WELLFLEET — The excitement was palpable at the Adult Community Center as roughly 60 people filed in to discuss the future of Maurice’s Campground, the 22-acre parcel that the town bought in 2022 to create affordable housing.
The two-hour meeting on Aug. 1 was more like a dreaming session than a planning one: people sat around tables saying what they would like to see happen at the property. Different types of housing and the balance of density to open space were envisioned. So were bridges and tunnels that would carry pedestrians across Route 6 — and a full-length swimming pool. But there was clear consensus on one thing: the need for housing is acute.
“I know a lot of people feel an enormous sense of urgency to solve this,” said Gail Sullivan of Studio G Architects at the meeting’s start. Sullivan is leading the master planning services for the town. “Housing growth has not kept pace with the needs of the year-round community,” she said.
Sullivan pointed to sobering trends: according to the town’s 2023 housing production plan, 91 percent of the units in Wellfleet are single-family, and 66 percent are used only seasonally.
This meeting was the first of three that will take place before March, when planners hope to present a final recommendation to the select board. The next community planning session will take place on Nov. 14, at which the town’s planners will present several different visions for the property.
According to Sullivan, once the select board approves a plan the town will issue a request for proposals from developers.
Sullivan reminded the group that the timeline for development at Maurice’s has a limitation built into the purchase-and-sale agreement: when the Gauthier brothers sold the campground to the town for $6.5 million in 2022, the contract stipulated that the town would continue operating the property as a campground until 2028.
If the planning, development, and financing timeline go as planned, Sullivan said, groundbreaking will happen shortly after that six-year waiting period ends.
At each table, one of six topics was taken up: housing; open space; community and commercial space; sustainability; transportation; and Wellfleet’s “character.”
Discussion was liveliest at the housing table, where participants exchanged ideas about the relative advantages of high-density rental units, home ownership opportunities, tiny houses, and the relative needs of year-round versus seasonal workers. Also thrown into the mix were intentional communities, like housing with supportive services designated specifically for older women.
“A common theme was the way in which the lack of affordable and attainable housing in town percolates and affects everybody,” Maurice’s Campground Planning Committee member Emily Achtenberg said as she reported on that group’s discussion. “There was a feeling that we should think big. This is a once-in-a-lifetime shot.”
Sullivan told the Independent that, per zoning regulations, if the property were to be developed for single-family houses, fewer than 30 units could be built. Achtenberg added that home ownership opportunities would not be covered by government subsidies and would require town funding.
According to planning committee members Sharon Rule-Agger and Jan Plaue, who facilitated discussions regarding public space and community use, participants hoped that, whatever is developed, some part of it might be devoted to public use.
“A lot of people were quite clear that there should be some community uses,” Rule-Agger said. Ideas included meeting spaces, playgrounds, community gardens, a stage, and ample storage space. Apparently “Wellfleet is a town with great storage needs,” Rule-Agger said, with the shellfishing community and tradespeople needing a place to store equipment.
Plaue said that several participants in their group suggested that a centralized wastewater treatment facility would make a good gathering space for barbecues. Some suggested a “senior play space,” reserved for elders’ recreation.
Participants who spoke to the Independent after the meeting said they had come for various reasons. Rose Clark, who is in her mid-20s, worries about the future for young families. “I hope this project can encourage young families to stay here,” she said. “The community is dwindling.”
Select board chair John Wolf said he wants to see plentiful home ownership opportunities. “I would be reluctant to support it if that wasn’t part of the picture,” he said.
“This is all fine,” said part-time resident Charlie Rutz. “I just don’t want to see any impact on my taxes.” Businesses that need employee housing should invest more than other taxpayers, he proposed.
Sullivan told the Independent that the aim of the meeting was to gather community members to share ideas and learn about each other’s concerns. She saw the session as a success in that regard.
“We want to lay the groundwork,” she said. “Isn’t it better to have people say what they want as the starting point?”