TRURO — The Walsh Property Community Planning Committee was enthusiastic about allocating space for trade and other “non-residential” uses at its March 29 meeting, the group’s first in four weeks.
It was also the first session under new co-chairs Eileen Breslin and Kenneth Oxtoby. Former co-chairs Fred Gaechter and Paul Wisotzky stepped down on March 1 after more than two years of service.
At community focus groups on March 20 and 22, participants had advocated for workshop spaces, a food pantry, an early childhood center linked to Truro Central School, artist studios, and a commercial kitchen, among other possibilities.
Committee members wanted as much space as possible for such uses without taking away from the future housing development that is the group’s priority for the 70-acre site. The committee voted in January to set 252 units of housing as an “interim number” for traffic and water studies, all of which would go on 28.5 acres of developable land at the southwest edge of the property.
The committee’s consultants, Carole Ridley and Sharon Rooney of Tighe & Bond, brought two options to the March 29 meeting: one for 12,500 feet of commercial or non-residential space, and one for 20,000.
Committee members wanted more.
“I am a firm believer that economic development drives everything,” said Russell Braun. “Yes, housing is an important part of economic development, but I believe that 20,000 square feet of commercial space could get absorbed in this town in a heartbeat. I would start there.”
“Can we do this and still have space for the housing that we talked about?” alternate member Jeffrey Fischer asked. “I’m concerned about squeezing out the housing to fit in other things that I don’t think are as important.”
“I’ve come around from what I’ve heard from the community on the issue of small trade spaces for folks living there,” said alternate member Raphael Richter, who had previously opposed commercial development as a distraction from housing. “I think it’s very important that those spaces be tied to folks living there and not occupied by outside entities,” he said.
Committee member Morgan Clark pushed back against restricting the non-residential spaces to Walsh property residents, saying the entire community should have a chance to use them.
Clark suggested 40,000 square feet for non-residential space, but “never at the cost of eliminating housing.” She advocated for two larger areas — an early childhood center and a community kitchen or grocery store — in addition to smaller office and trade spaces.
The committee eventually came to consensus on 40,000 square feet, and Ridley said that would be factored into further iterations of the master plan.
During the discussion of commercial uses, member Christine Markowski expressed concerns about housing density.
“You’re taking our most vulnerable people and stacking them up like books we’ve already read,” Markowski said. “They deserve individual homes where they can have a barbecue, a garden, a pet, and swings for their kids,” she said, adding, “This just feels like white privilege to me, not equity.”
Markowski has frequently spoken out against larger numbers of housing units at the Walsh property. She was one of three members who voted against the interim number of 252 units in January, saying it “would change the entire complexion of this town.”
Braun countered Markowski’s statements. “As a retired real estate developer and architect who has had experience developing ‘big A’ and ‘little a’ affordable housing, I can point out a project that I was involved in with 284 units of housing on roughly the same area,” he said. “If I showed it to you, you would think, ‘This has got more open space and places for gardens, swing sets, and barbecues than most of the places we live in here.’
“You can’t bring your own visualization to this process,” Braun continued. “There are ways of doing these things that are going to provide all the amenities that people are looking for, and I’m talking about people that are vulnerable. We can do this on this parcel. I strongly believe that.”
The 252 units on 28.5 acres would be about nine units per acre — slightly less than the recently funded Cloverleaf project 1.5 miles to the north, which has 39 units on 3.9 acres or 10 units per acre. The Cloverleaf project was hotly contested for years, and its density was a target for some critics, but the project was funded by the state last December and construction should begin this summer.
An End in Sight
The consultants also gave the committee a work plan that outlines steps to be taken to have a final master plan in time for a fall special town meeting, which according to the work plan, would be in November.
This raised committee members’ concerns.
“There’s a crisis in the community, and our pace needs to reflect that,” Richter said. He advocated that the committee seek to have a master plan ready by the end of September at the latest.
Other members echoed the need for a faster pace.
“The more time we give ourselves, we’re just going to fill it up,” Gaechter said. “I think we ought to be as aggressive as we can and expect that the town meeting is going to be September or October.”
Rooney said the Local Comprehensive Planning Committee, which also has a contract with Tighe & Bond, is aiming to be ready by October. “September is probably unrealistic for them,” Rooney said.
