Meetings Ahead
Most meetings are being held in person, but some are still remote or virtual. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on the meeting you are interested in to learn about meeting locations and any remote options that may be offered.
Thursday, May 26
- Council on Aging Board, 9 a.m., Town Hall
- Board of Health, 3 p.m., Town Hall
Friday, May 27
- Search Committee, 3 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Master Planning
The second public meeting to discuss a master plan to redevelop three large town-owned properties will be held on Wednesday, June 8 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the public library.
Those who attend will have a chance to offer ideas to help shape requests for proposals that will eventually go out to developers. The three properties are the former golf driving range known as T-Time at 4790 Route 6, the Town Center Plaza at 4550 Route 6, and the Council on Aging at 1405 Nauset Road.
The overall concept is to use all these properties to create a series of walkable, mixed-use village centers and make Eastham a more pedestrian-friendly community. The T-Time Development Committee has spent more than two years planning a vision for these sites. It presented its final recommendations to the select board in December 2021. Now it’s your turn to get involved. —K.C. Myers
School Committee on Staff Housing
Though teachers earn an average of $84,589 per year in the Nauset schools, housing costs are too high for them to buy into the market here. So, at the May 12 meeting of the Nauset Regional School Committee, members decided to form a subcommittee on staff housing.
As things stand, explained high school Principal Chris Ellsasser, many of the teachers in the district are retirees pursuing a second career. They can afford to do so because they already have a house on the Cape. Too often, Ellsasser said, “promising young job candidates withdraw from the interview process once they learn that finding a house is impossible.” Without affordable housing, the Nauset district cannot reach its goal of having a teaching staff that reflects the diversity of the student population, he said.
Chair Chris Easley suggested that the subcommittee might partner with each town’s affordable housing activists with the goal of setting aside a percentage of new affordable housing for teachers. They might also partner with police and fire depts. to define a public service carve-out as well. The school district could also consider ways to subsidize or purchase affordable housing itself, Easley said.
Easley told the Independent that the subcommittee will be formed at the next meeting. He said he hopes that a member of an affordable housing group or committee from each Nauset town (Wellfleet, Eastham, Orleans, and Brewster) can be a part of the group, or at least participate in the initial discussions. —Tom Recchio
