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affordable housing

    HOUSING

    Inventory of Subsidized Units Falls Across Outer Cape

    Changes in overall unit count caused the share of affordable units to drop

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — All four Outer Cape towns have recently seen a decrease in the state’s subsidized housing inventory, or SHI, which measures how much of a community’s year-round residential housing is affordable.

    The official target is for each town to have 10 percent of its housing be affordable for people making less than 80 percent of the median household income there. Some towns, including Amherst, Cambridge, and Chelsea, have exceeded that target; about three dozen very small towns have no affordable units at all.

    On the Outer Cape, Provincetown was close to the target, with 9.7 percent in 2020. Truro was at 2.3 percent in 2020, Wellfleet at 2.5 percent, and Eastham at 4.5 percent.

    Those percentages all fell when the 2023 numbers were released. Provincetown’s affordable inventory now stands at 8 percent of the total; Truro is at 1.9 percent; Wellfleet at 2.0 percent, and Eastham at 3.7 percent.

    According to Laura Shufelt, director of community assistance at the Mass. Housing Partnership, this is because new market-rate housing has been coming online at a faster clip than new affordable housing, causing the percentage of affordable units to decline even when their absolute number hasn’t changed much.

    “Any increase in the bottom line without an equal increase in affordable housing will not keep the SHI number stable,” Shufelt said. “You have to be willing to do big projects that are all affordable in order to make any real progress. You have to outpace the market development.”

    When Restrictions Expire

    The decline is not only about the faster pace of market-rate development. A few affordable units have actually been lost.

    According to Eastham Housing Coordinator Rachel Butler, the inventory of affordable units there went from 119 in 2020 to 116 in 2023, largely because deed restrictions on five units at Gull Cottages expired.

    Provincetown has also seen a handful of affordability restrictions expire over the years, according to Deputy Housing Director Mackenzie Perry. Before the early 2010s, many affordability restrictions lasted only 40 years, Perry said, whereas most new restrictions are in force “in perpetuity.”

    Provincetown’s current SHI inventory includes 66 units with deed restrictions that will expire, with the soonest coming due in 2031 and the restrictions at 40A Nelson Ave. lasting until 2103.

    Many of those properties are owned by the Provincetown Housing Authority or nonprofits such as the Community Development Partnership and are unlikely to become market-rate units when their restrictions expire.

    Five units at 27A Conwell St. are owned by Community Housing Resource, a for-profit company, and have restrictions that will expire in 2037, however.

    One affordable ownership unit in Truro had a deed restriction that expired in 2019, according to that town’s 2020 SHI list. The rest of Truro’s units are deed-restricted in perpetuity. Ninety-five of Eastham’s 116 units have perpetual deed restrictions.

    Wellfleet did not provide the Independent with a list of its affordable units, but according to housing authority chair Elaine McIlroy, the falling percentage of affordable units there was not caused by expiring deed restrictions.

    Data Issues

    According to Shufelt, the state’s SHI formula helps explain recent changes.

    The 2023 SHI is the first to use measurements from the 2020 U.S. Census as the baseline count for “occupied housing units,” Shufelt said. A lot of people moved into vacation homes during the pandemic. Provincetown’s “occupied housing” number increased by 380 units in the 2020 census; Truro’s went up by 243, Wellfleet’s by 419, and Eastham’s by 524.

    These occupancy changes affected the SHI numbers because the state does not count seasonally occupied homes — the majority of residential properties in all four Outer Cape towns — when calculating what percentage of a town’s homes should be affordable.

    The U.S. Census considers homes reserved “for seasonal, recreational, or occasional use” to be “vacant,” and the state excludes vacant homes from its SHI formula.

    In fact, according to the formula, every time a year-round home becomes a seasonal or vacation home, the number of affordable units that town needs to reach the state’s affordability target goes down.

    The SHI formula was defined in 1968 and does not represent the housing needs of resort communities well, Shufelt told the Independent last year.

    In some communities, the SHI tally also counts many units that are not actually affordable but were built through the state’s Chapter 40B, which allows developments that are at least 25 percent affordable to access a special path through permitting.

    Every rental unit in a 40B development counts toward a town’s SHI percentage, even the market-rate rentals, according to Jennifer Gilbert, executive director of the nonprofit Mass. Housing Navigator.

    “We have to get more clear on what it means when we say ‘affordable,’ ” Gilbert told the Independent. “When people look to see if we have our 10 percent, they aren’t really looking at what is being counted.”

    The SHI was invented to decide a relatively narrow question, according to Shufelt: who will decide on appeals to 40B development permits. Those permits are contested in Land Court if a town has an SHI above 10 percent and in a state Housing Appeals Committee if it is below 10 percent, according to the 1968 law.

    One consequence of focusing too heavily on SHI, Gilbert said, is that a town may lose its path for streamlined 40B appeals before it has actually addressed its housing challenges.

    “There is a difference between achieving your 10 percent goal and creating enough affordable housing for your community,” Gilbert said.

    MASTER PLAN

    In Eastham, Housing Plan Must Wait Until 2035

    As the number of affordable units shrinks, the town has no near-term strategy

    By

    EASTHAM — It has been five years since the town bought the 11-acre T-Time property for housing and commercial development. During that time, a nine-person committee spent four years gathering community input and developing recommendations for the site with help from outside consultants. But it may be another decade before any of those plans are realized.

    Meanwhile, the town’s affordable housing inventory has been shrinking. According to recent data from the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, 3.7 percent of the housing units in Eastham are affordable, far short of the state’s goal of 10 percent. That number is down from the 4.5 percent reported in 2020.

    It’s the question of wastewater that’s slowing progress on the housing front, according to Town Manager Jacqui Beebe.

    In a presentation to the select board on July 22, Beebe described the need to get the town’s wastewater management plans underway for the entire North Eastham Village Center Master Plan — a project that would turn a chunk of North Eastham into a walkable village center — before developers can propose appropriate housing at the T-Time site.

    The timeline Beebe presented at the meeting foresees the completion of a municipal sewer by 2029 and includes plans for three sets of apartments to be completed between 2032 and 2035.

    “I know there is a desire to see the housing part move along faster, but we can’t do that until we get wastewater going,” Beebe told the Independent.

    The North Eastham Master Plan encompasses several large infrastructure projects that include redeveloping three sites for housing, creating a commercial and community town center, and building a centralized wastewater treatment system for all of it plus a new “Main Street” roadway from Brackett Road to the T-Time property — a project being developed by Environmental Partners Group.

    The plan’s beginnings came when the town purchased the former T-Time driving range for $1.6 million in 2019. Two years later, the town purchased the 3.5-acre Town Center Plaza and soon after that began evaluating the former Council on Aging property at 1405 Nauset Road for additional housing.

    Housing is part of the vision at each location, with 40 units suggested for T-Time, 30 units at the Town Center Plaza, and 12 at the former COA. A 25,000-square-foot community center as well as retail space, community gardens, bike and pedestrian trails, a playground, and — if survey dreams are included, possibly even a municipal swimming pool — are on the list for the T-Time site.

    Eastham’s 2021 housing production plan identified an affordable housing shortage of 575 units, including 380 ownership units and 195 rental units — a total that’s seven times the number the North Eastham Master Plan would provide.

    “These are units that were needed a year or two ago when the housing production plan was done,” said Jay Coburn, CEO of the Community Development Partnership. “What is the town’s plan for providing the housing that is needed now? Will there be anybody left living year-round in Eastham or on the Outer Cape by 2035?”

    There’s a long way to go on the wastewater plan. The town voted in 2023 to allocate $6 million for design and engineering to bring sewerage along the Route 6 corridor in North Eastham as well as to Salt Pond to the south. A joint plan with Orleans for centralized treatment for properties in South Eastham is also underway.

    Design and engineering have been progressing for a year, Beebe said, and funding for wastewater treatment construction will likely come before voters next spring. But Beebe would not name a price for that work, citing the wide range of costs the project could incur. According to the executive summary of the Targeted Watershed Management Plan, estimates of the cost of the system’s construction, including a contingency, range from $107 million to $132 million.

    Beebe noted that there are many external funding sources for municipal wastewater treatment projects, including zero-percent-interest loans from the state’s revolving fund as well as a 25-percent subsidy from the Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund. Still, she said, an estimated 50 percent of the funding could come from the tax levy.

    Construction on wastewater would then begin in 2026 and go through 2029, the timeline showed.

    Once funding for wastewater is secured, “only then could we even think about releasing a housing RFP,” Beebe told the board. Beebe cited Wellfleet’s affordable housing project at 95 Lawrence Road, which won state funding only after it secured funding for a wastewater treatment facility there.

    The Lawrence Road project is being overseen by the Community Development Partnership and Cambridge-based Preservation of Affordable Housing. The CDP’s Coburn agreed that housing hinges on wastewater. “In order to build housing at the scale we need it and in a manner that is financially sustainable, there has got to be density,” he said. “Density requires there to be wastewater treatment.”

    But, he added, “You kind of need to walk and chew gum at the same time.”

    According to Beebe’s master plan timeline, a request for proposals at T-Time and Town Center Plaza will be issued in 2026.

    The town could build housing at T-Time without investing in wastewater management, Beebe said, but that would drastically reduce the number of units that could be built.

    Another reason why Beebe has spread out the timeline of the project is to spread out the funding requests to be brought before voters each year. The town is still paying off the debt from installing its municipal water system, a 10-year project that asked for a total of $130 million from voters in 2014 and 2015.

    “We are still paying for water, so we have to pace the beginning of our funding plans with the reduction of our water debt,” Beebe said.

    The town is also contracting help from Brovitz Community Planning and Dodson & Flinker Landscape Architecture & Planning for a zoning overhaul that would allow for higher density housing and commercial property in the new village center. Zoning amendments could come before voters in the spring.

    Depending on the votes on wastewater and zoning, a lot is subject to change, Beebe said. So, although the T-Time Development Committee worked for four years to put together the draft plan it presented in March 2023, which included housing type and density, none of that is set in stone.

    Instead, a decade after the T-Time purchase, that committee’s effort would be revisited: “Once we have our ducks in a row in terms of wastewater,” Beebe said, “then we can go back and look. How many units do we want? What kinds of units do we want? Do want them to be workforce? Do we want them to be affordable?”

    HOUSING

    Harbor Hill Apartments Will Not Be Sold — for Now

    A year-long effort to find a buyer is thwarted by a taxability detail

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — The 28 apartments in the former timeshare complex at Harbor Hill will not be sold by the town — at least for now.

    Eugene Zhukau, an arborist and landscaper, in front of the Harbor Hill complex where he lives. (Photo by Paul Benson)

    That’s the decision reached earlier this summer by the trustees of the Year-Round Market-Rate Rental Housing Trust after a year-long exploration of how to structure the sale.

    Trust chair Austin Miller, who is also a select board member, told the board on June 10 that the trust’s decision came after the town’s bond counsel pointed out an issue with the bonds that financed the purchase in 2017.

    “Because they are nontaxable municipal bonds related to community housing, if the housing were sold, the bonds would become taxable,” he said. The bonds can’t be repaid until June 2027. If the sale didn’t fully cover the outstanding debt, the town would have to allocate more money to pay them off — or reissue them as taxable bonds.

    “This could all come up again in 2027, but it makes very little sense to sell the property prior to that,” Miller told the Independent.

    Not the Usual Affordable Housing

    The trust and the apartments it manages at Harbor Hill represent one of Provincetown’s most unusual efforts to respond to the housing crisis.

    The complex is fully occupied — as of December, there were 46 adults, 8 children, 12 dogs, and 3 cats living there — but because there is almost no state or federal money available for median-income rental housing, the town has borne the costs of the purchase and of maintenance and management on its own.

    Voters endorsed $10.7 million in borrowing to buy the apartments in 2017. Town meeting authorized $310,000 for roof replacement in April 2023, and more maintenance spending is ahead, according to Miller — about a million dollars for exterior walls is next on the list.

    To avoid saddling townspeople with further costs, the trust began researching the possibility of selling the property last August and chose John Ciluzzi of Premier Commercial as its broker in April.

    The idea, Miller said, was to deed-restrict the property to preserve its current mission: year-round rentals for people who earn too much to qualify for state-subsidized affordable housing but who still struggle to find a secure home in Provincetown. Year-round rentals have all but disappeared here, and the median single-family house price in 2023 was over $2 million, according to the Cape Cod and Islands Association of Realtors.

    The trust’s charter is to address the housing needs of people who earn between 80 and 200 percent of the county’s median income; 80 percent of the median is $70,950 for a one-person household or $81,050 for two people, while the 200-percent threshold is $177,400 for one person and $202,700 for two people.

    In preparing to advertise the complex, the trust wanted to leave the specifics of price and deed restriction as negotiables, Miller said — including whether the apartments should be limited to people in certain income brackets or how quickly a new owner would be allowed to raise rents on current tenants.

    How to do that was what they hoped to discuss with Ciluzzi, Miller said: “What are the potential trade-offs between the public purpose of the project and avoiding displacement of current tenants versus how the town can recover its investment and redeploy those funds.”

    Those trade-offs could have been measured in millions of dollars, as strong deed restrictions would likely depress the price buyers might have offered.

    Bringing Management in-House

    The decision to explore a sale had partly come about because the town has had trouble arranging for property management services at Harbor Hill.

    The nonprofit Community Development Partnership was the only bidder on the town’s first request for services in 2018, and nobody bid when the town put out a new request in 2021, said CDP CEO Jay Coburn.

    The CDP’s contract was extended under its original terms several times, but in August that agreement will end, and the town’s newly expanded housing office will handle Harbor Hill’s waitlist and income certifications. The town will seek bidders for a maintenance-only contract soon, Miller said.

    Kristin Hatch, who has been the part-time executive director of the Provincetown Housing Authority since 2018, was hired for a part-time position supporting the trust and the housing office in March. Like Rachel Butler, who was hired by Eastham to help manage that town’s affordable housing, Hatch has years of experience with the arcana of income certification and procurement law.

    “I called Rachel shortly after I was hired, and she said that Eastham had taken property management in-house and was also using rental income from the town-owned units to help pay the salary of a new person in their DPW who does maintenance at their properties,” Hatch said.

    “I think it would take time to do something like that, and we need to go out for proposals for maintenance right now,” she said. “But I do think in-house work is like paying a wholesale price while going out to bid is like paying the retail price.”

    Coburn said that there are risks to towns that go into the property management business, particularly when key people retire. The nonprofit Preservation of Affordable Housing has 30 staffers doing property management on Cape Cod, he said. “There’s redundancy there, a deep bench of people,” which Provincetown and Eastham won’t have, Coburn said.

    THE TALK IN TRURO

    In Winter’s Civics Vortex, Reviewing a Meeting That Might Have Been

    Voters talk about their reactions to a special town meeting that was postponed

    By

    TRURO — The buzz about the special town meeting was not put off until May 4 — even if the meeting itself was. Debate over its two most controversial subjects, a new dept. of public works facility and the development of affordable housing at the Walsh property, has continued, eddying on Facebook and in real life.

    In this town where the post office serves as a kind of town center, a reporter stationed herself there for several hours on Friday, Jan. 19 and Monday, Jan. 29, hoping to tap into this winter’s civic vortex by asking those who came in for their letters and packages what they thought might have happened at the special town meeting if it had taken place in the fall.

    Of the 13 people interviewed, most said they had gone to the Nov. 28 meeting. They wanted to weigh in on plans for the Walsh property and the DPW facility.

    (Initially scheduled for Oct. 21, the meeting was postponed several times, with a fourth and final continuance on Nov. 28 after more than 700 voters turned out — a number beyond the capacity of the spaces at the Truro Central School.)

    Though they offered varied reasons for their guesses, and would have voted differently from one another, most said they thought the Walsh proposal would likely have been approved, while the $35-million proposal for the DPW was destined to be defeated.

    Parameters for development on a portion of the 70-acre Walsh property, which has been in the works since the town bought the land in 2019, comprise three of the meeting warrant’s 15 articles.

    Those 15 special town meeting articles will, come May 4, be considered back-to-back with the new items on the town’s annual town meeting warrant.

    The first of the Walsh articles proposes adoption of 18 recommendations put forward by the Walsh Property Community Planning Committee and consultants. If that resolution passes, the town will use it as a guide for soliciting proposals from developers on construction of affordable housing, asking them to meet the goal of building up to 160 housing units on 28 acres — a number significantly reduced from the committee’s earlier plans.

    A second article calls for the establishment of a six-member ad hoc advisory committee to act as liaison between town officials and the community as development plans get underway. A similar petitioned article is also on the warrant.

    The DPW is the subject of four articles up for consideration: one that would authorize the use of 340 Route 6 — next to the police and fire station — as the site of the new facility, and two mutually exclusive articles for the appropriation of either $35 million or $3.5 million for the project. The larger sum would fund the entire project from engineering through construction; the smaller amount would cover engineering only. There is also a petitioned article aiming to have the existing Town Hall Road facility refurbished according to a plan put forward by a group of volunteers.

    Of the $35-million DPW proposal, “People don’t want to spend that money,” said artist Diane Messinger, who had arrived at the November meeting an hour early and was among the 523 voters who made it inside the school building.

    Apryl Shenk, who is coordinator of the town’s community preservation committee, agreed that the ambitious DPW plan wouldn’t pass muster with voters, though for her the reason was evident before a price tag was attached: “People in town don’t feel the relocation is a necessary change,” said Shenk. “The DPW is a big one and I feel that a lot of people want to go with the existing location.” She cited worry about “detriment to the environment of creating a new space.”

    Truro’s DPW director, Jarrod Cabral, has said the current facility at 17 Town Hall Road is no longer meeting the DPW’s needs.

    “My feeling based on what I heard is the DPW project is a bit too rich,” said Martha Magane, a Truro Public Library trustee who will count votes this spring, as she has for the past six years.

    Of the Walsh property, Magane said it seemed to her that affordable housing “is up there in terms of importance” for people. She wondered, though, if that view held beyond her circle of friends.

    The post office crowd concurred. “The local population showed up and seemed to be very in favor of affordable housing,” said Tim Dickey, a builder and musician. He was among the 200 people waiting outside in the cold when the meeting got postponed. Dickey, who said he showed up specifically to vote in favor of housing development, went to grade school in Truro in the early 1960s.

    “I think there’s a lot of grassroots support for keeping the town viable,” Dickey said. Otherwise, he said, “no one’s going to be able to get anything done.”

    Robert Ross, a retired medical writer who said he made it inside the gymnasium just as the postponement vote was taking place, was hoping to raise his card in support of the Walsh property housing plan — and was expecting to be among the majority.

    “I think that Truro should be a functioning town,” he said. “To live in the town, you need to have housing for people who work in the town. We need teachers to be able to live here.”

    Ross identified himself as “on the side of young people, working people, and we need more of them.”

    Ross had also been planning to vote yes on the more expensive DPW article, though with less certainty. “I’m agnostic on the issue of the DPW,” he said, “but we have to support the government, because otherwise what are we?”

    Messinger thought the Walsh article “might have passed by a slim majority,” though she herself was planning to vote against it. She said she thought that the development at the Cloverleaf in North Truro, now projected to include 43 units, should be enough new housing for the town. She said she could envision a “much smaller” development on the Walsh property.

    Messinger said she doesn’t like it that her being opposed to the Walsh project makes people think she’s against affordable housing. “It’s important to listen to the housing people,” she said. “They have some reasonable thoughts.” She named Betty Gallo, a Walsh committee member who favors the development plan, as someone whose views she holds in high regard.

    Four people interviewed by the Independent who would not give their names said they were against the Walsh development article.

    Donna Turley, an attorney who works on Land Court cases, said she thought the Walsh article was unlikely to pass, given the amount of opposition she’d heard, though she said she’s in favor of it. Like most others, Turley was confident that the $35 million allocation for a new DPW facility wouldn’t pass, though she was going to vote yes.

    Jo Citron, a retired attorney and Wellesley College professor, said inadequate information on both of the big questions in the leadup to the special town meeting was an issue. “I think that the town did a terrible job explaining, publicizing, and rationalizing the reasons for what they wanted,” she said of the siting and plan for the new DPW.

    Citron said she was going to vote against the Walsh article because, without enough information, she was left with “too many questions.”

    Take Back Truro, which describes itself as a “citizens’ movement” whose goals include “keeping Truro rural” did not fill the information gap, Citron said, because she thought the group was “deliberately vague about its origins and agenda. I think their efforts created a lot of dissension.”

    Nor did she feel she could look to the Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers Association for clarity.

    “As a long-time member of TPRTA before I moved here full-time, I think it was outrageous for them to urge people to vote knowing, as they must have done, that it was unlawful,” Citron said. “I think that, more than anything else, created confusion, dissension, and bad feeling.”

    Ross and Shenk also raised concerns about the spread of misinformation. When it comes to opinions about the Walsh plans, “conjecture and hearsay are a big part of the problem,” Shenk said.

    Shenk, who declined to say how she would have voted, grew up in Provincetown. “I’ve always said if I were to write a book about growing up in Provincetown, I was going to call it ‘The Grapevine’ because of how word travels,” she said — adding that “word” is not always news. Sometimes, she said, it’s just “assumption.”

    For Eben Tsapis, Tuesday, Nov. 28 was a work night, so he couldn’t make it out to brave the line outside the school. He hopes May will be a different story.

    “I think the youthful generations need to step up,” he said. “We’re either going to be pushed out or make room for ourselves.”

    AFFORDABLE HOUSING

    Truro’s Cloverleaf Faces up to $7M Funding Shortfall

    Developer asks to increase the number of units from 39 to 43

    By

    TRURO — Construction at the Cloverleaf project at 22 Highland Road has yet to begin, seven years after the state transferred the 3.9-acre property to the town specifically for affordable housing. The development’s total cost is now projected to be $27 million to $28 million, leaving the project with a funding shortfall of between $4 million and $7 million, according to developer Ted Malone.

    A schematic drawing of the Cloverleaf project showing 13 buildings with 39 units. Developer Ted Malone proposes increasing the number of units to 43. (Image courtesy Town of Truro)

    In December 2022, when the project received more than $16 million from the state Dept. of Housing and Community Development, construction was expected to begin in summer 2023.

    Several factors contributing to the delay, Malone said, include increased construction costs and the effect of higher interest rates on the developer’s borrowing ability.

    “The impact of interest rates getting up to 6, 7, 8 percent reduces the amount that we can borrow with the same amount of cash flow that the development has,” Malone said. He is the founder and president of Community Housing Resource of Provincetown, the developer of numerous affordable housing projects on the Outer Cape, including Sally’s Way in Truro.

    Construction costs first shot up because of supply-chain hitches during Covid, but there was hope that they would drop again, he said. That didn’t happen. “What we had hoped would return to normal has just been increased construction costs even though the supply is fine,” Malone said.

    Costs have also risen because Truro is so remote, he added. “Funding sources don’t consider our costs to construct to be as high as in metro Boston,” though that’s not accurate, he said. Malone pointed specifically to the qualified allocation plan for the low-income housing tax credit program released by the Mass. Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. Finding workers and large contractors is an obstacle on the Outer Cape, he said.

    According to the comprehensive permit issued by the zoning board of appeals, the Cloverleaf development’s 39 units will serve a mixed-income community, with tiered median income restrictions of 30, 60, and 100 percent. The project as approved would include 12 duplexes with a total of 24 units and a 15-unit apartment building. There would be a combination of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments.

    But on Tuesday Malone said he had submitted a request to the ZBA for a small increase in the number of units, from 39 to 43. The development’s footprint and the total number of bedrooms wouldn’t change, said Malone. Rather, four of the planned three-bedroom units would be split into one- and two-bedroom units.

    That modification would not only better meet the need on the Cape, where there is less demand for three-bedroom units, he said, but may also help with securing additional funding. “All of these units would have to be in the lower income tier to get the subsidy resources that we want,” said Malone.

    The developer is asking the ZBA to consider the alteration “an insubstantial change,” which the board can decide “within the context of their original approval,” Malone said. If that request is denied, the ZBA will have to hold a public hearing on the change.

    Plans for wastewater treatment and stormwater drainage will not change, according to Malone. “All of that has got to stay the way it is because that had rigorous review,” he said.

    About a year ago, the project received $1.3 million in ARPA funds, Malone said. “That helped, but costs have continued to go up since then.”

    Community Housing Resource is newly working with the Waltham-based contractor Delphi Construction. Malone said they are in the process of “value engineering, trying to make the construction more efficient, less expensive, finding areas where maybe we can save.” The proposed shift in the number of units is part of that process.

    “Cloverleaf is a case study in why small-scale mixed-income housing development is so challenging to realize,” said state Sen. Julian Cyr. “It is incredibly disheartening that the state transferred this parcel to Truro seven years ago and not a shovel has gone into the ground.”

    Malone hopes he won’t have to wait until town meeting in May to secure more funds because that would further delay construction. But it’s unclear whether there is more money available from the town’s Affordable Housing Trust, he said, and funds are scarce at the county level. There are also possible state avenues, like the Rural and Small Town Development Fund, whose grants might help with “the hard costs of infrastructure,” Malone said.

    Town Manager Darrin Tangeman said he has been working since December to schedule a meeting with Cyr, state Rep. Sarah Peake, and Malone to discuss funding possibilities. The meeting is likely to take place on Jan. 29, Tangeman said Tuesday.

    “To date, the town of Truro has not had to spend a significant amount of money to realize Cloverleaf, aside from legal fees related to frivolous lawsuits that were thrown out of court,” said Cyr. To realize future small or medium-size mixed-income developments, he said, “Truro may need to follow the example of Provincetown, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard towns that have made direct appropriations in the budget to subsidize housing.”

    The waiting list for the 16 units at Sally’s Way currently has about 200 people on it, according to Kevin Grunwald, chair of the Truro Housing Authority. That’s a “ballpark” number, he noted.

    Tangeman feels the urgent need for housing in his town hall office.

    “I’m seeing the challenges of recruiting town employees due to the lack of affordable or even workforce housing in Truro and in the region,” he said, mentioning the shortage of health-care workers as well. The struggle to recruit workers “is playing a role in my support” for the Cloverleaf project, he added.

    Malone is hoping to see sufficient funds committed by August, with shovels in the ground by September. Construction is currently projected to take 22 months, he said.

    “I’ve been such a big fan of having at-scale development at Walsh and other parcels across the region because we can maximize state and federal resources that are available,” Cyr said. “Even once we cut the ribbon on Cloverleaf, we’ll still have a major housing crisis here.”

    AFFORDABLE HOUSING

    Two Small Housing Projects Make Slow Progress

    Properties bought by the town 18 months ago need at least another year

    By

    EASTHAM — It will be at least another year before two properties the town voted to buy in May 2022 and convert into affordable housing will be ready for tenants, said Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe. The drawn-out and costly process of renovation to create what will likely be six units in this case illustrates how small-scale affordable housing efforts can soak up scarce time and resources— at least according to some housing advocates.

    AFFORDABLE HOUSING

    Paine Hollow Project Delayed for Another Year

    Wellfleet withdraws RFP for 90 Freeman Ave. house

    By

    WELLFLEET — The nearly two-decade-long delay, caused by abutters’ lawsuits, of an affordable housing development at 120 Paine Hollow Road just got longer.

    Developer Ted Malone received word from Assistant Town Administrator Rebecca Roughley on May 31 that the project would be delayed another year, this time because the town had to withdraw an application for predevelopment funding from the state. Roughley cited competing applications with the 95 Lawrence Road project and a lack of staff to administer the grant, according to Malone.

    Malone’s plans to build eight units on the five-acre site were opposed by neighbors after the town selected his company, Community Housing Resource, to develop the site for affordable housing in 2006. Abutters first appealed an order of conditions from the conservation commission that year, arguing that wastewater from the units would contaminate their wells.

    The Dept. of Environmental Protection sided with the conservation commission, and the abutters lost the case in 2008 after further appeals. By that time, economic conditions created by the Great Recession made development impossible.

    Malone began again in 2017 with a new proposal for the project under the state’s Chapter 40B, which allows zoning boards to streamline review in communities where affordable housing inventory is less than 10 percent of total housing stock. Wellfleet is at 2.5 percent.

    After slight changes to the plan that included reducing the slope of the development’s driveway from 15 to 12 percent at the behest of abutters and Fire Chief Richard Pauley, the board granted Malone a comprehensive permit. Abutters then sued the zoning board.

    A four-year court battle ended in 2021 with a settlement that required Malone to undertake extensive infrastructure work on the property. That included further reducing the slope of the driveway to 10 percent, which required Malone to lengthen the driveway. The agreement also included the relocation of a septic system and one of the two buildings and the installation of fencing between the development and neighboring properties.

    “The redesign from the settlement with abutters requires a significant amount of site work, adding to the costs,” Malone said. He said that he had received $175,000 in Community Preservation Act funds for predevelopment site work, but the costs will be much higher than that. “The only way to make it financially feasible is to have the town access further funding sources,” Malone said.

    The town’s application for the project through the MassWorks Infrastructure Program would have requested an additional $822,000, Malone said. But because Wellfleet is also pursuing funds for wastewater treatment at the 95 Lawrence Road project, Roughley told Malone it would not be possible to apply for both projects.

    “I received an email saying that Lawrence Road was a priority, and Paine Hollow would have to wait,” Malone said. “I can see the rationale, since there will be more units there,” he added.

    The deadline for the application was June 2. Malone will have to wait until next year for the town to apply again, and he can’t proceed with seeking development funds until he has secured funding for the infrastructure work.

    Competition between local projects poses a unique challenge for affordable housing development on Cape Cod, said housing authority Chair Elaine McIlroy. “Because we have all these projects going on, unfortunately there will be competition,” she said. “A smaller project like Paine Hollow is going to be more challenged to get funding than bigger projects.”

    There is also a lot of regional competition, said Jay Coburn, CEO of the Community Development Partnership, which is partnering with Preservation of Affordable Housing to develop the 46 units at 95 Lawrence Road. That project was recently passed over for state funding from the Dept. of Housing and Community Development.

    “The state is under great pressure to fund projects throughout the Commonwealth,” Coburn told the Wellfleet Select Board on June 6. The DHCD received over 100 requests in its most recent funding round, Coburn said; only 20 to 30 projects typically receive funding.

    Roughley also stated in her email to Malone that Wellfleet’s staffing shortage would make it difficult to administer the grant. Roughley, who is the town’s procurement officer, has resigned as of the end of June.

    “It’s unfortunate that we finally cleared a very long and drawn-out court process only for the project to be delayed due to our staffing issues,” said select board Chair Ryan Curley. “This project has been snake-bitten with delays.”

    Malone was more optimistic: “I’m not too worried about the delay,” he said. “The town is going through hard times, and it has to make hard decisions.”

    Roughley’s resignation precipitated the withdrawal of an RFP for a master plan for housing at Maurice’s Campground. And the housing authority decided not to issue an RFP for the construction of a single-family affordable home at 90 Freeman Ave. after Roughley announced her resignation.

    “We were really close to issuing that RFP, but now that we don’t have a contracting officer, it’s on hold,” said housing authority member Gary Sorkin.

    That RFP was a couple of years in the making, said McIlroy, but without a procurement officer, “we can’t really advance the project at this time.”

    There are still houses on the horizon, McIlroy said. Habitat for Humanity will begin construction in September on four single-family affordable houses on a 3-acre site on Old King’s Highway.

    “Affordable housing is a slow process,” McIlroy said. “The delays are just par for the course.”

    HOUSING

    Revised Plan at VFW Prioritizes Lower-Income Units

    To qualify for state funding, the number of middle-income units is reduced

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — In an emergency session on Jan. 17 the select board approved a revision of the planned mix of units at the affordable housing development to be built at 3 Jerome Smith Road.

    The former VFW building at 3 Jerome Smith Road was sold to the town in 2013 and demolished in 2021. (Photo by Paul Benson)

    The 65 apartments will still be laid out as before, with the same mix of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units — but rules governing who can live in the apartments had to be changed, according to Lindsey Gael and Andrew Waxman of The Community Builders (TCB), the nonprofit developer that won the right to build the project in October 2021.

    At that time, Town Manager Alex Morse and other members of the bid review committee had cited TCB’s willingness to include middle-income units as a key factor in their winning application.

    Middle-income units are notoriously hard to build, however. Most state and federal programs that support affordable rental housing are for people with incomes below 80 percent of area median income (AMI), a number that is calculated every year by the federal government. For Barnstable County in 2022, the median income is $76,100 for a single person and $87,000 for two people.

    The site at 3 Jerome Smith Road will become the home of 65 apartments, 61 of which will be rented at affordable rates. (Photo by Paul Benson)

    Rental housing for people with incomes above 80 percent of the median is funded by just one state program with relatively small subsidies — and TCB told the select board that the “workforce housing” formula was going to cap its support to Provincetown’s renters at 80 percent of median income in any case.

    Renting to those earning more would disqualify the project both for the low-income housing tax credit and for workforce funding, Waxman said.

    Instead, TCB recommended a strategy of maximizing federal dollars and minimizing the amount required from the state to make the project more likely to win a competition that began on that same day, Jan. 17, Gael said.

    The revised plan allocates 13 units for people earning less than 30 percent of AMI ($22,830 for one person), up from nine. There will be 32 units, not 36, for people earning between 30 and 60 percent of AMI. And the 16 units that had been reserved for people earning between 80 and 120 percent of AMI — $60,900 to $91,320 for one person — will now be for tenants making 80 percent of AMI or less.

    The four market-rate rental units will remain unregulated as to income, Gael said.

    Select board members worried that the new income mix would exclude middle-income earners, including many town employees who are struggling to find secure housing here.

    In response to this concern, Gael said that “there are municipal employees, even teachers, teachers’ assistants, who are eligible for these units. Eighty percent is a workforce tier.”

    Gael also said that the four unrestricted units planned could also serve as higher AMI workforce housing.

    Despite its concerns, the select board approved the revised plan unanimously.

    “We need a lot more than 65 units,” said select board member Louise Venden. “We probably need more like 300 units.

    “Picking away at whether and how and which level” units the new project would now include is one course of action, Venden added, but “if we shifted those numbers, we would still be meeting a very important community need.”

    Paul Benson contributed reporting.

    AFFORDABLE HOUSING

    Cloverleaf Gets $16 Million in State Funding

    Construction of the 39-unit complex should begin next summer

    By

    TRURO — A process that began in 2015 crossed a critical threshold last week when the state awarded $7.8 million in grant money and $8.5 million in tax credits to the Cloverleaf affordable housing project in North Truro.

    Ted Malone, president of Community Housing Resource, was with Kristen Reed, chair of the Truro Select Board, at a Dept. of Housing and Community Development event in Haverhill last week where funding for the Cloverleaf and 13 other projects across the state was announced. (Photo courtesy Ted Malone)

    Thirty-nine units will be built on the 3.9-acre parcel, which was transferred to the town in 2017 specifically for the construction of affordable housing. Shovels will likely hit the ground sometime around July, developer Ted Malone told the Independent, with construction probably taking another 18 months.

    The state money, awarded by the Dept. of Housing and Community Development, is the largest part of the project’s funding mix. All told, the current cost estimate for the Cloverleaf is $24 million, Malone said, with hard construction costs having gone up about 35 percent since the pandemic began.

    The project’s origins were in Gov. Charlie Baker’s Open for Business initiative, which encouraged state agencies to transfer excess land to towns and nonprofits for housing and energy projects. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito visited Truro Town Hall in 2015, and the Cloverleaf parcel, so-called because it occupied land that the state Dept. of Transportation had reserved for a highway interchange that was never built, was conveyed in 2017.

    When wells and septic systems share the same parcel, the Dept. of Environmental Protection places tight limits on the number of bedrooms, Malone said. In 2019, the state announced a $1.2 million grant to run municipal water to the site, which changed the rules governing the project dramatically. The parcel was “originally slated for eight units,” according to the governor’s announcement that November, but could now “accommodate 42 units of new rental housing, better addressing Truro’s severe need for affordable housing.”

    The final iteration of the project includes 39 units, according to documents filed with the state. Six of them will be for people with “extremely low incomes” — that is, 30 percent of area median income (AMI) or less. Nineteen units will be for people making up to 60 percent of AMI; another eight will be for middle-income households making up to 100 percent of AMI; and the last six will be market-rate rentals. Area median income in Barnstable County is a federally defined number; this year it is $76,100 for a one-person household and $87,000 for a two-person household.

    Housing advocates applauded the expansion of the project to 39 units, citing the immense need for housing that is affordable for working people. The prices of homes on Cape Cod have increased dramatically faster than growth in earnings here, and a large majority of homes are now sold to people who do not work in the county.

    Truro also has the lowest inventory of subsidized year-round housing on Cape Cod, currently listed by the state at 2.3 percent.

    The expanded Cloverleaf project was not without critics, however. The project was discussed at 26 different meetings of the Truro Zoning Board of Appeals, Malone said, and a lawsuit challenging the board’s issuance of a comprehensive permit delayed progress for about a year. Both groundwater quality and Truro’s “rural character” were offered as reasons the project should be dramatically scaled back.

    That the lawsuit lasted only a year was a result of a state law passed in January 2021 that allowed judges to impose a bond requirement on plaintiffs who challenge affordable housing permits in court.

    Sally’s Way is a 16-unit affordable housing development near the Truro Public Library that Malone’s company, Community Housing Resource, completed in 2013. The permits granted by the zoning board of appeals for that project were held up in court for five years. Only one neighbor, who lived mostly in Canada, was responsible for that lawsuit, Malone said.

    A schematic drawing of the Cloverleaf project, showing the 13 buildings that will contain 39 units of new rental housing. (Image courtesy Town of Truro)

    The Cloverleaf case was one of the first times the option to levy a bond requirement was used in court. In November 2021, Land Court Judge Diane Rubin imposed a $25,000 bond on the 10 litigants who contested the Cloverleaf’s permit. That was only half of the $50,000 that the law allowed; nonetheless, the plaintiffs chose not to post the bond and signed a settlement agreement with Malone in February. That agreement required one additional monitoring well west of the project, Malone said, and some widened crosswalks within the development.

    “I think the tide shifted,” Malone said, “in terms of the perception of the need for housing and what that means for the economic health of the Commonwealth.” The Republican governor and the Democratic legislature were both pulling for housing reform over the last eight years, he noted.

    There were other forms of state help for the Cloverleaf as well. About half the cost of a so-called innovative/alternative septic system is being paid for with a $305,000 state grant, Malone said, and the Cape Light Compact is contributing $1.4 million for high-efficiency heat pumps.

    Energy improvements for the project came as a direct result of the involvement of the Truro Energy Committee, he said.

    “The energy committee folks connected me to the Cape Light Compact, and we got a planning grant to find out what was feasible,” Malone said. “It’s a challenge when it’s a new layer you’re not familiar with — but it made the project better.” Disability advocates helped improve the project as well, Malone said, and more units will be accessible because of their work.

    “Reasonable, informed input can be beneficial,” Malone said. “When it’s not, it can be destructive.”

    “It has been an uphill fight to build these 39 units, but we are winning on this issue,” said state Sen. Julian Cyr, who represents the Cape and Islands district and lives in Truro. “I’ve met already with Truro officials about how we can maximize state grants to the Walsh property, including the MassWorks program to bring municipal water, and to install a wastewater system that can support hundreds of units at that site.”

    “I’d like to see three hundred units at the Walsh property,” Cyr added. “I’m excited.”

    WALSH PROPERTY COMMITTEE

    Group Nears Consensus on Developing 28.5 Acres

    Cyr urges Truro officials to plan for 300 housing units

    By

    TRURO — In a new report, the town’s engineering consultants recommend developing 28.5 acres in the southwestern part of the nearly 70-acre Walsh property, and the committee studying uses of the land is nearing consensus on a plan to create a significant number of affordable and mixed-income dwellings there.

    At the Oct. 26 meeting of the Walsh Property Community Planning Committee, state Sen. Julian Cyr emphasized the ongoing housing crisis in the region, “which every indicator shows no signs of abating. We’re in an untenable situation.” He said accommodating Truro’s needs will mean developing an additional 300 housing units, the majority of which should be located on Walsh land.

    Sharon Rooney, the principal planner at consultants Tighe & Bond, gave the committee her firm’s updated analysis of the Walsh property, which the town acquired for $5.1 million in 2019. The report recommends preserving 35.5 acres as open space and identifies a total of 33.5 acres as developable. That includes approximately nine acres adjacent to Route 6 with eight uninhabited cottages. An earlier analysis by Tighe & Bond, presented last January, had designated 19.5 acres as developable, not including the cottages.

    The total developable area also includes five acres in the northeastern section of the property, close to the existing municipal North Union Field wellheads.

    At the Oct. 26 meeting, committee co-chairs Fred Gaechter and Paul Wisotzky declared that the group had reached consensus on a set of revised planning principles. Among them is “maximiz[ing] the impact of development in addressing community needs for affordable housing and other compatible uses.”

    Cyr urged the committee to take advantage of resources like the MassWorks Infrastructure Program, which offers grants for “public infrastructure projects that support and accelerate housing production.” All Massachusetts towns are eligible to apply, and the grant does not limit access to other state or federal funding. Because MassWorks money can be used for planning, constructing, or refurbishing a development project, Cyr described it as “a broad, nimble pot of money” but stressed the importance of moving with haste. “A timely application could save the taxpayers of Truro quite a bit of dollars on this site and is going to be really key to unlocking [its] potential,” he said.

    Wellfleet, Truro, and Orleans have each received more than $1 million in MassWorks grants in the past four years for public infrastructure projects, and Provincetown was awarded $395,000 last month. Applications are typically due in June, with awards announced in October. Cyr estimated that on that timeline if Truro were to receive a grant for the Walsh property next year, contracting could begin in December 2023.

    Cyr suggested that the Walsh committee also seek funding from the $5 billion the state has received under the American Rescue Plan Act. The state legislature has already allocated $115 million of that money to affordable housing, and Cyr said he expects a second round of appropriations in early 2023. He urged the group to act, adding that now is a good time because Truro “has an unprecedented influence and representation from a legislative perspective.” Cyr grew up in Truro and state Rep. Sarah Peake lives in Provincetown. “I’m worried that this money is not going to be available in perpetuity,” he said.

    Two Areas for Development

    Tighe & Bond’s latest report identifies two developable areas, labeled Area A and Area B. Area A encompasses 28.5 acres in the southwestern part of the property, bounded on the north by the Truro Central School and including the eight cottages. Area B’s five acres are at the northern end of the property near the wellheads that supply a large fraction of Provincetown’s water.

    “Area B is a bit unknown at this time in terms of future water supply planning, so our thinking is that this area would perhaps be in a second phase,” said Rooney. Scott Horsley, Truro’s water resources consultant, will discuss water supply considerations and the improved water quality that he says could result from developing housing at the Walsh land at the committee’s Nov. 9 meeting.

    The committee is still gathering information about possible access to the developable areas. Walsh Way currently extends from Rt. 6 into Area A.

    “Our preliminary analysis indicated that neither Walsh Way nor Andrew Way presented sight distance issues,” said Rooney. “Sight distance” refers to the length of road that is visible to a driver. Leeward Passage and Short Lots Lane also provide potential access to the property. Based on traffic density, Rooney said, road alterations and turn lanes “will be ongoing considerations.”

    Because of Area B’s proximity to the wellheads, the Walsh committee focused its discussion last week on Area A. “Area A would appear to be a bit easier to develop because of the cottages that have been previously developed,” said Rooney.

    Raphael Richter, an alternate member of the committee, urged the group to move forward with housing plans. “We’ve kind of been handed a silver platter here,” said Richter. Given the size of the property, he said, there is ample room for both open space and the development of community housing.

    Richter also pointed out that Wellfleet is in the process of developing 46 housing units at 95 Lawrence Road on a six-acre property. By that metric, Area A alone could accommodate more than 200 units, he said.

    At least two of the committee members expressed reservations about the possible development of Area A. “I just want to go on record that I’m not comfortable,” said Eileen Breslin, citing traffic and “the density of housing that is being proposed.” Christine Markowski also voiced discontent. “Truro is rural, not urban,” she said. “I know we need housing, but solving all of our housing problems on the Walsh property is like putting a big old Band-Aid on the problem.”

    The Walsh Committee, with 13 regular members and two alternates, operates primarily by consensus, but will default to voting when necessary. “If consensus cannot be achieved, we would resort to a vote,” Gaechter told the Independent. But he said he does not anticipate a vote being necessary.

    The committee will hold two events to get more public input on the plan. One will be held remotely on Dec. 5 and a second will take place at Truro Central School on Dec. 8. “Schoolchildren will be part of the conversation,” said Markowski, who is planning the events.

    Gaechter said that the committee intends to bring a proposal to Truro’s annual town meeting in April: “The committee does feel the fire under us and is taking our charge very seriously,” he said during the Oct. 26 meeting.

    “I want to urge you to realize the scope of the need,” Cyr told the group. Committee member Todd Schwebel said he was “100 percent on board” with Cyr’s proposed 300 new housing units. “Let’s get going,” said Schwebel.

    HOUSING CRISIS

    When You Have to Live at a Campground

    Hundreds of workers feel lucky to stay in trailers for the season

    By

    WELLFLEET — Flowers border the trailer where Katie Nelson has lived for the past four summers. Rocks and antique bottles collected at the beach surround the garden. Her boyfriend’s neon clamming waders hang on a tree.

    Their trailer at Maurice’s Campground is as homey as can be, which is fitting because it is the only permanent home she and Shawn Arsenault have known for four years.

    “We love it,” said Nelson. “We don’t have to leave until October. All our neighbors are so nice.”

    Lifelong Outer Cape resident Katie Nelson lives in a trailer at Maurice’s Campground in the summer with her boyfriend. They have had to stay with friends or in a hotel in the winter months. (Photo by K.C. Myers)

    They accept the fact that, come October, they will again have to move into a hotel, paying $500 a week. That’s about what a winter rental costs, if you can find one, she said. Even though Nelson grew up in Wellfleet and works year-round at Cumberland Farms in Orleans while Arsenault plies the waters for shellfish, they cannot find anywhere better to live.

    “We are on every housing list — even elderly housing, because my boyfriend is 64,” she said. “We were thinking of moving to Vermont, but I don’t want to leave my job and my family.”

    A short walk away on the cart paths that crisscross Maurice’s 21 acres, a man talked on the phone with his daughters, who live in Jamaica. He was sitting in his car, a Bible open on the dashboard.

    This man, who said he works for Mac’s Seafood and the Furies cleaning service, did not want to give his name to a reporter because he worried it would affect his employment status as an H-2B temporary worker visa holder.

    He said he rents a trailer at the campground for $160 a week, which he can afford with two jobs. The privacy of living alone is sheer luxury, he said, compared to what he has endured in employer-owned housing: three people in one small room, and 8 to 10 people in a house with one bathroom.

    “The H-2B housing situation is awful,” said the man, who has been coming to the U.S. for 10 years. “I hate sleeping in a room with men who I don’t really know.”

    The housing available to him and his fellow visa holders is “deplorable,” he said.

    ‘A Hard Way to Live’

    The Outer Cape has eight campgrounds and all but two provide at least some housing for local workers. That is why the town of Wellfleet just voted to spend $6.5 million to buy Maurice’s Campground (the purchase must be affirmed by a debt exclusion vote on Tuesday, Sept. 20). It’s for Nelson, Arsenault, and about 60 other workers that officials hope to keep Maurice’s operating for six years while they plan for an affordable housing development at the site.

    Camping is an affordable way to spend the summer here if you can get a reservation. Most campground owners want to keep spots open for vacationers. Wellfleet Hollow Campground, which is state-owned, and Dunes Edge Campground at 386 Route 6 in Provincetown ban all-season camping entirely.

    Coastal Acres Campground has 193 sites in Provincetown, including about five spots with people living there for the entire summer, according to manager Anna Kuzia. “We don’t encourage it,” Kuzia said. “It is a hard way to live for several months.”

    The owners of the Atlantic Oaks Campground in Eastham tell a similar tale. Katie Nussdorfer and her husband, Dan, took over from Dan’s parents. She said 28 of 100 sites are occupied continuously from May through November by just one renter. Most of these all-season campers are retirees on summer vacation. Some have part-time jobs. Otherwise, there is a two-week limit for campsites.

    “We get a bunch of inquiries from people looking for long-term,” Nussdorfer said. “We have gotten into situations with people who are homeless, and that has been difficult.”

    Jana Harrison Currier, owner with her husband of North of Highland Camping Area in North Truro, said 20 to 30 of her 237 campsites are available to all-season renters. “We could probably fill it with all seasonal workers,” Currier said. “But it’s not what we do. It was founded by my husband’s parents. It has always been a vacation spot, and that is what we want it to be.”

    Green Acres

    Adventure Bound Camping Resorts owns 220 sites at two Truro campgrounds, Horton’s and North Truro. About 35 of those are rented all season to working people, said the manager, who declined to give his name.

    Joanie Carney and her twin sister, Jeanne Carney, bought the largest trailer available, 38 feet long, at Horton’s last fall. This is their first summer here. Joanie works as a baker at Jams and returns to her trailer by noon. It has an outdoor shower, a spacious deck, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and four TVs.

    “It is so beautiful and serene,” she said.

    Just down the dirt path from her, James Lynch is working out the kinks of camping. He purchased a trailer at Horton’s last fall. A bartender and waiter at Waydowntown in Provincetown, Lynch also works part-time as a front desk clerk at the AWOL Hotel.

    He said he scored when he managed to buy a trailer on a site. There is a long waitlist for sites, so you need to buy a trailer that already has a space. Rent for the space alone is $9,500 for the season, according to the manager.

    Lynch’s dilemmas include almost zero storage space. He keeps a refrigerator and filing cabinet outside under a canopy. He spread outdoor rugs on the dirt. It looks homey. But the rugs also keep the dust out of his small indoor space and can be swept free of needle-sharp holly leaves. He has learned that a trail of Dawn dish soap deters earwigs.

    Lynch said his RV delivers about two minutes of hot water.

    “This is Green Acres, and I want to live in the big city of Provincetown,” he said. “Sometimes it is very nice. I go to the beach. It is calming. Some say the first season is the hardest.”

    SPECIAL TOWN MEETING

    Wellfleet Officials Divided on Zoning Changes

    Sept. 10 meeting will vote on Curley’s cottage colony and affordable housing proposals

    By

    WELLFLEET — If the planning board’s Aug. 17 public hearing on two proposed zoning changes is any indication, there may be a long, hot debate at the Sept. 10 special town meeting.

    That’s when voters will be asked to consider tweaking the town’s zoning bylaw to address the need for more affordable and year-round housing. Both proposals were written by select board Chair Ryan Curley and sponsored by his board.

    But town officials’ views on the changes are divided. The planning board has endorsed one proposal but rejected the other.

    One change would allow cottage colonies to be occupied year-round rather than seasonally, except in the National Seashore, where the seasonal restriction would remain. The planning board majority voted to oppose this change.

    The other change would allow deed-restricted affordable houses to be built on lots currently classified as too small to be buildable. After a long debate at the hearing, it narrowly won the planning board’s support in a 4-3 vote.

    Because these are zoning changes, the measures will require a two-thirds majority to pass at town meeting.

    Year-Round Cottages

    The cottage-colony proposal would allow year-round occupancy with no affordability requirement. Because of their modest size, Curley told the planning board, these units would be far cheaper to rent or own than a typical single-family house in Wellfleet, where the median cost is about $900,000.

    “For someone to occupy a cottage at a fraction of a median-priced house, I’d take that any day,” Curley said.

    Ten percent of Wellfleet’s current housing stock is restricted to April-through-November occupancy.

    Curley said there are about 200 units in cottage colonies and about 150 are outside the National Seashore. Many have been converted to condominiums, and some condo associations might not allow year-round occupancy. It would be up to those associations to update their bylaws if owners wanted to occupy units year-round, he said.

    “We need every single unit we can get, especially those at the lower end of the spectrum, because right now the minimum lot size in Residential-1 is 30,000 square feet and Residential-2 is 40,000,” Curley said. “You’re talking three-to-five-bedroom houses, and nobody can afford those.”

    Planning board member David Rowell predicted the change would create a host of water-quality and parking problems. The cottages would also have to be winterized, at considerable expense.

    “It’s not as simple as waving a wand and turning them into year-round,” Rowell said.

    Planning board member David Mead-Fox asked whether “it would be more sensible to evaluate environmental factors like wastewater load, so we have some idea of what we’re getting into and the consequences.”

    Mead-Fox also expressed concern about drinking water. “If we don’t get this right, we could make large sections of Wellfleet unlivable,” he said.

    The highest demand on the water system is in the summer, said Curley, when the seasonal units are already fully occupied. The change to year-round, he said, would affect the winter, when water demand is lowest.

    Curley said the board of health is set to implement new regulations and would have jurisdiction over septic issues. Homeowners in sensitive areas are already required to install specialized systems, he said.

    Planning board Chair Gerald Parent predicted the change would send the price of the cottages skyrocketing. Curley argued that units not on the water would remain inexpensive.

    “Those are ideal housing situations for young families and single people,” he said. “We are in a housing crisis. The income someone would have to earn to afford a median-priced house is $188,000.”

    Cottages in waterfront colonies are already being upgraded by wealthy homeowners, according to Curley.

    Size is already regulated by the cottage colony bylaw. Units must contain between 550 and 768 square feet. Those limitations would remain.

    Select board member Kathleen Bacon said she knows year-round residents living in seasonal condominiums who have to find a place to rent every winter. There are also elderly people in town who would like to downsize, she said.

    “The point is to create year-round housing at different levels,” said Bacon. “It’s another tool. I know three individuals who would be grateful for this change.”

    Planning board member Bonnie Shepard said the board appeared to be focusing on worst-case scenarios. “I’m not sure how realistic they are,” she said. “Frankly, it doesn’t seem to me a very risky move.”

    Ultimately Rowell, Parent, Alfred Pickard, and Beth Singer voted not to recommend the change. Mead-Fox, Shepard, and Olga Kahn favored it.

    Unbuildable Lots

    A second proposed bylaw change would add two buildable-lot categories that would apply to properties outside the National Seashore with no existing buildings. The first, labeled “Affordable Lot,” would allow a single-family home to be built by right — without a special permit — on lots with at least 10,000 square feet of upland. The qualifying lots would mostly range from 10,000 to 30,000 square feet, said Curley. The most common size is about one-third acre, he said.

    The second category, labeled “Affordable Undersized Lot,” would allow a single-family dwelling to be built on a lot smaller than 10,000 square feet, but only with a special permit from the zoning board of appeals.

    “It’s very unlikely these will be built on,” Curley said.

    Both categories would include affordability restrictions: they could be rented or sold only to those earning 80 percent or less of area median income.

    Construction would have to comply with all board of health well and Title 5 requirements and the conservation commission’s wetlands regulations.

    Curley said there are 18 lots of more than 10,000 square feet with a high probability of meeting the requirements in the proposal. Another 26 may be able to meet the requirements. “Those are various shades of ‘maybe,’ ” Curley said.

    Under the bylaw, a lot would need at least 20 feet of frontage on a previously approved road or a road deemed to have suitable width and grade to support traffic. Building setbacks would be at least 15 feet. Dwellings built within 25 feet of a principal structure on a neighboring lot would be required to have a six-foot stockade fence.

    “I understand affordability, but you’re changing density,” Parent said. “You’re going backwards. And you can say we gained four or five houses but what are you doing to the environment?”

    Curley responded, “Almost nothing,” since enhanced septic systems would be required, he said.

    The planning board voted to recommend the proposal with Kahn, Shepard, Singer, and Mead-Fox in favor and Pickard, Rowell, and Parent opposed.

    Following the hearing, Parent criticized Curley for not coming to the planning board sooner so that they could have crafted a proposal together. Curley responded, “I did come in. To two meetings.”

    INCLUSIONARY BYLAW

    Two Multi-Unit Projects Spark Neighborhood Ire

    Some affordable units are included, but abutters see much else to dislike

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — A town that almost universally supports affordable housing and that routinely endorses housing provisions at town meeting has suddenly found itself somewhere unexpected — in a housing fight.

    The undeveloped lot at 22 Nelson Ave. in Provincetown. (Photo by Nancy Bloom)

    Two projects that fall under the town’s inclusionary zoning bylaw have drawn significant opposition from neighbors, with comments objecting to the project at 22 Nelson Ave. being especially vehement. The planning board will be making decisions on both 22 Nelson and a smaller project at 27 Winthrop St. relatively soon — but the temperature at recent meetings has been high and is rising.

    22-22R Nelson Ave.

    Developer Thomas Tannariello of Tri-T LLC has proposed building 12 two-story, one-bedroom condominium units on an undeveloped half-acre of land on Nelson Avenue. Two of the units would be deed-restricted for affordable ownership, meaning they would be sold at below-market rates to people earning incomes near the median in Barnstable County. The other 10 units would be sold at market rate.

    The 12 units are in seven proposed buildings: five with two units each, and two with single units. The project is in the Residential 3 zoning district and complies with the town’s existing requirements for setbacks and lot coverage.

    Tannariello still needs a special permit under the general bylaw for site plan review for an increase of three or more units on a lot. An additional special permit is required because his plan calls for more than six buildings.

    The proposed 12-unit development at 22 Nelson Ave.

    The conservation commission approved the proposal with conditions, and the community housing council endorsed it.

    Neighbors have raised a host of issues to the planning board, including density, traffic, parking, public safety, stormwater runoff, wildlife habitat, light pollution, and loss of privacy. The hearings have become heated, and planning board members have suggested scaling back the project or possibly deed-restricting the properties to disallow short-term rentals. Eighty pages of comments have been submitted, and multiple local officials have weighed in, including Town Manager Alex Morse, who wrote a letter to town officials and published an op-ed column about the project in last week’s Independent.

    At the planning board’s July 28 meeting, select board member Louise Venden said she feared the planning board was becoming “distracted” by the concerns of abutters and said the town has wholeheartedly embraced provisions to increase moderately-priced housing.

    Community housing council vice chair Austin Miller said that suitable building sites are rare in Provincetown and that “Nimbyist abutters will always be the noisiest voices in the room at regulatory meetings — but they are not the ones that show up at the ballot box and town meeting demanding this town do more to support community housing.”

    Tannariello’s lawyer, Christopher Snow, said the biggest concern being raised was density, yet the 12 units being proposed were allowed by right. Potential effects on wildlife had been thoroughly reviewed by three agencies, Snow added, and the trees being cleared were mostly scrub pine.

    Abutter Michael Gaucher called the proposal “unrestrained profiteering,” and called for the planning board to require mediation between the abutters and the developer. “If mediation is not possible, I ask for the board to deny the special permit altogether,” he said.

    Bill Furton slammed the officials who had spoken in favor of the proposal, saying, “It’s like our elected officials said, ‘We don’t care what it is, just make it affordable. You can rape the town; you can ruin a neighborhood. You can do whatever you want.’ ”

    The minor revisions previously made by Tannariello, which shifted the buildings and added a single parking space, were “an insult to the planning board and the neighborhood,” said Seashore Park Drive resident Jackie Fung. She urged the board to reduce the project’s density “by at least 50 percent.”

    An attorney representing Gaucher called for a traffic study done during high season, a more complete development impact statement, and additional parking.

    Morse warned the planning board that a rejection of the proposal could “send a message to developers that we don’t want these projects.” While developers can choose to pay into the town’s affordable housing fund instead of including affordable units, Morse said, Tannariello was building the units.

    Expressing sympathy for neighbors who have enjoyed the benefit of the wooded lot at 22 Nelson, planning board member Dana Masterpolo reminded them, “The lot always had the fate of being developed.

    “The developer could have come in with a very large building instead of opting for smaller buildings that fit more within the context of the fabric of Provincetown,” said Masterpolo, adding that she supported the proposal.

    Acting chair Brandon Quesnell said he was on board with the density but wanted a deed restriction that would prevent the market-rate units from becoming short-term rentals.

    Board member Jeffrey Mulliken agreed but added he wanted the project scaled back, eliminating the two single-unit buildings. That would leave eight market-rate units and two affordable units. “I think it would create a better long-term relationship with the neighborhood,” Mulliken said.

    Tannariello said such a scaling back would make the project financially unfeasible. He also said a deed restriction against short-term rentals would lower the value of the market-rate units.

    Several board members told Tannariello to lower a planned retaining wall. Other ideas included boosting the height of the buildings to lessen their number, adding car-charging stations, and making the affordable units accessible.

    The hearing was continued to Sept. 8 to allow time for Tannariello to make decisions on the suggested changes.

    27 Winthrop St.

    Property owners Joey Casto and Tom Myers want to tear down their house and Casto’s barbershop and divide their property, which runs from Winthrop Street to Court Street, into two lots. The lot facing Winthrop would have five residential units in three buildings, with one of those being an affordable-ownership unit. The lot facing Court Street would have a new two-family residence for the owners, with the smaller unit used for seasonal workforce housing. Their proposal takes advantage of the inclusionary bylaw’s “density bonus,” in which the inclusion of an affordable unit allows for “bonus” market-rate units.

    The plan has already secured permits from the zoning board and preliminary support from the planning board. The property is in the Residential 3 zone, and there is at least one multi-unit complex nearby.

    Since the proposal requires the demolition of the owners’ existing house and the barbershop building, it is also before the historic district commission. Both buildings were constructed in the 1960s, and the commission has determined they don’t have any historic value.

    Members have asked for some tweaks to the building designs.

    While several letters of support were submitted, some abutters were at the commission’s Aug. 3 hearing to voice their opposition. Abutters John Mallow and Daniel Skahen said the design of the five proposed buildings was not in character with the rest of the neighborhood.

    “We just think the scale of this goes beyond what the neighborhood needs or wants,” Mallow said.

    Neighbor Anu Advani said she was hiring a land-use attorney. “We need an expert to help us,” she said, adding she opposed the demolition of the buildings as well as the density of the new housing.

    “My sincere hope is that history and good sense will prevail, and not greed and wanton destruction,” Advani said. She suggested that the owners gut the existing house, put condominiums inside it, and leave the barbershop standing.

    Cemetery commission chair Sharon Bunn said the project abuts the town’s oldest cemetery, with stones dating back to the mid-1700s. “I and other commission members are concerned about erosion on the hill from digging and excavation,” Bunn said. “There could be disintegrated caskets.”

    The historic district commission will continue the discussion at its September meeting. From there, the project will go to the planning board for a formal site plan review under the inclusionary bylaw.

    AFFORDABLE HOUSING

    Long Pond Village Aims for Low Environmental Impact

    Avoiding a ‘cookie-cutter’ look and including shared spaces are added goals

    By

    WELLFLEET — Continuing its review of the 46-unit affordable housing proposal for 95 Lawrence Road named Long Pond Village, the zoning board of appeals on July 21 heard from the developers’ architect and landscapers, who emphasized the planned neighborhood’s modern and environmentally sensitive features.

    An architectural rendering of the Upper Village townhouse clusters at Long Pond Village. (Image courtesy Studio G Architects)

    Gail Sullivan of Studio G Architects in Boston told the ZBA the design elements will avoid the “cookie-cutter” style of older affordable housing projects by using different roof lines, varying the siding, and adding a few accent colors to front and rear doors.

    The designs of the Upper Village buildings, comprising seven structures containing 24 units, will have modernist-style banded windows and sloping roofs.

    “All of the roof designs are either facing south or west,” Sullivan said, “to maximize solar power.”

    The siding will be a mix of vertical clapboard, horizontal clapboard, and board and batten, she said. The Lower Village, a 22-unit three-story apartment building with a community room, laundry, and elevator, features the same modernist-inspired architectural style, with an eye toward energy efficiency.

    The project managers will try to get the development “passive certified,” a designation granted to construction that achieves the highest standard globally for low-carbon, low-energy usage, Sullivan said. All appliances and HVAC systems will be electric, she added.

    In a letter to the Independent, Sullivan added, “The project will contribute less to global warming than typical house construction because the team is utilizing materials and systems with reduced CO2 emissions in extraction, manufacture, and installation.”

    The developers are the nonprofit Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) and the Community Development Partnership (CDP).

    The ZBA aims to vote on a comprehensive permit for the development under the state’s Chapter 40B by Sept. 8 or Sept. 22. Such permits may be granted for projects in communities with less than the state’s minimum standard of 10 percent of total housing stock being affordable. The permit may include waivers of local density, height limit, and other zoning bylaws.

    The board is in the midst of its Long Pond Village review and will next meet on Thursday, Aug. 4 to discuss circulation and traffic, followed by an Aug. 25 hearing on septic systems and wastewater treatment.

    Following the design discussion, Cate Oranchak, the project’s landscape architect, explained how the six-acre property would include a community garden, a patio with seating, a pergola for shade, and a children’s play area built with natural materials rather than brightly colored plastics. There would be some lawn areas and some natural meadows, she said.

    The structures will be surrounded by woodlands, Sullivan said. Trees will be planted where there are now visual openings, she added. The Lower Village building will be visible from Long Pond Road only to the extent that the current abandoned council on aging building is now visible, Sullivan said.

    “The town is not losing six acres of woodlands to this project,” Sullivan wrote to the Independent. “Of the approximately six-acre site, 60 percent will remain untouched woodland because we’ve chosen to build the units densely. When finished, the site will have 80 percent open green space.”

    Wellfleet resident Richard Robicheau decribed the proposed neighborhood as “far more New Seabury than Wellfleet.”

    Robicheau argued there is no need for the development to have a community room, garden, or play area because Wellfleet already has common gathering spots.

    “They’ve ignored that we have a community center, we have a community garden, we have churches in this community,” said Robicheau. “We have a lot of participation by a lot of people in the community, and I don’t think they even explored any of that.”

    Jay Coburn, executive director of the CDP, said, “One of the real challenges for seniors living on the Outer Cape is the amount of social isolation. Having a place where folks could congregate and address this challenge of social isolation was really important.”

    Sharon Inger, the ZBA chair, added, “I’m on the board of the community garden here in Wellfleet, and we have a five-year waiting period for a plot in the garden. So, an additional community garden is certainly something we could use.”

    An abutter, John Richard of Pine Valley Road, asked about the potential use of story poles — full-scale three-dimensional outlines of structures — to be put up before official construction starts for a preview of the final design.

    “We haven’t talked about it,” Sullivan said, adding that she would discuss that possibility with the design team.

    Voicing a concern for privacy, Richard also inquired about a proposed path in the woods behind the development’s Upper Village. This path extends from the water tower down to the cul-de-sac where Richard lives.

    Sullivan said there was no barrier planned to cut off access to residents. In fact, she said, she had planned to integrate the path described by Richard into the new neighborhood.

    “We had actually hoped to connect the community garden and the children’s play yard to that path network because we saw that as a potential amenity for people,” Sullivan said. “So, it sounds like that’s something to be talking to the abutters about.”

    Another abutter raised her virtual “hand” during the Zoom meeting simply to voice her support for the project and the way its organizers have listened to and addressed the concerns of community members. “We could not be more thrilled about the design or the responsiveness,” said Dianne Perlmutter, who lives on Old Long Pond Road.

    After community members had their chance to speak, Inger opened the floor to board members with questions. ZBA member Wil Sullivan said he was “anti-lawn.”

    “I do think the landscaping is sort of over the top,” Wil Sullivan said. “Most people here live with very minimal landscaping and they’re very happy with it.”

    He also asked whether the plan had been approved by the Wellfleet police and fire departments. Due to height restrictions, which limit residential buildings to 28 feet, Long Pond Village needs a waiver for its taller structures. Coburn said that initial plans, including a three-story 47-foot structure, were distributed to both departments for feedback in April, but that they had not yet had a response.

    Inger recommended that the developers obtain letters of support from both departments. “That should be part of the application,” she said.

    AFFORDABLE HOUSING

    ZBA Kicks Off Review of ‘Long Pond Village’

    Solar panels and a design inspired by modernism in Wellfleet

    By

    WELLFLEET — The zoning board of appeals began its formal review of the long-planned 95 Lawrence Road affordable housing project on July 14.

    The three-story Lower Village has a common room, elevator, and 22 one- and two-bedroom units. Across the ballfield, there are 24 townhouses in seven buildings.

    For the first time, the developers, Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) and the Community Development Partnership (CDP), presented an overview of the design. The renderings show a new neighborhood named Long Pond Village on six acres of town-owned land.

    The 46 apartments, all rental units, wrap around the ballfield across from the Wellfleet Elementary School. The ballfield will be open for use by schoolchildren, the public, and the residents of the development, said Jay Coburn, the CDP’s CEO.

    The neighborhood comprises two areas. The Lower Village is a single three-story building containing 22 apartments, all with one or two bedrooms. The building will have a common room, patio, elevator, and laundry. Designed for singles or couples, it will be close to Long Pond Road, where the dilapidated former council on aging building sits.

    Across the ballfield and up the hill is the Upper Village with seven buildings holding 24 townhouses. These are two- and three-bedroom units. The roofs have solar panels, and the design, said Coburn, is inspired by mid-century modern architecture.

    “Our team has crafted a proposal to build high-quality affordable housing for a range of incomes and household sizes,” Coburn told the ZBA. Another goal of the proposal he described is to ensure environmental sustainability, including being nearly net-zero in energy consumption. The mid-century modern look of the complex reflects a commitment “to create a community with a resilient and elegant design that draws on local building traditions,” he said.

    A rendering of an aerial view of Long Pond Village, proposed for 95 Lawrence Road, shows the Wellfleet Elementary School in the foreground. The design was formally presented to the zoning board of appeals on July 14. (Images courtesy Studio G Architects)

    Coburn called the 95 Lawrence Road project “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a considerable number of affordable homes in Wellfleet.”

    The ZBA must decide if the 46-unit development qualifies for a comprehensive 40B permit, which will allow for streamlining of the permitting process and the possibility of requesting waivers of certain zoning restrictions that would otherwise make an affordable housing project impossible. The statute allowing a comprehensive permit is sometimes referred to as the “Anti-Snob Zoning Act.”

    One zoning waiver, for example, will address the fact that ordinarily multifamily housing is not allowed in the area. Other waivers pertain to lot size and building height.

    The ZBA will be meeting in the coming weeks to review project details in phases. Coburn will fully present the architectural and landscape design on July 21. Traffic will be discussed on Aug. 4. The septic and wastewater presentation will be Aug. 25.

    The zoning board anticipates it could be ready to decide on the permit on Sept. 8, said Chair Sharon Inger. But knowing that these approvals often take longer than expected, the board has also reserved Sept. 22.

    Coburn said that time is of the essence as developers need to queue up to receive federal tax credits that are awarded to affordable housing projects by the state Dept. of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The DHCD needs preapplications in October and will be formally awarding tax credits during the “rental round” in January 2023.

    The Upper Village, which includes this community building, will be across the ballfield from the three-story Lower Village building.

    Usually, projects must wait for two years to receive the limited pool of aid. But, Coburn said, 2023 is different because of significant American Rescue Plan Act funds directed to affordable housing.

    “We think we have a good chance to get funded in the first year because of the need on the Cape and because there are more resources available,” he said.

    Coburn said the CDP and POAH went through a preapplication process with the ZBA starting in April and held a question-and-answer session with the public in June. These steps helped prepare the developers for issues that might be raised by town staff and the public.

    Using preapplication meetings worked for another developer, Pennrose, which got a comprehensive permit to construct 62 units of affordable housing in Orleans after only six weeks of meetings with the ZBA, Coburn said.

    In contrast, the Truro ZBA review of the 39-unit Cloverleaf project took 14 months. Then, after the proposal received a comprehensive permit in January 2021, Truro property owners sued the ZBA. The lawsuit was dismissed in February 2022, but it delayed the development for a year.

    Perhaps fearing that the Cloverleaf saga could be repeated in Wellfleet, someone at the July 14 meeting asked if there was any litigation facing this project. No legal challenge can be filed until the permit is issued, Inger said.

    The developers hope to begin construction at 95 Lawrence Road in the fall of 2023 and to finish in 2025.

    If these units are built, they will be available to people at three different income levels. Twenty-seven units will be reserved for those earning up to 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), which would be $45,660 for one person in 2022, and $58,740 for a three-person household.

    Eight of the units would be set aside for those earning up to 30 percent of AMI, which is $22,850 for one person and for three people would be $29,350.

    Eleven are reserved for those earning up to 120 percent of AMI, which for one person is $91,320 and for three is $117,480.

    “We are proposing a community that provides housing for a range of Wellfleet residents, from seniors and families living on very modest incomes to working families to empty-nesters struggling to downsize,” Coburn said.

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