, now programmed for 2013 advertising, and was successful in prevailing upon the Town of Bourne to raze the fire ridden Penner’s Place restaurant just beyond the Cohasset Narrows Bridge. In a related circumstance, we have contacted the Mezza Lunar ownership offering our services in collaboration with their intentions to rebuild in a speedy fashion.
Things are happening on Main Street!
During the year we welcomed a number of new investments – A new CVS drugstore has replaced the Pilot House Restaurant at Belmont Circle, an office building and housing units on Cohasset Ave., by Pinnacle Landscape & Irrigation, 16 housing units on Old Bridge Road off Main Street in the Belmont Circle area, the old Quintals property is being converted to Dunkin Donuts and a Christy convenience store, an electric wind motor generator has been installed on the Massachusetts Maritime Academy campus, a modern state-of – the art 24/7 Veterinarian Hospital has just opened in the shadow of the Bourne Bridge, the Main Street, Burger King has been rehabilitated into an attractive Dunkin Donuts outlet along Main Street, the Buzzards Bay Theatre was reopened and then was closed after a short operation. We are hopeful another entrepreneur will reopen it soon.
Our community efforts showed success in out “Festival of Trees Event” the “Snow Flake Ball and Silent Auction”, a “5k Road Race” around Main Street and the Cape Cod Canal and a BBVA group “Dinner Train Ride” from Buzzards Bay to Hyannis raising funds for our Main Street Beautification Committee program.
Of Note: On average – some 35,000 hits per month were recorded by our web-site…United Insurance has a new store front…Town permits have been granted for a combination business and housing units on the site of the Way Ho’s Restaurant.
Thanks to all – for a job well done during the year!
An Annual Report would be remiss and incomplete if it failed to recognize the many varied volunteer contribution made by BBVA members, supporters and friends. Much of what we do, is totally volunteered based from the making of organizational policy at the Board level to pulling weeds and spreading mulch at Three Mile Look., to finding ways on Beacon Hill to gain necessity funding, to town officials for CPA funding and logistical support and above all to our members and private and public foundations for their important financial contributions to keep this engine of change chugging along.
Jeff Luce , Chair Tom Moccia,, President
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