An Independent-minded calendar of arts and events for Outer Cape Cod

Advertise in the Indie.

Reach more readers from Eastham to Provincetown.

Unchained news for Outer Cape Cod

The Provincetown Independent

Let us bring you the paper.

Your subscription supports real community journalism.

Eastham zoning board of appeals

    LAND USE REGULATION

    Select Board Proposes Zoning Task Force

    A response to calls for new rules on house size and uses

    By

    EASTHAM — Town officials are looking to create a zoning task force to examine and make recommendations on residential zoning and regulation issues, including the protection of historic homes and scenic views, the use of homes for large parties and weddings, nonresident divided ownership of properties, limits on the consolidation or merger of lots to facilitate the construction of larger homes, and the extension of the 50-percent maximum size increase rule to zoning districts outside the National Seashore.

    “For almost a year now, we have been collecting — I don’t want to call them ‘concerns,’ because they’re not all concerns, just zoning topics that appear to be either misunderstandings between the Seashore regulations and our regulations [or] things that are allowed under our zoning that we’re not sure we always want to be allowed,” said Town Administrator Jacquie Beebe during a discussion of the task force draft proposal at the select board’s Nov. 16 meeting.

    Among the issues Beebe has heard about was what she called a growing concern over residential homes being purchased and used as businesses.

    “While it was great when all of us had second-home owners renting their homes or cottages, spending two months here, and renting it to other people to pay the mortgage,” she said, “it’s totally different when someone buys the house next door and it just becomes a factory of events and things going on.”

    Select board chair Jamie Demetri, who worked on the task force proposal with Beebe and vice chair Aimee Eckman, said on Nov. 23 that the final charge for the task force should be ready for the board to vote on next month.

    Board member Arthur Autorino expressed reservations about the proposal and asked who had raised the issues being considered for review. He cautioned against creating a committee to make changes just to “satisfy a small number of people who have issues.”

    The list included in the draft proposal was derived from “collective input,” said Demetri. “It was definitely multiple people, multiple concerns, different perspectives,” she said.

    The proposed task force would have between 7 and 10 members, chosen by the select board. It would include one member of the planning board and one from the zoning board of appeals; one member from the affordable housing trust, should one apply; and other community members who are not currently serving on a town regulatory board. Staff support would be provided by the town planner.

    Select board members would not be allowed to serve on the task force, but a select board liaison would be designated.

    If the draft proposal is approved, an announcement of the availability of positions on the task force and an application would be posted on the town website.

    The draft proposal set a deadline of no later than the May 2022 annual town meeting for the task force’s suggestions for residential zoning or regulatory changes ready for consideration.

    Recommendations by the task force would be subject to approval by the select board before moving forward to a public hearing and town meeting vote.

    NATIONAL SEASHORE

    Teardown and Rebuild Gets a Green Light

    Eastham ZBA finds that no special permit is required

    By

    DoaneRd
    The Doane Road property in the Seashore where owners wish to tear down buildings and build a larger house. (Photo Linda Culhane)

    EASTHAM — The owners of a property in the Cape Cod National Seashore who want to demolish three dwellings and a garage and build a new residence and garage with an upstairs dwelling cleared a hurdle on Oct. 1 when the zoning board of appeals overturned the building inspector’s finding that a special permit was needed.

    The point of disagreement was the definition of “habitable space” in Eastham’s zoning bylaw.

    Following the recommendation of town counsel, the zoning board agreed that the allowable expansion of the dwelling on Doane Road should be based on a calculation that includes the floor space of all three dwellings as they existed in 1959.

    Former Building Commissioner Thomas Wingard, reviewing the proposal by property owners Jeffrey and Mary Eileen McAleney, had ruled that the calculation should be based only on the pre-existing main residence. His determination was supported by National Seashore officials. But the ZBA disagreed.

    “We thought we had the same understanding of the zoning,” said National Park Service planner Lauren McKean. She suggested that the town’s zoning needed some revision. “We would definitely see the rental cottage and guest cottage as accessory structures, but it is not defined that way right now by zoning.”

    Town Planner Paul Lagg said Monday that, while the town would work with the Seashore to address any confusion, changing the town’s zoning to reflect the Seashore’s definitions wouldn’t necessarily occur.

    Representing the property owners at the Oct. 1 hearing, attorney Ben Zehnder argued that the building inspector had erred in calculating street frontage and habitable floor area as well as being vague in disclosing how those conclusions were reached.

    “It just says, ‘I tend to agree with the Seashore.’ We’re not sure what that means,” said Zehnder.

    The board agreed with Zehnder and voted to overturn the special permit requirement.

    The existing floor area of the three dwellings, built in 1945 and 1948, is listed in the site plan as 3,403 square feet. The garage, built in 1977, is listed as having 880 square feet.

    The proposed new residence would have a 3,370.5-square-foot first floor and a 1,523.5-square-foot second floor. The new garage would have a first floor of 1,158 square feet and a second floor of 767 square feet.

    “Our concern is the scale of the proposal,” said McKean.

    Lagg noted that the issue of scale was not before the ZBA and would be reviewed by the planning board.

    McKean said Monday that the Seashore would like to see the project downsized and would be involved as abutters in the planning board’s hearing on the project. She acknowledged that the Seashore could still move to revoke the property’s Certificate of Suspension of Condemnation, which had been mentioned as a possibility in a letter from Supt. Brian Carlstrom earlier this year.

    © 2025 The Provincetown Independent, all rights reserved.

    terms of service