TRURO — Planning board incumbent Paul Kiernan is in his 20th year on the board — from 1992 to 2002, then again starting in 2015. He sees himself as an experienced, pragmatic candidate whose goal is “not to lead but to serve.”
“If someone comes to the planning board with a project that is number one, safe, and number two, meets the minimum standard of the letter of the law, they get my vote,” he says. “I do my best to be as fair as possible.”
Kiernan was one of three board members who voted against recommending a zoning overlay on the town-owned Walsh property. The board narrowly endorsed the overlay, which was approved at town meeting. Kiernan questioned the 10-foot minimum distance between buildings on the same lot, access to the low-density subdistrict, and the possible adverse effects of the development’s wastewater, and he was skeptical of other officials’ assurances that construction wouldn’t occur on the property until those issues had been resolved.
Kiernan had voiced similar concerns about the Cloverleaf development in 2019, questioning the board of health’s decisions and asking the town to be “proactive in avoiding potential issues, instead of treating them retroactively.”
“It’s a serious question,” he says. “Once you screw the water up, you’re done. We have to take a comprehensive view so that we know exactly what we’re dealing with. That’s, I believe, the right way to do it.”
Kiernan says that one of the biggest challenges facing Truro today is increased property taxes, driven by a combination of skyrocketing assessed values and expensive town projects. He says that these issues especially affect retirees living on fixed incomes.
“The people who have worked here and volunteered their time are being pushed out by the thought that we need more this, and we need more that,” he says.
The “this and that,” Kiernan says, includes expensive projects like housing developments and sewage treatment plants. He worries that the latter will be necessary for the former to comply with state regulations, at least at the Walsh site.
Kiernan says that the nationwide housing crisis has a simpler explanation than rising property taxes: people having kids. “They’re making a lot more people, and they’re not making any more land,” he says.
When it comes to affordable housing in Truro, Kiernan worries that new residents might not be able to find work to pay for their homes and that Truro could become a “bedroom community” for neighboring towns.
“The largest year-round employer in Truro is the town of Truro, and I don’t know whether we have 160 employees,” he says, alluding to the 160 units proposed by the Walsh Property Planning Committee in 2023. “If you have somebody required to pay year-round rent, where do they work? They can’t make enough money holding one or even two jobs in Truro in four months in the summer.”
Kiernan says he would prefer to wait for expert analysis rather than act quickly on new projects. “I can guarantee you, things are going to get worse,” he says. “If you end up with a problem that you can’t fix, you will say in hindsight, ‘Well, maybe we should have waited.’ ”
