Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Eastham are in-person, typically with an online-attendance option for both committee members and residents. Go to eastham-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for details. All meetings at Town Hall unless otherwise indicated.
Thursday, April 6
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 5 p.m.
- Climate Action Committee, 6 p.m., Eastham Public Library
Monday, April 10
- Search Committee, 10:15 a.m.
Tuesday, April 11
- Conservation Commission onsite meeting, 8:15 a.m. (begins at Town Hall)
- Task Force on Residential Zoning, 4:30 p.m.
- Conservation Commission, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starter
Rooms Tax for Wastewater
Article 3D on Eastham’s town warrant this year will be a $6.95-million debt exclusion for the design, engineering, and permitting of a new sewer system for the Salt Pond watershed, as well as pond remediation and other stormwater upgrades.
Unlike most debt exclusions, however, this will be repaid in only five years, and will be paid entirely from the town’s short-term rental tax receipts, rather than with an increase in property taxes.
Wastewater upgrades are “a legal imperative due to the 2014 lawsuit by the Conservation Law Foundation,” according to the select board’s written report for town meeting, “and to avoid the new DEP regulations to update all Title 5 systems in nitrogen sensitive areas in five years.
“This will give us a 20-year window to solve the problem in a way that best fits our community,” the select board wrote. Securing a watershed permit from the state means that Eastham will have permission to “implement our plan, our way.” —Paul Benson
