Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Wellfleet are online only, but some are hybrid with an in-person option. Go to www.wellfleet-ma.gov/calendar and click on the meeting you want to watch, then follow the instructions on the agenda.
Thursday, Aug. 17
- Cable Internet and Cellular Service Advisory Committee, 10 a.m., Town Hall Basement
- Energy and Climate Action Committee, 7:15 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 21
- Nauset Regional School District Budget and Finance Subcommittee, 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 23
- Finance Committee, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 24
- Housing Authority, 10 a.m.
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 7 p.m., Adult Community Center
Conversation Starter
What Makes a Contractor’s Yard?
The zoning board of appeals will once again consider what constitutes a contractor’s yard under the town’s bylaws during a public hearing on Aug. 24.
The issue has been a source of debate for more than two years and is the subject of three court cases, all related to a property at the corner of Route 6 and Old Wharf Road that is owned by Donna and Steve DiGiovanni, operating as the Great White Realty Group. Shortly after purchasing it in January 2021, they cut down most of the trees, removed the topsoil, and began grading it without going to the town for permits.
Paul Fowler, the building inspector at the time, issued a cease-and-desist order. Great White and its attorney, Ben Zehnder, appealed that order, along with the zoning board’s decision to uphold it, in Land Court in 2021.
Meanwhile, Dennis-based GFM Enterprises leased the property and set up a contractor’s yard there.
Zehnder has since filed two more appeals of enforcement actions taken by the zoning board and the building inspector, which have both been merged with the first appeal.
While neighbors vigorously opposed GFM’s operation, they were not part of those Land Court cases, since their interests were aligned with the town’s.
That changed in February, when the town and Great White hammered out a settlement agreement and submitted it to the judge for review. Neighbors complained they were left out of those negotiations, since the discussions were held in closed sessions, and they opposed some of the concessions the town made, such as allowing the contractor to store sand, topsoil, and gravel on the site in large bins and piles up to nine feet high.
After a June court hearing on a request by a group of neighbors to intervene in the case, the judge decided to remand the cases back to the zoning board. —Christine Legere
