At high noon on August 2, 1999 the Provincetown Board of Selectmen voted to effect the simultaneous land exchange between the Town of Provincetown, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the United States of America.  This vote resulted in the Town's ownership of a 7.62 acre site of the transfer station.  Barnstable County Register of Deeds John F. Meade officiated the remote recording of the deed by electronic means. For more than thirty-five years, the Town of Provincetown and the Cape Cod National Seashore have been trying to figure out how to square a municipality’s solid waste disposal operations with a unit of the National Park System. And it only took an act of Congress-and an act of the state legislature-- to settle the matter with the land exchange that was completed on August 2, 1999. The Town wanted to commemorate this historic occasion by doing something real. So, at high noon, the Board of Selectmen convened a board meeting at the site of the land transfer and voted the acceptance of the release deed for this simultaneous land exchange. Then Mr. John F. Meade of the Barnstable County Register of Deeds  recorded the deeds via a remote recording, making the exchange of ownership official. At the conclusion, the Town obtained ownership of the 7.62-acres site of the temporary solid waste transfer and recycling facility and access road. Congressman Bill Delahunt presented the Board of Selectmen with the pen used by President Bill Clinton to sign the authorizing federal legislation, Public Law 105-280.

A Short History

This event has been a long time in coming. For some, it dates back to February of 1990, when a delegation of Provincetown officials traveled to Washington, DC to meet with Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, Congressman Gerry Studds and officials of the National Park Service to ward off the threatened imminent eviction from the landfill, which was then about to reach its capacity.

Throughout 1991 and 1992, through a series of Memoranda of Understanding between the Board of Selectmen and Cape Cod National Seashore Superintendent Andrew T. Ringgold, the Town continued to use the landfill while methodically and exhaustively reviewing alternatives for solid waste disposal-- Site 6 West, Site 6 East; a shared facility in Truro-- all the while undertaking the phased closure of the Provincetown Sanitary Landfill.

When the October 27, 1993 Special Town Meeting voted to prohibit the construction of a transfer station at either Site 6 West or East (the old burn dump site), relations with the Seashore reached a low ebb. It was in that context that Congressman Gerry Studds reached an historic agreement with National Park Service Director Roger Kennedy on December 23, 1993 allowing the Town to construct a temporary transfer station while pursuing a land exchange.

On October 26, 1998 President William Clinton signed Public Law 105-280 An Act to provide for a land exchange involving the Cape Cod National Seashore allowing the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the town of Provincetown federal property of approximately 7.62 acres in exchange for approximately 11.157 acres Town and Commonwealth lands.  The purpose of the exchange is to allow for the establishment of a municipal facility to serve the towns solid waste transfer and recycling facilities and for other municipal activities that are compatible with the National Park Service laws and regulations.

The ensuing chronology showed progress. Here are some milestones:

May 22, 1994. Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Provincetown Temporary Transfer Station, which was constructed and became operational only five months after the Kennedy-Studds deal.

September 16, 1994. This site was visited by National Park Service Director Roger Kennedy and Congressman Gerry E. Studds.

October 24, 1994. Special Town Meeting voters authorized the Board of Selectmen's plan to acquire the transfer station and access road.

November 1, 1994. Closure of Provincetown Sanitary Landfill was completed.

November 16, 1994. Board of Selectmen submitted a land exchange proposal to then-Cape Cod National Seashore Superintendent Andrew T. Ringgold.

October 28, 1996. Special Town Meeting voters approved the filing of a home rule petition for special state legislation to authorize the Town to acquire 7.62-acres of Site 9 in exchange for the 11-acre Site 4-- part of the layout of Route 6.

August 10, 1998. Governor Paul Cellucci signed Chapter 278 of the Acts of 1998, An Act Authorizing The Simultaneous Land Exchange Of Certain Parcels Of Land Between The Town Of Provincetown, The Commonwealth And The United States Of America.

October 26, 1998, President Bill Clinton signed Public Law 105-280, An act to provide for a land exchange involving the Cape Cod National Seashore and to extend the authority for the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission.

August 2, 1999. The deed is done.