Some meetings in Provincetown are in person, some are online, and some are both. Click on the meeting you want to attend on the calendar at provincetown-ma.gov for a link to an agenda with details about the event.
Monday, April 4
- Select Board, 5:30 p.m., Town Hall
- Town Meeting, 6 p.m., Town Hall
Wednesday, April 6
- Historic District Commission, 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 7
- Council on Aging Board, 10 a.m., Veterans Memorial Community Center
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m., Town Hall
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On Monday April 4, the first indoor town meeting since 2019 returns to its historic spot in the Town Hall Auditorium. The last two annual meetings were held outdoors because of the pandemic.
Among the 48 articles before voters are two debt exclusions that exceed the limits of Proposition 2½. Article 6 asks voters to spend $8.5 million on top of the $8.6 million they appropriated in 2017 for a new police station at 16 Jerome Smith Road.
This new building, with the same design and location that failed to win a two-thirds majority in 2019, is not cheap. But at least if it passes the police will be able to move out of the former funeral home where they have been stationed since the 1980s.
The current station is not exactly luxurious. It is plagued by “persistent flooding that threatens health, safety, electrical and emergency systems. Rainwater and oozing sewer liquid enter the below-grade booking area, dog holding-pens, electrical room and unventilated locker rooms,” according to the town meeting booklet.
The new station’s cost per $100,000 of assessed value over the 20-year note is $28, according to the town meeting warrant booklet, which can be found at provincetown-ma.gov.
“The town has invested a significant amount of money over the years towards building a new police facility knowing the longer the project gets delayed, the higher the cost is going to be,” according to the warrant booklet. “The police department has outgrown the current facility and that is not going to change. The town needs a new police headquarters and further delay will only result in higher costs down the road.”
The other big-ticket item is Article 8, seeking $1.8 million to develop Cannery Wharf Park, also known as the East End Waterfront Park. This 387 Commercial St. spot was a crushed-shell parking lot run by Elena Hall, who sold it to the town before her death. Now the open space committee and recreation commission are hoping voters will pay for landscaping and a restroom. Compared to the police station, this new park is a financial walk in the park, with an estimated tax impact of $4 per $100,000 over the course of the 15-year note, according to the town meeting booklet.
If they pass at town meeting, both of these items must be approved again at the Tuesday, May 10 town election. —K.C. Myers
