Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers’ Association Archives

Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers’ Association

CIVICS

Truro Now Has Two Part-Time Residents Groups

TPRTA president denies having encouraged part-timers to register to vote

By Sophie Mann-Shafir Jul 17, 2024

This article was updated on July 19.

TRURO — As Cape Cod’s most seasonal town, Truro has been a hotspot for questions about whether people have the right to vote in towns where they live only part time.

A controversial campaign last summer and fall resulted in 32 people having their new voter registrations in Truro upheld by the town’s board of registrars, while 34 other people either withdrew their recent registrations or were removed from the town’s voter roll. In the wake of those hearings, the select board revived the town’s Part-Time Resident Advisory Committee (PTRAC), which had not met since 2018, and appointed six new members.

That group’s first meeting since being reconstituted was on June 26. It was largely procedural, but Stephen Duncombe and Phineas Baxandall were elected co-chairs, and the committee discussed plans for a community forum in August.

Anthony Garrett, president of Truro’s longstanding privately organized part-timers’ group, the Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers’ Association (TPRTA), said of the new committee that “we’re excited about that actually, in a good way.”

Garrett said the new committee has an opportunity “to present the positions that are of interest to part-time residents directly to the select board.”

A Campaign Reverberates

The TPRTA held its annual meeting on Saturday, July 6. The meeting was open to members and invited guests only; a reporter from the Independent was not allowed to observe. At last summer’s annual meeting, on July 1, 2023, the membership had voted to launch the controversial voter registration campaign.

According to minutes from that meeting that were posted this month, “Members unanimously voted for TPRTA to engage in a voter registration and GOTV effort in 2023-24 to increase voting by eligible part-time residents in a lawful manner.”

But after this year’s annual meeting, Garrett told the Independent that the TPRTA had not encouraged its members to register to vote in Truro. “We really educated our membership, and then they made their own decisions,” Garrett said. “There was no encouragement to do anything.”

Garrett’s denial is inconsistent with the group’s emails last year. “If you have ever considered registering to vote in Truro, now is the time,” read an email sent by TPRTA leadership to its membership last fall. “The voices of Truro’s part-time resident taxpayers need to be heard now more than ever — as voters. The time is now, when so much is at stake,” the email continued.

The email also included links to online voter registration platforms. “Register ASAP at least one member of your Truro household to vote in Truro if you can,” it said, with the first two words in bold-face type.

Another email sent by TPRTA vice president Regan McCarthy on Aug. 6, 2023 was intended only for the TPRTA’s board members. It mentioned members’ unanimous vote “for TPRTA to spearhead a voter registration effort,” but said that effort should stay “under the radar.”

Asked about those documents, Garrett said that McCarthy’s memo had not been intended for a wider audience. “There was an internal board memo which was not disseminated to our membership,” he said. “That was a confidential document for discussion at a board meeting.”

McCarthy’s memo states the goal “to get 200 ‘part-timers’ to register to vote in Truro” before the fall special town meeting.

David Sullivan, a voting rights expert who authored the state’s manual on “Residence for Voting Purposes,” told the Independent last fall that part-timers wrongfully voting in a town can dilute the authority of a town’s rightful voters. “You’ve got to distinguish the right to vote of someone who is an actual resident of the town from someone who is not a legal resident of the town and does not have the right to register to vote there,” Sullivan said.

A challenge from voter Raphael Richter to 66 newly registered voters last fall resulted in the months-long delay of the special town meeting. The board of registrars held hearings at which challenged voters were asked to document their residency. Just over half of those voters withdrew or were found not to be residents.

Sullivan told the Independent this week that he stood by his comments from the fall. “There’s nothing wrong with encouraging people to register to vote if they’re eligible, meaning in this case that they’re residents of the town,” he said.

Garrett said the “confidential” McCarthy memo had been “leaked by a former board member, and he subsequently resigned from the board.”

The select board held an executive session on July 9 “to discuss strategy with respect to pending and threatened litigation.” The public agenda listed “voter registration complaints” as one of nine existing or potential cases.

Garrett said he was not aware of any litigation: “This is the first I’m hearing of it,” he said.

The chair and vice chair of the select board declined to comment on any litigation.

Looking Forward

Garrett said the TPRTA’s roughly 400 members have three areas of focus this year: the residential tax exemption (RTE), the new DPW facility, and affordable housing.

A chart from the Cape Cod Commission shows that Truro has the highest percentage of seasonally vacant homes in the region — just over 71 percent of the town’s total housing stock. (Image courtesy Cape Cod Commission)

The RTE allows year-round residents to exempt 30 percent of the town’s median property value from the assessed value of their homes when calculating property taxes. According to information on the town’s website, the deduction amount was $312,841 last year, and the deduction can be taken whether an owner or a renter is the year-round occupant.

About 70 percent of members who responded to the TPRTA’s annual survey support eliminating the RTE, according to survey results obtained by the Independent.

Regarding the DPW, Garrett said members agree the town needs a new facility. “The prevailing desire of the entire community is that it be located on Town Hall Hill, but that’s not necessarily a TPRTA position,” said Garrett, who is also a member of the town’s ad hoc building committee.

When it comes to housing, “the TPRTA wants to make it clear that we are not averse to affordable housing,” Garrett said, adding that members want to make sure development “is done in an appropriate manner.”

“Given the fragile nature of the infrastructure in Truro, we just want to make sure that proper densities are maintained to not only protect the environment but also maintain the rural character of the town,” Garrett said.

According to U.S. Census data from the Cape Cod Commission, Truro has the highest percentage of seasonally vacant houses on Cape Cod — more than 70 percent.

In the next-most-seasonal towns, Wellfleet and Eastham, 61 percent and 59 percent of houses are seasonally vacant, respectively, according to a chart based on data from the 2021 American Community Survey.

Truro has established a new advisory committee to help steer the development of the 70-acre Walsh property for open space and housing. Garrett said that committee would be “the watch group of that development.”

Editor’s note: Because of a reporting error, an earlier version of this article, published in print on July 18, incorrectly stated that Frank Korahais had left the board of the TPRTA during the past year. He is still a member of the board, and he told the Independent that he had nothing to do with the leaking of the confidential memo referred to in the article. The Independent regrets the error.

VOTING IN TRURO

Final Challenges End in Three Upheld Voter Registrations

Two challenges filed by Slater were against town committee chairs

By Sophie Mann-Shafir Apr 24, 2024

TRURO — The board of registrars heard a final set of challenges to voter registrations on Tuesday, April 16 and upheld all three.

Truro voter Jon Slater had disputed the Truro residency, and therefore the right to vote here, of Robert Panessiti, Nancy Medoff, and Daniel Paisner. Panessiti is chair of the town’s finance committee and vice chair of its charter review committee, while Medoff chairs the charter review committee, serves on the zoning board of appeals, and is running for a seat on the Truro Select Board.

Full hearings were held for Panessiti and Medoff, after which Slater withdrew his complaint against Paisner, who is Medoff’s spouse.

These three challenges, filed on Oct. 27, came on the heels of 67 other voter challenges, dozens of which were heard by the registrars in November and January. Twenty-two of those challenged voters withdrew their Truro registrations without a hearing; another 13 voters were removed by the registrars.

A Registration Campaign

The first 66 challenges were filed last fall after news emerged about a self-described “under the radar” voter registration campaign organized by the Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers’ Association (TPRTA). That effort encouraged the organization’s members to register to vote in Truro, even temporarily, whether or not it was their domicile.

Jon Slater filed the three latest voter registration challenges that were heard last week. Robert Panessiti, Nancy Medoff, and Daniel Paisner all had their right to vote in town upheld.

“Capriciously changing your registration between municipalities is not appropriate and frankly, is not right,” Town Clerk and registrars chair Elisabeth Verde wrote in a letter to the TPRTA. “In fact, it does a disservice to the community.”

A special town meeting had been set for Oct. 21; it was delayed three times as challenges to voter registrations were heard.

By the time the fourth date for the meeting, Nov. 28, rolled around, so many voters turned out that Truro Central School couldn’t hold them, and the meeting was postponed to May 4, when it could be held outdoors under a tent.

Unlike the first group of challenges, the three heard on April 16 were against voters heavily involved in town affairs.

Slater said he intentionally challenged people with municipal roles. “I chose them because as Town officials leading or serving on important committees, at least one of which requires voter status, it seemed appropriate to test the voter registration criteria on persons where voter status was relevant to their official performance of duties,” Slater wrote to the Independent.

Finance committee and zoning board of appeals members must be town residents.

Slater presented documentation of Panessiti’s paying personal property tax in Truro and taking a residential tax exemption in Boston and a professional biography that lists Boston and Truro as home.

Panessiti had three witnesses testify that he is a full-time resident, including Town Accountant Trudi Brazil and Seamen’s Bank President and Truro Finance Committee member Lori Meads.

His third witness, artist Breon Dunigan, said Panessiti “would have to be a superhuman to have the center of his life be anywhere but Truro, because he is so dedicated.” His right to vote in Truro was unanimously upheld by the registrars.

Challenging Medoff, Slater submitted records of her personal property tax paid in Truro, her out-of-town mailing address in Brookline, and her travels to Florida, and business documents connected to Brookline. “She’s quite clearly committing a large number of weeks in certain times of year to being outside of Truro,” Slater said.

Medoff’s car has been garaged in Truro since 2019, she said, and her driver’s license address is here, too. She named a slew of committees on which she served in the past five years and provided hair salon invoices and credit card transactions at local businesses. Her registration was unanimously upheld.

Slater had planned to challenge the supporting documents of Medoff and Panesitti in his arguments against their residency, but because he had not submitted them with his own paperwork, he was not allowed to. He withdrew his case against Paisner after the registrars upheld Medoff’s registration.

“It’s not been possible for me to make the case in the way in which I wanted to,” Slater said.

Same Hearings, Different Views

Raphael Richter, who challenged the residency of 66 newly registered voters last fall, had told the Independent he saw the challenges as protecting the integrity of the voter roll.

Left to right: Town Clerk and board of registrars chair Elisabeth Verde, Francis Johnson, and Elizabeth Sturdy questioning Jon Slater. (Photos by Elias Duncan)

But Slater said Richter’s challenges were a threat to voting rights and accused the town of carrying out “voter rights abuse.” The hearings were part of that injustice, he said.

Slater also said the delay of special town meeting that resulted from the challenges and subsequent hearings had succeeded in putting off votes that the town’s leaders “probably would lose.”

Postponing the meeting “was an expression of the Town’s determination to suppress the vote and make sure that opponents of the DPW and of Walsh” — the two major municipal initiatives on the special town meeting warrant — “never got or get to vote,” Slater said.

A new Dept. of Public Works building is the subject of Articles 2, 3, and 4 on the special town meeting warrant on May 4, while a plan for housing at the Walsh property is the subject of Articles 5 and 6.

Suspicions directed at town leadership were voiced loudly last fall, stoked in part by Slater.

Slater helped create a “Take Back Truro” newsletter with Mike Janoplis. Slater was also behind a petition last summer to remove Town Manager Darrin Tangeman, citing fears of Truro losing its rural ethos and “becoming increasingly suburbanized.”

At the second and third dates for the special town meeting — at which Moderator Paul Wisotzky immediately moved the meeting to later dates because the voter challenges had not yet been resolved — protesters organized by Take Back Truro heckled and yelled at Wisotzky.

On April 16, Slater wanted to know why his three challenges were heard so long after Richter’s when they were filed only 10 days later.

Richter’s challenges were filed just before a key deadline and had to be resolved so that the voter roll for the May 4 continuance of that meeting could be finalized. The challenges by Slater came after that Oct. 17 deadline.

Verde also attributed the delay to other factors including Slater’s voluminous public records requests.

Slater has filed six records requests since last August, several of which have multiple parts and seek correspondence between the town and six or eight other people, agencies, or newspapers.

“He wanted that material before the hearings happened, so that took some time,” Verde told the Independent. “And then once we had the presidential primary ahead of us, I had to hit pause on the hearings.”

Residential Tax Exemption

Panessiti is now the fourth challenged voter who has claimed a residential tax exemption (RTE) in another town and had his voter registration in Truro upheld.

Robert Panessiti, chair of the town’s finance committee and vice chair of the charter review committee, was the first of three challenged voters to be heard.

In November, the board unanimously voted that Dyanne Klein could keep voting in Truro despite her claiming an RTE in Boston. Klein had also voted in a Boston election one day before switching her registration to Truro.

Rosemary Boyle, who claims an RTE in Boston, was initially removed from the town’s voter roll at her November hearing. She appealed, and her registration was reinstated later that month. At that hearing, Boyle said she had begun filing paperwork to give up her Boston RTE.

According to Boston Assessor’s Dept. records, Boyle still received a residential tax exemption for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024.

Anne Greenbaum, the 67th challenged voter and the only one to be challenged by someone other than Richter or Slater, had her registration upheld in January. (Greenbaum was challenged by former Town Moderator Monica Kraft.)

Greenbaum claims an RTE on the property she shares with her wife in Jamaica Plain. She told the registrars that she is domiciled in Truro, but her wife’s move from Jamaica Plain to Truro was still “in process,” which accounted for the RTE. The board unanimously accepted that explanation.

Similar to Greenbaum, Panessiti attributed the RTE on his Boston property to his co-owner. “As long as one party who has substantial interest in the property chooses to take that exemption in Boston, I am bound by that,” said Panessiti. “So, I have no control over the situation.”

When Slater asked whether Panessiti would continue taking the RTE, he said, “It is something I am attached to legally.”

Slater said it was not sustainable to argue that a co-owner’s actions had cleared Panessiti of his responsibility.

Verde later told the Independent that, speaking for herself and not her board, “I think it was a gray area. It becomes more complicated when there’s more than one owner. You just have to look at all of the factors as a whole, and not just one factor.”

As of April 19, Verde said, there were no further challenges to voter registrations.

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 Sophie Mann-Shafir Feb 7, 2024

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.”

VOTER CHALLENGES

Registrars Strike 3 Names but Keep 5 Others

By Sophie Mann-Shafir Nov 8, 2023

TRURO — On the first night of hearings on dozens of voter challenges, the board of registrars struck three names from the town’s rolls but upheld the registrations of five others. All of the board’s votes were unanimous.

The Truro Board of Registrars. Left to right: Town Counsel Lauren Goldberg (back to camera), Julie Cataldo, chair Elisabeth Verde, vice chair Elizabeth Sturdy, and clerk Heather Harper. (Photos by Elias Duncan)

The hearings continued on Tuesday and may take several more sessions to work through all the cases.

All of the challenged voters who appeared on Monday at the community center were represented by Donna Brewer or Andrew Bettinelli, lawyers with Harrington Heep, a Wellesley firm that specializes in municipal law. Brewer said that Harrington Heep was representing “about 27” of the challenged voters.

Brewer declined to say whether the Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers Association (TPRTA) had been involved in retaining her. But she disputed the idea that the TPRTA board had done anything illegal.

“To the extent that anyone is trying to suggest that get-out-the-vote campaigns are improper or somehow wrong, that could not be further from the truth,” Brewer said. “There is absolutely nothing wrong about anybody encouraging people to vote.” She said that the TPRTA condoning temporary registration changes would be an “incorrect reading” of the organization’s emails to its members.

Raphael Richter had filed 66 challenges. “The data clearly shows that something strange is afoot in Truro when it comes to voter registration, especially so close to a special town meeting,” he said.

Brewer assailed “the weaknesses of the particular types of proof that Mr. Richter is relying on to try to disenfranchise over 50 people.” Not being on the street list, Brewer said, “means nothing.” Mailing addresses, she said, “are nothing more than a convenience.”

Registrations Upheld

Richter’s challenge of Susan Rocca included four pieces of evidence: not appearing on the annual street listing in Truro, paying personal property tax and not excise tax here, and that when she registered to vote on Aug. 12, she did so with a Boston mailing address.

“After more than a decade of homeownership in Truro, in May of this year, I completed the transition from part-time to full-time resident,” Rocca told the registrars.

Attorney Donna Brewer, left, and challenged registrant Susan Rocca. Brewer, of Harrington Heep, represented some of the challenged registrants.

She provided records from the Registry of Motor Vehicles for vehicles garaged at her house on Fishermans Road. Her personal property tax payments, Rocca said, “are likely a holdover from 2012, when we purchased the house and lived here mostly part-time.”

Rocca described her ties to the town. “We have spent more than a decade preparing our home in Truro for our retirement,” she said.

Rocca and her husband moved their belongings to Truro this May, she said; she provided a receipt from a moving company. Rocca said she has been volunteering at the Truro Food Pantry and Truro Community Kitchen and has records of at least 47 trips to Provincetown and Orleans supermarkets since May, the same month she became vice president of the Cranberry Hill Homeowners Association.

In a declaration of homestead made just over a year ago, Richter said, Rocca had named Boston her primary residence.

“The paperwork appears that she’s been very involved throughout most of the year here,” said registrar Julie Cataldo.

“I’m slightly bothered by the homestead, but I realize that all this paperwork is a process and you’ve only been at this for several months,” said registrar Heather Harper. “All the other evidence shows me that, for at least now, this is your primary residence.”

“Removing someone from the voter roll is a serious thing that we do not take lightly, and we really need to have definitive proof,” said chair Elisabeth Verde, who moved dismissal of the challenge.

The board also upheld the registration of Diedra Dietter, who registered to vote on Sept. 8 with a mailing address in Farmington, Conn. Dietter said her family began spending more time at their Truro home when the Covid pandemic hit.

“We love this town; we’re so very happy to be here,” Dietter said. She described her ties to the Outer Cape, which included memberships at the Provincetown Theater, Pamet Yacht and Tennis Club, Payomet, Mass Audubon, and Truro Vineyards “six out of the last seven years.” She also described organizations she contributes to financially.

“I think this is the most definitive: I switched my hairdresser to Orleans last year,” Dietter said, to chuckles from the crowd.

Registrations Removed

Rosemary Boyle was among the three voters struck from the rolls. She was not present due to a medical appointment, according to her ex-husband, Brian Boyle, who testified under oath in her place.

Richter’s evidence included Boyle’s paying personal property tax in Truro, lack of excise tax payments here, the residential tax exemption she claims on her Boston condo, and her declaration of homestead at her Boston address.

Brian Boyle addressed the tax issues by saying Rosemary “continues to dot the ‘i’s and cross the ‘t’s of her primary residency status.” He described her Truro library and Wellfleet gym memberships and support for local charitable organizations and presented several framed family photos as evidence, including a portrait of their children on a Truro beach. “A picture is worth a thousand words,” he said.

“Truro has always been Rosemary’s North Star, the center of her spiritual world,” he said.

Brian Boyle, who testified under oath in place of his ex-wife, Rosemary Boyle, returns to the table after presenting the registrars with a family photo as evidence. “A picture is worth a thousand words,” he said.

He said Rosemary had lived here full-time since 2020. Verde had retrieved her voter history, which showed that she had been voting in Weston or Boston until Nov. 8, 2022. When Verde asked what prompted Rosemary to change her registration this year, Brian said, “I think the thing that really tipped the scales for her was when she saw the recount happen this year and realized that a single vote could make a difference in Truro.”

“Just to clarify,” Verde said, “a single vote counts anywhere, and it should be in the town that you live in.”

Since registering to vote, Rosemary had submitted paperwork to appear on the street listing and to cancel her Boston RTE. Because those documents are dated as recently as Nov. 2, Richter called them “remedial.”

Richter questioned Boyle’s lack of a sworn statement. “I’m just not sure how much you can trust a statement from a voter who has not appeared, not signed a statement, and is not here to be cross-examined or answer any questions from the board,” he said.

Town Manager Darrin Tangeman said that counsel had advised the registrars that challenged registrants could have testimony delivered by attorneys or family members.

“I think it’s clear that Ms. Boyle is intending to make this her primary residence,” said Verde. “I question whether it was at the beginning of October.”

“It feels like the process was: change voter registration and then change other things almost to prove that after the fact,” said Cataldo.

The board unanimously voted to remove Boyle from the rolls.

On Monday, the board also removed Gonzalo Castro and Joan Boratis from the voter list. Boratis was in Florida, so her hearing could be reopened when she returns.

In addition to Rocca’s and Dietter’s registrations, they upheld those of Karen Kinsella, Roberta Kinsella, and Gail Pisapio. After Pisapio’s registration was upheld, Richter withdrew his challenge of her husband, Lawrence Pisapio.

As of Nov. 3, 20 of the 66 voters challenged by Raphael Richter had switched their registrations out of Truro. Richter had withdrawn three challenges.

TRURO VOTERS

Truro Special Town Meeting Will Be Held on Nov. 16

Moderator will continue meeting again

By Sophie Mann-Shafir Nov 1, 2023

TRURO — The rescheduled special town meeting will be postponed again, according to an Oct. 30 press release from the town. It is now set for Thursday, Nov. 16 at 5:30 p.m. at Truro Central School.

On Oct. 21, the original date for the meeting, it was postponed to Nov. 2 after more than 60 voter registration challenges were submitted. The board of registrars deemed all of them worthy of hearings.

The meeting warrant includes articles on development of the Walsh property and construction of a new DPW facility.

According to the release, on Nov. 2 Town Moderator Paul Wisotzky will continue the meeting again “in order to allow for the pending voter registration challenges to be heard and resolved.”

The release further states that voters are welcome to attend on Nov. 2, but “the Moderator will only open the meeting and continue it for up to another 14 days pursuant to GL. c.39, §10. There will be no check-in for voters and the Town Moderator will not be taking any motions, questions or undertaking any of the business on the special town meeting warrant.”

The voter challenges were filed after an email sent to the board of the Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers Association (TPRTA) by vice president Regan McCarthy was made public. The email included instructions for switching one’s voter registration.

In a letter to the TPRTA, Town Clerk Elisabeth Verde wrote, “The email that you sent to your members advised them that they could register to vote in Truro even if it is not their primary domicile. This is not correct.” McCarthy’s email also advised members that they could temporarily change their registration to Truro, then switch it back to another town.

“Capriciously changing your registration between municipalities is not appropriate and frankly, is not right,” Verde wrote. “In fact, it does a disservice to the community that someone should be voting in.”

Of the 67 challenged voters, nine were no longer registered in Truro as of a voter roll dated Oct. 27. Summonses are being served this week for hearings before the registrars, which must be scheduled within 2 to 14 days of the summons being issued.

VOTING IN TRURO

Special Town Meeting Will Wait for Clean Voter Rolls

67 disputed registrations will be reviewed by registrars

By Sophie Mann-Shafir Oct 25, 2023

TRURO — Challenges to dozens of voter registrations led town officials to delay the special town meeting scheduled for Oct. 21. The meeting, which was to consider both the Walsh property development plan and a new DPW facility, is now set for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2. It may be put off further because of the large number of voter challenges.

Truro Town Counsel John Giorgio speaks to an angry crowd outside the school on Saturday morning. (Photo by Elias Duncan)

Raphael Richter of Truro submitted 66 of the 67 complaints received by the town clerk last week in sworn affidavits.

Richter said that emails from the Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers Association (TPRTA) prompted him to review the voter rolls, where he noticed a “significant change in the typical voting registration patterns.”

Between July 1, when the TPRTA launched a voter registration effort, and Oct. 11, the deadline to register for town meeting, 119 new voters were added.

Of the 66 voters challenged by Richter, 14 claim a residential tax exemption (RTE) in another town, the Independent found. Thirty-three are registered Democrats, 31 are unenrolled, one is a Republican, and one a Libertarian. Each challenge lists at least three pieces of potential evidence of nonresidence, including not appearing on the Truro street listing, not paying a vehicle excise tax here, and registering with an out-of-town mailing address.

At a meeting on Oct. 18, the newly reconstituted board of registrars convened to determine whether there were “sufficient grounds to move forward,” said Town Counsel Lauren Goldberg, the managing attorney of KP Law, at the meeting. Although the burden of proof rests on the challenger, Goldberg said, that person “does not need to prove whether any person lives or doesn’t live in town.” Based on those standards, the registrars determined that 66 of the challenges were substantive enough to call for a hearing.

A 67th complaint will also be reviewed. Filed by former Town Moderator Monica Kraft, it challenges the registration of Anne Greenbaum, vice chair of the planning board. Greenbaum has been a voter in Truro since January 2017, according to the voter rolls, and claims the RTE for her home in Boston. If removed as a voter, Greenbaum would no longer be eligible to serve on the planning board under select board policy #13.

Greenbaum told the Independent she “absolutely” plans to go through with a hearing. “This is where I do all of my volunteer work, civic work,” she said. She added that she plans to sell her house in Boston.

The town sent a letter stating residency requirements for voting to all challenged registrants on Oct. 20, said Town Manager Darrin Tangeman. He said Monday that the town would issue summonses for hearings this week. Voters will be examined under oath at the hearings.

According to David Sullivan, an elections law attorney who drafted the state’s Residency for Voting Purposes manual, “a key factor is how much time you spend sleeping and eating in the community. It’s not decisive, but it’s very important.”

The law states, “If a voter fails to appear at the hearing and the complainant produces enough evidence to show the registrars that the voter should not be registered, the voter’s name shall be removed from the list of voters.” The hearing must be reopened if the voter appears before the next election.

Updated Voter Rolls

Richter said he believed many people changed their registrations based on inaccurate information. He hoped they would “contact the clerk and remove themselves prior to a hearing. Obviously, it is unacceptable to dilute the vote of actual residents by improperly registering to vote in a place you do not in fact live.”

Six of the 67 challenged voters were no longer registered in Truro as of an updated list on Monday, Oct. 23. One of the six, Kingsley Weihe, said she switched her registration back to Boston last week after reading articles in the Independent and the Cape Cod Times.

She registered in Truro after receiving misinformation from the TPRTA. “The person who suggested that I should do it said it’s completely legal,” Weihe said. “It felt a little fishy to me. I finally did it because I’m very concerned about the shortage of affordable housing.”

Terry Rothchild of Newton, who is also no longer registered in Truro, said, “Our family has had a home in Truro for almost 50 years. We feel like no one has the right to not let us vote on something when we pay such high property taxes.”

Terry’s husband, Joseph Rothchild, remains registered in Truro. He said he plans to go through with the registrars’ hearing. The couple are members of the TPRTA, though they said they registered in Truro of their own volition.

In an email to the Independent, the TPRTA Executive Committee wrote, “We share the ever-deepening concerns expressed by 125+ Truro citizens on October 21st that the Town of Truro is apparently engaged in voter suppression and intimidation of all voters, not just new voters.”

The TPRTA would not disclose who the executive committee members are.

Protest in Response

Town officials gathered outside the Truro Central School on Saturday, Oct. 21 to announce the continued date for the special town meeting. A crowd of about 75 was there, with several people carrying signs of protest.

Beverly Miller and Stephanie O’Neill put their claims on signs. (Photo by Nancy Bloom)

Many had been summoned by Take Back Truro, a self-proclaimed “citizens’ movement focused on keeping Truro rural” and on town projects “at a scale Truro needs and taxpayers can afford.” The group sent an email on Oct. 20 planning the “Rally for Truro” to coincide with the postponed town meeting. The group’s newsletter is compiled by Jon Slater and Mike Janoplis.

Town officials were aware of the group’s plan, and there was police detail onsite.

Town Moderator Paul Wisotzky exercised his legal authority to unilaterally continue the town meeting for up to 14 days to give the registrars time to consider the voter challenges.

As Wisotzky spoke, and as Town Counsel John Giorgio answered questions, the crowd jeered and heckled them, periodically drowning out the speakers.

“Please give me the courtesy of listening to me,” Wisotzky said repeatedly.

The crowd interrupted, booing, calling on officials to “resign,” and yelling, “You don’t deserve our respect!”

One protestor disputed Wisotzky’s reason for delaying the meeting under state law.

In a memo to the moderator dated Oct. 20, attorney Goldberg argued that the voter challenges did fall under the law’s rationale. “Should persons not entitled to vote participate in Town Meeting, in my opinion, the Moderator can properly conclude that votes of all properly registered voters of the Town will be diluted, thereby excluding them from participation,” Goldberg wrote.

Mike Fee, an attorney, Truro resident, and former town moderator in Sudbury, said he “absolutely believes” the postponement falls within Wisotzky’s discretion under this clause. Most statutes stipulating powers of the moderator “are general in nature because they can’t address every possible scenario,” Fee said.

This section’s “intent and purpose is that if the moderator feels for any reason that there’s a circumstance that would cause the integrity of the proceedings to be questioned, then they have the right and the obligation to postpone it until those circumstances are corrected,” said Fee.

The Town’s Response

Town officials posted a message on social media on Oct. 23 about the “lack of civility and disruptive conduct” at Saturday’s gathering. “Regrettably, a few individuals started to disrupt the proceedings by heckling and using offensive language towards both the Town Moderator and Town Counsel,” the post said. “Additionally, there were anti-veteran remarks directed at the Town Manager, along with threats aimed at our Town’s elected officials.”

Kathleen Henry, the President of Highland Affordable Housing, put just two words on her sign. (Photo by Nancy Bloom)

Select board chair Kristen Reed filed a police report after the event because one attendee repeatedly told her he knew where she lived. “While I acknowledge that this information is publicly available, it is entirely unacceptable to use it as a means of threat or retaliation,” Reed said. “Every resident of Truro should feel safe, regardless of their personal opinions, political positions, or voting preferences.”

“I completely understand that people want to be understood; we all do,” Wisotzky told the Independent on Monday. “But when people shout, heckle, interrupt, and prevent others from speaking, it shuts people down and it pushes people away. If that kind of behavior happens at town meeting, I will not allow it.”

Under Mass. General Law Chapter 39, Section 17, “If a person, after warning from the moderator, persists in disorderly behavior, the moderator may order him to withdraw from the meeting, and, if he does not withdraw, may order a constable or any other person to remove him and confine him in some convenient place until the meeting is adjourned.”

Wisotzky said he thought most of Saturday’s crowd came to listen and learn. “It was a small group of people who were extremely disruptive and disrespectful,” he said, “and it was unnecessary.”

Wisotzky said he chose to continue town meeting on advice from town counsel, the state Elections Division, and the town clerk. “I didn’t make this decision in a vacuum,” he said.

Tangeman said that “to ensure the integrity of town meeting and the vote,” the town will wait to hold town meeting until every challenge is resolved. He cited town election last May, when a one-vote margin at the ballot box led to an official recount that determined a three-vote difference.

“Even one vote can determine the outcome of something,” Tangeman said, “so it’s important that every challenge has been resolved before we have town meeting.”

TRURO: BREAKING NEWS

TPRTA Misled Members on Voter Registration; Town Meeting Postponed

Registars will hear 67 challenges; special town meeting now set for Nov. 2

By Sophie Mann-Shafir Oct 19, 2023

This article was updated on Thursday, Oct. 19.

TRURO — A voter registration drive organized by the board of the Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers Association (TPRTA) encouraging part-time residents to register here appears to have resulted in a surge in voter registrations this summer and fall. Scores of those registrations were challenged this week.

Town officials announced on Thursday that the special town meeting planned for this Saturday has been rescheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2 to allow time for the board of registrars to hold hearings on 67 registration challenges. Town Moderator Paul Wisotzky “will exercise his authority pursuant to the provisions of G.L. c.39, §10 to unilaterally continue the October 21, 2023 meeting for up to 14 days,” according to a press release. Depending on the progress of the hearings, Wisotzky may further continue the meeting “for another 14 days,” it said.

The TPRTA’s registration drive was conducted “under the radar,” according to a confidential email sent to the organization’s board by vice president Regan McCarthy on Aug. 6. That email recently surfaced outside the group. “As you know, membership voted unanimously at this year’s annual meeting for TPRTA to spearhead a voter registration effort,” McCarthy’s email begins.

“We have nearly 450 Massachusetts-based member households,” McCarthy wrote. “Imagine what we can accomplish together if we get 30-50 percent of these to register one or two members permanently or even temporarily for the upcoming critical Fall Town Meeting of Saturday, Oct. 21.”

“You have a right as an individual or as a household to declare Truro as your home and to register one or more eligible persons in your household to vote from your Truro home if you wish,” read another email from a tprta.org email account that appears to have been sent to a wider membership circle. “It is our choice and right, if it works for our lives,” the email says.

According to David Sullivan, former legal counsel to the Mass. Secretary of the Commonwealth and an expert on voting rights, that is not how voting works.

“You’ve got to distinguish the right to vote of someone who is an actual resident of the town from someone who is not a legal resident of the town and does not have the right to register to vote there,” Sullivan said. “The voting rights of the true residents of the town are being diluted by people who are registering illegally.”

Sullivan was the original author of the state’s manual on the subject, “Residence for Voting Purposes,” which the town of Truro highlighted on its website on Oct. 13.

McCarthy’s email is labeled “CONFIDENTIAL” in the subject line. McCarthy refused to confirm that she had written the email. She told a reporter that, because the email is confidential, “You shouldn’t have it.”

The email includes a plan of action for a get-out-the-vote campaign using phone banking by members of the organization as well as step-by-step instructions for switching where you vote.

When asked about the voter registration campaign, McCarthy said, “You know very well that other people in this town are phone banking for the same purpose for other reasons. What’s the problem with phone banking?”

McCarthy insisted that her perspective on voting lined up with information presented by Town Counsel Lauren Goldberg of KP Law, who spoke to the select board on Oct. 10 about voter registration.

But experts said that McCarthy’s email is inconsistent with the law. For instance, the email says, “You can also split your household votes if there are tax or other implications at your current primary residence.”

That, Sullivan said, “is very unlikely to be legal.”

The Town’s Response

On Friday, Oct. 13, town officials posted a statement online. “It has come to the Town’s attention that misinformation may be circulating about the standards for voter registration in the Town,” was its first sentence.

On Monday, Oct. 16, Town Manager Darrin Tangeman said that the town was working with counsel to ensure that only legitimately registered voters would be able to vote at the special town meeting.

The state’s voting manual says, “It is essential to understand that residence is an objective concept and not a subjective concept. That is, what counts is not where a person thinks his or her residence is, or wants it to be, but rather where the objective facts show it is.”

The manual also lays out the process for challenging a registration. Any registered voter may file a sworn complaint with evidence, at which point the town’s board of registrars decides whether to hold a hearing.

No single fact determines a person’s residence — but factors that help determine it include residential tax exemptions, business interests, and vehicle registration.

The deadline to challenge a voter’s registration for the Oct. 21 town meeting was Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 5 p.m. Sixty-seven voter registrations were challenged by the deadline, Tangeman said. One of those challenges was later determined to have been received after the deadline, so the number of challenges to be considered was reduced to 66. When the town meeting was rescheduled to Nov. 2, however, that extended the deadline for voter challenges to Oct. 27, and the 67th one was put back on the list.

Legal Issues

Changing one’s voter registration can have consequences including the loss of residential privileges — like property tax exemptions, school enrollment, and parking rights — in the voter’s previously declared town.

People who know the rules and register improperly anyway may be committing a crime. “Summer residents who know they are not eligible to register and do so anyway commit a crime that could send them to jail for up to five years,” said Sullivan. “Same for anyone who encourages illegal registration.”

McCarthy said allegations of voter fraud were uncalled for. “They are not committing voter fraud unless you can prove someone is committing voter fraud, and simply to register to vote in Truro is no more fraud than buying a hamburger in Truro is fraud,” she said — though she walked that comment back because “hamburgers are trivial” and “voting is sacred.”

Voting “is something that somebody decides to do after giving great thought to where they feel they want to exercise their right to vote with the most benefit and meaning to them,” McCarthy said. “That should be celebrated.”

McCarthy said she lives in Truro full-time but votes in New York.

“In my opinion,” said state Sen. Julian Cyr of Truro, “after consulting attorneys with expertise in this area of the law, this may be a conspiracy to violate election laws. I can’t determine that, but it may be wise to consult the district attorney.”

“Attempting to commit electoral fraud is reprehensible,” said select board chair Kristen Reed. “The TPRTA has initiated a campaign in Truro meant to jeopardize the fundamental tenets of a lawful and equitable democratic process at our town meeting on Saturday.”

173 New Voters

Since 2018, the number of people registered to vote in Truro has grown by 62 percent — a spike that is unmatched in neighboring towns. Voter rolls in Eastham and Wellfleet have grown by 9 and 10 percent over that same five-year span. Since 2019, Provincetown’s voter roll has grown by 18 percent.

Truro has not had a corresponding increase in population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. ACS data for Truro from 2016 to 2021 show a population decrease of one percent. (ACS population data for 2022 are not yet available.) That same data set shows the town’s voting-age population declining by almost 9 percent from 2016 to 2021.

When the annual town meeting took place in April, there were 2,136 registered voters in Truro. When the window to register to vote for special town meeting closed on Oct. 11, there were 2,309 — a net gain of 173 new voters, according to voter rolls obtained by the Independent.

One hundred nineteen of those new voters registered after July 1, when the TPRTA’s annual meeting voted to pursue a voter registration campaign, according to McCarthy’s email.

Sixty-two of those 119 new voters registered with an in-town home address but an out-of-town mailing address. Based on public records in the town assessor’s databases, the Independent found that 11 of those 62 new registrants are currently claiming residential tax exemptions (RTEs) on their homes in other towns: eight in Boston, and one each in Brookline, Watertown, and Cambridge.

While no single fact determines a person’s residence for voting purposes, Sullivan said, “the fact that they’re claiming a residential exemption somewhere else is strong evidence that they are not legal residents of the town of Truro and are therefore registering illegally.”

What They Say

“I worry that some of the people who registered may not have been aware that they were doing anything untoward,” Cyr said.

Indeed, several newly registered voters seemed not to realize that their switch in registration could potentially land them in legal trouble.

The Independent called all 11 of the new registrants who claim out-of-town RTEs. Two agreed to answer questions; a third, who takes the RTE in Boston where he works as a doctor, declined to be interviewed.

Tobin Gerhart, who switched his voter registration from Brookline to Truro on Aug. 14, said this is not the first time he’s voted in Truro, though he doesn’t consider it his primary residence. “I did this a couple years ago,” Gerhart said, but was frustrated when he got to the polls in Truro and didn’t know the issues. “I actually switched back to voting in Brookline again. But then this year, I switched back again, because it seems like these people are interested, and it will be possible to get good information to make an informed voting choice,” Gerhart said.

Gerhart said he has been a member of the TPRTA for 15 or 20 years. Its newsletter, he said, “is where I get much of my information.” He said the organization contacted him about switching his registration.

Gerhart said he plans to continue taking the RTE in Brookline. “Our primary residence is here, and my wife is here, and she’s not going to switch her voting,” he said. “I’m just doing this for political representation.”

Peter Weiss, who registered to vote in Truro on July 27, takes the RTE at his home in Boston, according to that city’s property database. Weiss said he was not sure whether he claims the RTE: “I leave that up to my accountant.”

Weiss said the main issue drawing him to the special town meeting is the DPW: “It’s a waste of money and a waste of time and it shouldn’t be done on Route 6, which has got enough trouble,” he said, citing traffic.

Weiss said he was encouraged to register to vote in town by the association at Crestview Circle, where his Truro home is.

Sherman Teichman does not take the RTE elsewhere, but he did register to vote with an out-of-town mailing address on Oct. 6, five days before the deadline. He would not comment on the issues spurring his voting change, but said he hoped to attend town meeting and was aware of “the controversy of overexpansion.”

Teichman lives in Brookline and is “associated with the TPRTA,” he said, though they didn’t get him to switch his registration. “I did this of my own initiative,” he said. “No one recruited me. I am alert and aware of all the issues.”

Teichman said he intends to live in Truro full-time in the future, though he is currently a part-timer.

Jesselyn Tobin changed her voter registration from Carlisle to Truro on Oct. 11 — the last day to do so. The main issue drawing her to town meeting is that “they’re asking you to agree to not call it a rural town anymore,” she said.

David Hammerman of Newton switched his voter registration to Truro on Aug. 16 — “a tough decision,” he said, and one ultimately motivated by a sense of “taxation without representation.” He is a TPRTA member and attended its July 1 meeting, where attendees “were encouraged to vote,” he said.

Hammerman is a licensed psychologist with a practice in Newton and is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Reincarnation.

The main issue drawing Hammerman to town meeting is the Walsh property, he said: the plan was initially to build 252 housing units, “and now it’s whittled down to 160, which I think is still too high,” he said.

“Truro is a rural community,” Hammerman said. “I think in between NIMBY and YIMBY, there’s some compromise that needs to be made.”

McCarthy’s email states that “Three leading members of Town official life have asked us to get part-timers to register to vote,” including two former select board chairs and “a current senior official.” It also says that the TPRTA retained a consultant for the voter registration drive who advised the board to keep the effort “under the radar.”

McCarthy would not disclose the names of the three town officials or the consultant.

“This is very unusual,” said Sullivan. In his 46 years practicing elections law, he said, “I can’t remember a situation when, to put it bluntly, nonresidents were trying to take over a town.”

Senior reporter Paul Benson contributed reporting.

HOUSING

Two-Thirds of Survey Responses Oppose Walsh Committee’s Plan

The group is split on phasing, which could slow the project but boost its appeal

By Sophie Mann-Shafir Sep 13, 2023

TRURO — A last-minute surge in the number of responses to its survey of public opinion had the Walsh Property Community Planning Committee discussing the possibility of a phased approach to development at its Sept. 6 meeting.

The last day for responding to the online survey was Sept. 5. As of the committee’s Aug. 30 meeting, there were 299 responses. But by the end of the day on Sept. 5 that number had risen to 525.

At the Sept. 6 meeting, the committee’s consultant Sharon Rooney presented a hastily compiled analysis of the results of the survey, which represented the last step in the group’s efforts to gather feedback on its plan for use of the 70-acre Walsh property before sending it to the select board in preparation for an October special town meeting vote.

The committee’s overall plan, which includes dedicating 28.5 of the 70 acres to housing development, was overwhelmingly panned by the survey respondents: 65 percent said they did not support it and only 35 percent said they did.

Nearly two-thirds of the respondents — 64 percent — said they thought too much land was being allocated to housing; 25 percent said the amount of land was about right; and 6 percent said not enough land was slated for housing. Almost half the respondents, 47 percent, said they wanted to see more of the acreage devoted to open space. The committee’s current plan includes more than 40 acres for open space.

The idea of phased development of the property had been considered earlier in the committee’s life, with an initial phase envisioning just 40 to 60 units of housing rather than the 252 units the committee ultimately settled on. Former cochairs Fred Gaechter and Paul Wisotzky had collaborated on a plan for phased development, which included ideas for the location of units in the first phase and a timeline for subsequent ones.

Last week, in light of the survey results, committee members wondered whether phasing would make their plan more palatable.

“Our major goal here was to help ensure that when we get to town meeting our recommendation is approved so that we can get housing,” said Gaechter.

“I don’t think there’s any way to pass this thing without phasing,” said committee member Betty Gallo.

“I am strongly against phasing,” said member Todd Schwebel, a contractor. “I think that phasing is just kind of a compromise that is not necessary.” He said the town was in a housing emergency, and that phased development would make the project timeline, estimated at 10 years, take twice that long.

At an Aug. 16 public forum on the Walsh property plan, many comments focused on the project’s scope and a desire to see less housing and more space devoted to recreation, including pickleball, tennis, and a swimming pool, according to consultant Carole Ridley.

Some committee members suggested that those who appeared at the forum were not a truly representative sample of the town’s residents. A similar sentiment was expressed last week about the online survey results.

“I’m a bit skeptical that it’s a well-rounded sample set, especially of voters,” said alternate committee member Raphael Richter.

Richter may have been referring to an email sent at 7 a.m. on Sept. 5, the day the survey closed, by the Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers’ Association (TPRTA). The email encouraged the group’s members to complete the survey.

The email noted that, among its own members, housing was not a priority. “In the 2021 TPRTA Survey,” it read, “preserving Truro’s rural character was among the top three priorities, along with water quality and environmental issues.”

More than half of the 525 Walsh survey respondents reported that they were full-time residents; 39 percent said they lived in town part-time. Among the respondents, 84 percent reported that they were homeowners, and 53 percent said they were at least 66 years old.

Many respondents said they opposed the idea of including five to seven apartment buildings in the Walsh property plan with a total of 198 living units. Close to 80 percent of the respondents said that would be too many apartments.

“Rental apartments are not compatible with the current development in Truro,” one survey respondent wrote. “There is no mention of individual condos, which are very successful here.”

The current plan calls for 21 townhouses, 31 single-family homes, and 10 build-your-own-home lots. Housing opportunities would be allocated by a lottery system, subject to potential restrictions including year-round occupancy and income eligibility. The actual mix of incomes in affordable units would be based on the developer’s proposal, which in turn would depend on the funding strategies selected.

The survey respondents also said they were wary of plans for a proposed wastewater system at the Walsh property. The committee has been advised by the engineering and environmental consulting firm Tighe & Bond that it would be feasible to build a wastewater treatment system “that would cause no increase in nitrogen levels and could even cause a net improvement in the nitrogen levels for the surrounding area” if hooked up to neighboring homes.

A few respondents advocated for more housing than the plan seeks. “It would seem that there is actually too little as this proposal only meets 60 percent of the need?” one person wrote in the survey comments.

The select board will discuss the Walsh concept plan at its meetings on Sept. 19 and 26.

HOUSING

Last-Minute Change Delays Cloverleaf OK

The developer wants to remove market-rate units from project

By K.C. Myers Dec 24, 2020

TRURO — The development of the affordable housing project known as the Cloverleaf hit a snag on Dec. 17 that has delayed the approval of the 39-unit plan by the zoning board of appeals.

The developer, Ted Malone of Community Housing Resource of Provincetown, told the zoning board that the seven market-rate units that were included in the original plan— along with 32 income-restricted apartments — are no longer feasible because of the way the state regulates housing subsidies.

“The numbers just don’t work,” Malone told the ZBA last week.

He explained that the state Dept. of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), which assists with securing subsidies for housing projects, doesn’t want more than three levels of income restrictions in a single project. The original plan called for three levels, plus market rate, so people earning 60, 80, and 110 percent of the area median income would be eligible for income-restricted rental apartments.

Malone asked that fewer specifics be written into the ZBA’s approval of the project; he wants the specific income limits to be left to his and the DHCD’s discretion. All of the units would, he promised, be income-restricted.

“There’s just a level of detail [in the draft of the ZBA decision] that may conflict with the regulatory agreements drafted by the subsidizing agency,” Malone said.

The change took zoning board members by surprise.

“Then, that’s a different project,” said Barbara Carboni of KP Law, the acting town planner.

She asked Malone to provide a written summary of what he wanted. Art Hultin, chair of the ZBA, reiterated her demand.

“I’ll caution you, Mr. Malone, it’s got to be clear,” Hultin said.

“Yes, I intend to do that,” Malone said. “We’ll have something written and clear. I’m just alerting you that this language [in the draft decision] won’t work.”

The ZBA, which has been reviewing the project for over one year, will meet again virtually on Jan. 7 at 5:30 p.m.

The ZBA has also not yet voted on whether to allow the proposed wastewater treatment plan. A poll of the board, however, found all but possibly one member, John Thornley, would support it. Malone plans to use an alternative treatment system that treats effluent more effectively than individual Title V systems.

But neighbors of the project continue to raise objections. Karen Ruymann, of Bay View Drive, said even the town’s health agent doesn’t understand why there is poor water quality in the Pond Village neighborhood.

Emily Beebe, the health agent, had in a previous meeting talked about a resident whose well water had a nitrate level over 10 mg/L although she has a tight tank. Since all septage is contained within the tight tank, her well had to have been contaminated by something else that no one, including Beebe, knows, Ruymann said.

“This is deeply disturbing to us, that there is not a really detailed hydrogeological study,” Ruymann said.

She asked that such a study be part of the conditions on the project. That could be a heavy economic burden for Malone and probably would not stand up to a court challenge, Carboni said.

Beebe told the Independent that she has not herself seen any recent readings over 10 mg/L in Pond Village. But she took that resident at her word. She lives right on Pilgrim Pond, which catches runoff from surrounding hills and Route 6.

Hultin said the area has had poor water quality for years, but that is not due to the unbuilt Cloverleaf development. Studies by the Cape Cod Commission and an independent peer reviewer, Mark Nelson of the Horsley Witten Group, found the Cloverleaf wouldn’t affect neighboring wells at all.

The Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers’ Association’s most recent newsletter, sent to members on Dec. 21, associates the Cloverleaf with questionable science by the Docs for Truro Safe Water, whose materials talk about the dangers of “nitrate contamination on living things,” the newsletter states.

The “docs” derive their name from the fact that all of them have doctorate degrees. They are epidemiologist Ron Fichtner; Dr. Frederick Ruymann, a gastroenterologist; Dr. Robert Brown, a neurologist; Mary Pearl, a conservation biologist; Christopher Clark and Brian Boyle, both engineers; and Robert Simpson, who holds a doctor of social work degree and specializes in behavioral health.

None is a hydrogeologist.