WELLFLEET — After a decade of delays caused by abutters’ lawsuits, Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod has opened the application window for four affordable homes on Old Kings Highway.
Habitat’s comprehensive permit for the houses, which was the subject of three lawsuits after the town acquired the property in 2008, provides for two two-bedroom and two three-bedroom ranch houses on the 2.83-acre parcel between Long Pond and Gross Hill roads. Applications are due by May 13.
The maximum household income has been set at 60 percent of area median income (AMI) for two of the houses and at 80 percent of AMI for the other two.
All subsequent sales of the houses will be deed-restricted to buyers who earn no more than 80 percent of AMI, said Habitat CEO Wendy Cullinan. Applications for four additional three-bedroom houses in Dennis are also now available, Cullinan said.
Preference for local applicants will be given for two of the four Wellfleet homes, the maximum number allowed by the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, according to a Habitat press release.
The application review period typically lasts five months, and construction can take up to a year, Cullinan said. But the day when families finally move in is closer now than it has ever been.
Neighbors’ Setbacks
Trouble at the Old Kings Highway parcel began after it was transferred to the Wellfleet Housing Authority more than a decade ago. In 2015, town meeting approved the use of $225,000 in community preservation funds for the project after the planning board unanimously approved a special permit. A group of abutters appealed the planning board’s decision.
Habitat tried a different route: the next year, the nonprofit requested a comprehensive permit from the zoning board of appeals under the state’s Chapter 40B, which streamlines affordable housing projects in towns where the subsidized housing stock is below 10 percent; Wellfleet is currently at 2.6 percent. The ZBA unanimously approved the comprehensive permit in March 2016, but the abutters appealed again. They won their case in Barnstable Superior Court on a technicality, alleging that the ZBA did not follow proper voting procedure.
Habitat tried a third time, this time requesting a comprehensive permit for the construction of four houses instead of three, which would be served by a single 450-foot driveway off Old Kings Highway. The ZBA approved that permit in July 2019 — and the abutters went back to court.
They argued that the affordable housing project would not provide “a stable and desirable character complimentary [sic] to the natural features,” and that it would have a “detrimental effect on the character of the neighborhood,” according to court filings. The list of appellants included Martin and Felicia Magida, Jean Rubenstein, and Charles Merzbacher.
Judge Mark Gildea of Barnstable Superior Court upheld the ZBA’s decision in October 2022. He found that the four houses, averaging 1,000 square feet, would have minimal impact on the neighborhood.
Habitat’s recent efforts to build three affordable homes in Truro have not been as successful. Lawsuits have stalled construction on a 1.7-acre property at 181 Route 6 and will most likely succeed in killing the project, Cullinan told the Independent.
In 2013, a comprehensive permit from the Truro ZBA to build the three houses was appealed by neighbor Brenda Connors, whose property abutted the land “at a point,” according to court filings. Connors argued that runoff from the site, which was on a slope behind her home, would damage her property and contaminate her well.
Judge Thomas Perrino sided with Connors and remanded the case to the ZBA, which granted a comprehensive permit for a second time in September 2016. Connors appealed again, and Perrino sided with Connors again in March 2020. “Whatever flows down from the Habitat property, some or all will most likely find its way onto the Plaintiff’s property,” Perrino wrote.
Despite further outreach to abutters, “there is a good chance we won’t be able to build there,” Cullinan said.
Cullinan added that she understands abutters’ concerns. “Everyone likes their piece of the world,” she said. “When it changes, it doesn’t feel good. We work really hard with neighbors to engage them in our process. Our goal is for Habitat families to have neighbors who care about them.”
Success Stories
Lindsey Belair moved into a Habitat home on Durkee Lane in Wellfleet with her husband, Eastham native Alex Belair, and their three children in 2020. The family had been in and out of at least five rentals since Belair moved here in 2010. Before the family of five moved into their blue ranch house, they were living in a two-bedroom cottage. One child was sleeping in the living room. “It was a very small space; it wasn’t good for us,” said Belair.
According to Cullinan, many families that Habitat works with are living in undesirable conditions, usually caused by the summer shuffle. “Families double or triple up with friends for the summer,” she said. “We have families sleeping on porches. Even in year-round rentals, the families can live in poor conditions while paying an exorbitant amount of rent.”
The Belair family had applied for a Habitat home once before and had been waiting for another opportunity to arise in town. The kids attended Wellfleet Elementary School, where Lindsey Belair was a teacher, and they wanted to stay in the community.
The application process for the Habitat home was long and required a lot of documentation, Belair said, but the seven-month wait was worth it. Habitat held a welcoming event for the family at Preservation Hall. “So many people came out to meet us and thank us for coming to Wellfleet,” Belair said.
As part of the program, Habitat requires the chosen households to commit 250 to 300 hours of “sweat equity” to help contractors and volunteers build the house. Belair said she was worried at first about helping with the manual labor. “I’m kind of a girly girl,” she said, but “I did do some hammering. I’m not going to lie about that.”
“It’s no small feat,” Cullinan admitted. “Homeowners end up with more skills than I’ll ever have.”
Habitat has built 180 homes across the 15 towns on Cape Cod, ranging in price from $154,750 to $247,000, according to its website. Wellfleet has seven Habitat homes, including the organization’s first on Cape Cod, built on Spring Valley Road in 1989, according to Cullinan. Three more were built on Spring Valley Road in the mid-90s.
Those houses are still owned by their original owners, said Wellfleet Housing Authority chair Elaine McIlroy. “They still work in our community, and their children have grown up in this community,” she said. “When someone who cares about our community gets a home, they stay.”
Lindsey Belair said a lot has changed for her family since they moved in. “Now we finally don’t have to worry about our rent going up or that our landlord is going to have us move out,” she said. “And on top of that, we get to sit on our front porch and say, ‘I helped build this.’ ”
