TRURO — An organization established to provide opportunities for people with disabilities to engage in activities that others enjoy is locked in a dispute with the Truro Conservation Commission over a temporary patio extension at a condo the group owns at Bay Beach Townhomes at 544 Shore Road.

The nonprofit group failed to file a notice of intent before installing a temporary platform that extends the existing deck’s width by five feet along the length of the unit facing the bay. The condo complex is in a floodplain and the so-called velocity zone, so it is vulnerable to storms and subject to strict rules.

Lotte Diomede, co-founder and president of SMILE Mass — the acronym stands for Small Miracles in Life Exist — told the Independent and the commissioners at their July meeting that she believed the filing with the commission was not necessary because the extension was temporary and removable.

The commission has set a Sept. 1 deadline for moving the platform, but Diomede says she does not plan to comply because her organization has families who have booked the unit through Nov. 10, the end of the group’s season. Without the platform, she says, people who use wheelchairs will not be able to use the outdoor space.

Dealing With Erosion

SMILE Mass initially rented Unit 3 in 2018 and then purchased it in 2020 after upgrading it to provide universal access on the main level. The aim was to give families who have loved ones with disabilities the chance to enjoy a Cape Cod vacation free of the obstacles they would face in standard accommodations. Diomede has experienced such challenges firsthand: her son Nicholas was born with several disabilities, needs round-the-clock care, and uses a wheelchair.

Until recently, the sand at Bay Beach was flush with the deck on the condos. SMILE Mass’s solution was simply to put down Mobi mats so that beach wheelchairs could be wheeled from the deck area down to and even into the water — the chairs float.

Recent storms eroded the sand, however, leaving it about seven inches below the 10-unit complex’s decks. The homeowners’ association secured permission from the conservation commission to bring in sand and plant beach grass. While the permit allows the association to extend the sand right up to the decks, the restoration area stops several feet short of the condos.

SMILE’s temporary patio, which sits above the sand on eight pavers, was constructed in four removable sections and installed in early June. The building commissioner gave it his approval but told Diomede the extension must also get conservation commission review.

Conservation Agent Emily Beebe emailed Diomede on June 4 saying she had told her “on more than one occasion” that the deck required review. “The process is to submit your intentions in writing prior to conducting the activity,” she wrote. Discussion of the project was put on the commission’s July 1 agenda.

At that meeting, Diomede asked for an exception for the rest of this season, saying that the unit is used solely by people with disabilities or in hospice. “We have a wait list of almost 100 families, and we’re packed for this season,” Diomede said.

Diomede had letters of support from Cathy Taylor, director of services for the Hyannis-based Cape Organization for the Rights of the Disabled, and from people who have stayed in the unit.

Exception Denied

Beebe responded that she was not trying to be punitive but to enforce the rules. She suggested allowing the temporary extension to stay until Sept. 15 and requiring SMILE Mass to file a notice of intent this fall for use of the patio in 2025.

Commissioner Robert White said the patio could become an airborne hazard in a hurricane. “I would think we would want this out of there by Sept. 1,” he said. He also urged the commission to require a written hurricane plan from SMILE Mass, which the organization has since provided.

The commissioners ordered the patio extension be removed by Sept. 1.

At the commission’s August meeting, SMILE board member Jayne Sheehan asked for an extension to early November because the unit is booked until then.

Commission chair Carol Girard-Irwin told Sheehan the best solution would be to build the sand up to the deck. But the patio, she said, should be removed by Sept. 1, as previously ordered. Sheehan said it would be difficult to persuade the homeowners’ association to bring in sand at the height of the season.

Commissioner Clint Kershaw pointed out the need for a railing at the edge of the patio extension to stop a wheelchair from rolling off the edge and tipping over. Sheehan said that could be added.

The commission voted 3-2 to deny the extension request, with Girard-Irwin, White, and Kershaw voting against an extension that Linda Noons-Rose and Connie Mather were ready to grant.

On Aug. 26, Diomede told the Independent that an attempt to get the homeowners’ association to bring in more sand had been unsuccessful. She said association treasurer Peter Spina had suggested SMILE Mass rake the sand to build it up to past levels, but that her group concluded that would be impossible, given the amount of sand needed.

Spina told the Independent that Diomede had not consulted the trustees before installing the platform. “If she had, we would have required [her] to get approval from the conservation commission first,” Spina wrote. The review for their plan to add sand and plantings to the beach area had taken a long time, he added.

Spina said that he has told Diomede that the association could address her concerns in its next phase of erosion control, which will also require conservation commission approval, though they do have a three-year permit to bring in sand for beach nourishment.