More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.
The unseasonably warm weather made for a spooky, foggy last day of 2022, as captured in this photo of Morses Pond by Priscilla Messing.
On new year’s day, a hardy crew started the morning with a run and a good number of them took a dip in Morses Pond to celebrate the arrival of 2023.
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A new year, a new Morses Pond beach plan. Wellesley’s Recreation Department has had to be creative over the past couple of years during the pandemic, putting into place a reservation system and other protocols to keep the beach safe and manageable, and this year it’s got another new plan in light of current public health conditions.
The town’s Recreation Commission held several public meetings to gather input from the public on how the beach might be run this season.
The official beach opening will start on June 6 with open swim, no lifeguards, and no docks. The yellow gate at Turner Road will be monitored by Recreation staff, and only residents will be allowed to park in the lot (non-residents can walk, run, or bike in).
When Wellesley Public Schools let out in mid-June, and trained lifeguards become available, the beach will convert to member use with lifeguards on duty. Last year the beach operated without lifeguards. This year the Rec Department has about a dozen lifeguards signed on—it’s been a challenge, because some past Morses Pond lifeguards have moved on to jobs at pools, while a pipeline of new lifeguards has been blocked by a lack of courses being available during the pandemic. Recreation Department Director Matt Chin referred to the lifeguard shortage as “a nationwide issue,” when he briefed us on the Morses Pond plan.
But the Rec Department has a plan in place to train lifeguards and operate safely with the ones it has, and laid those plans out during the May 5 Recreation Commission meeting (starting at about 20 minutes into the Wellesley Media recording). The department even got another application from a potential lifeguard during that meeting.
The price for a membership is going up this season, as is the daily rate for residents (non-residents can secure a season pass, but not daily passes). Family passes for residents will be $250 (up from $170 in 2019) and $375 for non-residents, with individual adult passes for residents at $125 and individual child/senior passes at $60. Residents can also pay $10 per person for a daily entry. Look for membership registration information soon on the Wellesley Rec site (there are no plans for a discount super sale this time around).
The season is slated to end Aug. 21, as lifeguards will be heading back to school, etc. around then. The beach will return to the open swim model then, with park rangers monitoring the area until at least through Labor Day weekend.
The Recreation Commission has had a variety of beach operation models to review over the past few years, and one goal this year is to try to run the beach at least around a break-even level. In years before the pandemic it would sometimes run at a $30K-$50K loss, with other programs throughout the year making up the difference.
More: Morses Pond guided trail walk, May 15, 2022, 9-10am
The Wellesley Recreation Commission will be holding a public meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 7pm at which it is looking for input regarding the operations of Morses Pond beach for summer 2022.
According to an email issued by the Recreation Director Matt Chin, among topics up for discussion are:
• Lifeguards vs Parks Rangers
• Residents vs Non Residents
o Fees
o Daily fees
• Dock system
• Amenities
o Swim lessons
o Watercraft rental
• Hours of operation
The Commission will review the input and then plans to have a follow-up meeting on March 8.
The meeting with be livestreamed on Wellesley Media and broadcast on Comcast 8/Verizon 40 , but if you’d like to speak, send email to recreation@wellesleyma.gov and you’ll get a link for the Zoom call.
More: Wellesley Rec has tough decisions to make on Morses Pond beach
From a financial and fun perspective, Wellesley’s Recreation Department considers this past summer at Morses Pond beach a success. But whether the town next year will operate the beach in a similar manner—a reservation-based, residents-only system borne from the pandemic—remains to be seen, as a soul-searching discussion at the Sept. 24 Recreation Commission meeting revealed (view Wellesley Media recording).
The overall Rec Dept. summer season was “way more successful than 2020,” according to Director Matt Chin, whose preliminary revenue numbers showed a $40K increase from a year ago when the COVID-19 pandemic hit programming plans and operations harder. Rec offered more programs, including camp (which isn’t even included in that preliminary revenue assessment and would mean an even bigger boost).
Even though Rec has pulled in more revenue via more programs before the pandemic, it also was less profitable because, for example, running the beach meant hiring lifeguards and additional staff beyond what it has hired the past 2 seasons.
The town logged beach reservations for more than 40,000 this past summer (based on number of people who those making reservations said would be coming). Not all those people actually came, but Chin says there were still a good 10,000 more beach visitors from a year ago, and few got shut out, even if they made reservations the day of upon discovering it was a nice beach day. Rec worked with the Health Dept. to allow up to 500 people, half its capacity, on the beach, though rarely came close to such a crowd.
Having heard all this, Recreation Commission member Jim Rodrigue asked about what the big takeaways have been, and what from this way of operating should stay or go. He also said later that “I appreciate the financial perspective on this, but it’s very challenging for me to imagine not having lifeguards in a non-pandemic set of circumstances.” It may just be a matter of accepting there’s a cost for having lifeguards and providing a safety service, he said.
Running the beach has piled up losses in the tens of thousands in years past.
Commissioner Laurance Stuntz wondered if there might be a way to offer a combination of enhanced safety and freedom at the beach, perhaps guarding a smaller area for those who want that service.
And Paul Cramer sought opinions on whether it ever might make sense to go back to the docks and lifeguards model if it’s going to inevitably result in running at a significant deficit. “People go all over the state, they go to the Cape… they go to the Vineyard…they swim, there are no lifeguards…,” he said. ”
Chin said residents like the residents-only restriction, and Jenn Lawlor said patrons enjoyed having fewer rules, such as those regarding floatation devices. Some wished the docks were there, though there were very few complaints, and patrons liked that the restrooms were available this summer, Lawlor said.
For Rec, managing the beach is easier with just park rangers, Chin said. “However, just on a personal level, I feel like we need lifeguards out there to protect people… I struggle with that,” he added.
While CARES Act funding helped the financial results for the beach, Chin said he thinks the operation might be profitable if it were resident-only and a fee was charged for parking even without such aid in future. He said the department could review a few scenarios with various dock and lifeguard configurations. The department plans to run lifeguard classes, so could manufacture its own lifeguard staff.
Depending on how funding goes for ideas laid out in a study on Morses Pond’s future, which could result in a new bath house and beach configuration, that new configuration could potentially allow for a revenue model that would support a return to lifeguards, Chin said.
The study continues to be carried out, with wetlands and other investigations underway to ensure there’s nothing in the way of building and reconfiguring things at the Morses Pond beach area. If all goes according to plan, which has been delayed by competing projects and limited town capacity, Rec would seek design funds at Town Meeting in 2023 and building funds the following year, Chin said.
The next Rec Commission meeting, which will be held remotely and includes a director’s report item called “Morses Pond summer 2022,” is scheduled for 8-9:30am on Oct. 29.
For the second consecutive summer, the fun at Morses Pond was somewhat reined in by restrictions put in place due to COVID-19. Between a lifeguard shortage, an events calendar that remained empty, and multiple days of rain, Summer 2021 at MOPO was a quieter than usual affair for the 6,000-plus visitors who booked their beach time.
The last official day of the Morses Pond season was August 15, but the yellow gate at the bottom of Turner Road will be open through September 6, 8am – dusk. The official closing of the pond means that there is no staff on hand, so no reservations are needed to use the beach area.
Not that there was much staff around all summer. When only one certified lifeguard had expressed interest in working at MOPO by early May, it became clear to Rec. that the pond would have to run on a swim-at-your-own risk basis. “We had 3 shifts of 5 Park Rangers again this summer. No lifeguards,” Rec. Department Associate Director Jenn Lawlor said in an email.
The lack of staff led to a Wellesley residents-only beach policy, and a reservations program was put into place. “The difference from last summer was that residents were able to make reservations for the full day, not just a time block. Restrooms were open this summer as well,” Lawlor said.
“Attendance has been a bit lower than last year,” Lawlor continued. “An estimated 6,215 patrons came through to Morses Pond from June 7 to July 31. Weather has also played a factor in low numbers, as some days we had to close due to storms.”
As usual, the Wellesley Health Department tested the swimming-area water for bacteria weekly, and the pond passed all the tests up until the week of August 2. “Due to all the rain we had a failing test result in which we had to close the pond for swimming on August 6th,” Lawlor said.
Usually Rec., in partnership with various town departments, keeps a steady stream of activities going such as Kid’s Trails Day, the Fishing Derby, Council on Aging Day, story times, the 8th graders’ party, a Family Camp-Out, and more. COVID put all of that on hold this year. A few hardy souls gathered at the pond in March for an unofficial version of the yearly Plunge for Elodie. And the Wellesley Fire and Rescue Department held a dive team training event in July. Other than that, visitors to the pond came to have a no-frills day at the beach.
Kayaking at Wellesley’s Morses Pond
Wellesley takes Morses Pond water treatment plant offline due to high level of ‘forever chemicals’
Wellesley Recreation has announced, a day after Morses Pond beach swimming closed for elevated E. coli levels, that the water is now safe based on new testing.
The beach reopens for swimming at 9:30am for residents with reservations.
