Meetings are held remotely. Go to truro-ma.gov, click on the meeting you want to watch, and open its agenda for instructions on how to watch or take part online.
Thursday, March 25
- Climate Action Committee, 10:30 a.m.
Wednesday, March 31
- Planning Board joint meeting with Highland Affordable Housing, 5 p.m.
Thursday, April 1
- Climate Action Committee, 10:30 a.m.
Conversation Starters
Truro and Malone Will Mount Joint Defense
The taxpayers of Truro will help pay for the legal defense of the Zoning Board of Appeals granting a comprehensive permit for the construction of a 39-unit affordable housing development known as the Cloverleaf at 22 Highland Road.
Fifteen people have appealed the ZBA decision. Located on a Route 6 highway cloverleaf, the land was given to the town by the state for the purpose of constructing affordable housing.
“The town has a lot of interest in this, and affordable housing is one its main goals and objectives,” Town Manager Darrin Tangeman told the Independent.
Members of the board of appeals and the select board agreed it was worth helping developer Ted Malone of Community Housing Resource of Provincetown defend the case, added Tangeman.
Malone and the town will each pay their attorneys to jointly defend the case, Malone said. The town will be represented by Jonathan Silverstein of KP Law, Tangeman said.
“The zoning board of appeals issued a thoughtful and careful decision,” Tangeman said in a statement. “The town fully supports the zoning board of appeals’ decision and will be aggressively defending the decision.”
David Reid, the attorney for the plaintiffs, did not return a call seeking comment.
The case will be heard in Barnstable Superior Court. A new law, passed by the state legislature in January, may be helpful to the town. The so-called Abutter Appeals Reform act aims to combat meritless legal challenges that are brought by opponents of housing projects. Often, such lawsuits have no chance of succeeding, but they nonetheless lead to costly delays. —K.C. Myers
