Meetings are held remotely. From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its agenda and learn how to view and take part remotely.
Thursday, Feb. 4
- Housing Authority, 10 a.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 9
- Select Board, 6 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 11
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 7 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Covid-19 Update
Wellfleet had seven new cases of Covid-19 in the 14 days preceding the Mass. Dept. of Public Health’s weekly Covid-19 report, which was published Jan. 28. The town has recorded a total of 44 cases and one death from the virus.
Permission Slips
The saga at 1065 State Highway has a new twist.
Brand-new Great White Realty Group LLC, organized and managed by Truro’s Donna DiGiovanni, bought the 1.38-acre lot on Jan. 8. On Jan. 9, workers clear-cut the land, leading Wellfleet Building Inspector Paul Fowler to issue DiGiovanni a cease and desist order for both stripping the site and storing fill there with no permits. On Jan. 19, DiGiovanni wrote in a statement to the Independent that her “current plans for 1065 US-6 is to provide a contractors yard for GFM Enterprises.”
GFM Enterprises, a South Dennis-based excavation company, has been in this situation before. In 2014, Greg Morris (who co-owns GFM with his wife, Jennifer) caused a stir in Truro after he, Winkler Construction & Crane Co. President Mike Winkler, and Ethan Poulin of Ethan Poulin Landscaping clear-cut Winkler’s four-acre parcel just off Route 6 — without permits.
“They basically strip-mined out the area in absolute utter violation of the zoning bylaws, the site plan and any sense of decency for the neighbors,” attorney Christopher Snow told the Cape Cod Times in 2014. The men also had been storing fill on the premises without a permit.
In that case, attorney Ben Zehnder represented GFM’s Morris, who faced two Truro cease and desist orders and an injunction in Barnstable Superior Court. Zehnder is now representing Donna DiGiovanni and her husband, Steve. He did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did the DiGiovannis or the Morrises. —Josephine de La Bruyère
