Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Eastham are in-person, typically with an online-attendance option. Go to eastham-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for details. All meetings are at Town Hall unless otherwise indicated.
Thursday, June 29
- Board of Health, 3 p.m., Earle Mountain Meeting Room
Wednesday, July 5
- Board of Library Trustees, 10 a.m.
Conversation Starter
Tiny Homes
The select board had mixed reactions to a presentation this week from town projects and procurement director Shana Brogan on the potential viability of so-called tiny homes in Eastham. Each unit costs about $60,000, is affixed to a trailer, and uses a water hookup and composting or incinerating toilets, Brogan said.
“It’s not an option for everybody,” she added. “They may only be suitable for one or two people.”
Building tiny homes would require an amendment to the zoning bylaw, which dictates that home construction must be on a permanent foundation, but Brogan mentioned that Nantucket has already implemented something similar.
“When I think of a tiny home, I don’t think of a trailer,” said select board Chair Art Autorino. “I think of a thing that looks like a house, just small. When you say trailer park, people get real nervous,” he added.
“I feel like tiny homes kind of got glamorized by the internet,” said select board member Suzanne Bryan. “I don’t want marginalized people who don’t have any other option to be like, well, I guess this is it.”
Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe responded that tiny homes could work as an alternative for people who were interested in building ADUs but put off by the cost.
“We have to put every tool we have into this toolbox in order to even make a dent in this housing crisis,” Beebe said. —Amelia Roth-Dishy
