Beals and Thomas is providing stormwater mitigation for a parking lot at the Four Points by Sheraton Hyannis Resort. Located on 52 acres in the village of Hyannis, the resort lies adjacent to the Joshua's and Stewart's Creeks. The creeks converge along the southern boundary of the property and flow together before entering into Hyannis Harbor.

The proposed project involves the implementation of stormwater management measures to improve the quality of stormwater discharged from the property. Runoff from the parking lot is intercepted prior to its discharge into Joshua's Creek and the associated bordering vegetated wetland. Besides water quality treatment, the basin also provides peak flow mitigation during small storms. Since the parking area is located within the buffer zone and the riverfront area associated with Joshua's Creek, pavement was removed to provide sufficient area. This will ensure no new land disturbance within the buffer zone and riverfront area.

The wet basin is designed to provide some runoff volume control allowing stormwater to gradually infiltrate to the ground. Instead of the more common riprap lining, the basin bottom will be planted with a New England wet mix and the slopes will be planted with an erosion control mix. Bordering areas of the basin will incorporate silky dogwood, arrowood, and red maple trees. The vegetated basin not only creates an aesthetically pleasing environment, but allows for greater pretreatment to stormwater by trapping, filtering, and infiltrating particulate and associated pollutants before discharging to Joshua's Creek. The velocity of the runoff discharging from the basin will be low to protect basin and stream bank erosion.

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This project, in combination with the Stewart's Creek Coastal Ecosystem Restoration, is expected to further enhance the public's recreational and educational experience.

The Stewart's Creek Restoration site is approximately 55 acres. The salt pond drains into Hyannis Harbor through a 60-foot-long, 3-foot diameter culvert, which is restricting adequate tidal flow and drainage at the site, resulting in severe degradation to most of the salt marsh acreage.

The major feature of the project includes the construction of a new, larger inlet to the pond to replace the existing culvert. Improving tidal flow is expected to restore the degraded salt marsh and riverine/ benthic habitat, including open water habitat.

The restoration of the salt pond and salt marsh would fulfill part of the Massachusetts goal of 3,000 acres of wetlands restored by 2005. This type of habitat is particularly valuable on Cape Cod because of high development pressures on the area. Salt marshes and aquatic embayments such as this serve as a nursery and seed area for numerous finfish and shellfish. This project would also contribute to the New England-wide Coastal America efforts to restore salt marsh and riverine migratory corridors in all coastal areas. The culvert replacement and dredging are scheduled to begin in May 2005.

The project at the Four Points at Sheraton Hyannis Resort is significant to the efforts to improve the ecology of the Stewart's Creek wetland resources. Passersby will be able to note the development of the wetland plant community that will begin to grow within the wet basin.

For more information about the Four Points at Sheraton Hyannis Resort or the Stewart's Creek Restoration project, please contact
Fred Stepanis, Conservation Assistant at
(508) 862-4093 or fred.stepanis@town.barnstable.ma.us

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