Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Provincetown are held in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you want to attend on the calendar at provincetown-ma.gov for a link to an agenda and details. All meetings are at Town Hall unless otherwise noted.
Thursday, March 21
- Charter Compliance Commission, 1 p.m.
- Board of Health, 4 p.m.
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m.
Sunday, March 24
- Select Board, 9 a.m., Fire Station, 25 Shank Painter Road
Monday, March 25
- Select Board, 6 p.m.
Tuesday, March 26
- Art Commission, 3 p.m.
- Licensing Board, 5:15 p.m.
Wednesday, March 27
- Harbor Committee, 2 p.m.
Thursday, March 28
- Planning Board, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starters
B.Y.O. Compost
Town residents with a transfer station sticker can now drop off food scraps for composting.
Brown paper double bags and green compostable bags are both acceptable and can be filled with most kinds of food waste as well as coffee grounds and food-soiled paper products. Yard waste and pet waste are not accepted.
Residents can also “dump food contents directly into the collection bin at the transfer station,” skipping the compostable bag.
The scraps will be collected by a contractor and turned into nutrient-rich compost that will eventually find its way onto agricultural land.
Lease to Locals
Provincetown’s effort to create more year-round rental housing by inducing homeowners to become landlords has now officially begun.
The “Lease to Locals” program, administered by the California-based company Placemate.com, aims to support homeowners with tenant selection and also subsidize their move into the long-term rental market. A $348,500 allocation from the town’s housing fund, which is itself funded by short-term rental taxes, will pay landlords $6,000 per “qualifying tenant,” up to $20,000 per year.
Qualifying tenants must be unrelated to the landlord and work for a company that is located on the Outer Cape or serves people who live there. People who serve on town boards, artists, disabled people, and others who “contribute to the community” may also be qualifying tenants, according to Assistant Town Manager Dan Riviello.
Both tenants and property owners can email [email protected] or visit the company’s website at placemate.com/provincetown-waitlist to apply.
Rental Assistance
The town has updated its rental assistance program by raising the eligibility threshold to 100 percent of area median income, which is $87,010 for one person and $99,440 for two. (The program uses a definition of median income that is related to the Community Preservation Act rather than the standard federally defined area median income for the county.)
Rental assistance lasts for 18 months on initial approval and may continue for up to three years. The maximum rental support amount is $400 per month, and there are caps on how much landlords can charge to tenants who participate in the program.
More information can be found by searching the town’s website for “rental assistance 2024.” —Paul Benson
