Eagle Pond Decision Rankles Harwich; Legal Help To Explore Options

HARWICH – The select board Monday voted to hire outside legal counsel to explore the town’s legal rights after the Cape Cod Commission declined to review the proposed conversion of the former Eagle Pond Nursing Home in Dennis to a transitional shelter for the homeless.

Board members were upset with the lack of communication and town involvement in the proposed project, the only access to which is over Main Street Extension in Harwich, which leads into a busy four-way intersection in North Harwich.

Select Board member Michael MacAskill said the project has a major impact on Harwich and to not have a “seat at the table” with developer Housing Assistance Corporation does not speak well for that organization. He also said the Cape Cod Commission let down the town with its decision not to conduct a review. Environmental and traffic issues impact Harwich, he added, which should require a regional review. He called the commission’s decision “shameful.”

MacAskill took issue with the wastewater figures provided for the proposed conversion, and he also questioned the traffic numbers. The board voted to pursue several traffic studies.

“I’m not sure where the Cape Cod Commission is getting these numbers,” MacAskill said. “They can’t be true. I’d absolutely support getting counsel to find out what our rights are.”

“The Cape Cod Commission and HAC handled this very disingenuously, and it leaves me wondering what we don’t know,” said Select Board member Jeffrey Handler. “I work for Harwich and I want to protect Harwich. I’d like to explore terminating the Harwich road at the end of the town line and let Dennis find its own access. I don’t know if it can be done, but I’d like to explore it with counsel.”

Select Board member Peter Piekarski also said HAC did not respond to the town’s inquiries and he agreed the board should pursue outside counsel to determine if there is a legal path to pursue.

The need to seek outside counsel is based on a potential conflict because the towns of Dennis and Harwich, which have the same town counsel, KP Law. The firm issued a legal opinion on the project that refers to the Dover Amendment, a state law that allows projects with educational components to bypass most town regulatory review. That opinion weighed heavily on the review process.

HAC has said that education is a major component of the project, because residents will be required to attend courses on financial management, family planning, MassHealth enrollment, housing programs, parenting, cooking and other life skills.

HAC purchased the former 142-bed nursing home at 1 Love Lane and plans to house up to 79 families facing homelessness.

“Our acquisition of 1 Love Lane in Dennis is a continuation of this mission and will allow us to consolidate at that site our existing family shelter program,” HAC’s CEO Alisa Magnotta wrote in an Aug. 2 letter to Town Administrator Joseph Powers. “This, in turn, will accelerate transitions to permanent rental housing or home ownership where our shelters are currently located, while creating urgently needed year-round housing units for working individuals and families on Cape Cod.”

“I do permitting for a living and I reach out,” Select Board Chair Julie Kavanagh said. “We feel completely left out of this process and it’s going to affect our town.”

Kavanagh made it clear she does not want to spend tax funds fighting a battle the town may not be able to win. She said she has no problem with the use proposed at the former nursing home, but she took issue with the lack of the town’s involvement in the process.

The select board voted to approve the use of $10,000 to retain outside legal counsel, with the understanding that expenses could be greater if a decision is made to pursue litigation.

Residents of the area surrounding the four-way intersection at Main Street and Depot Road and other nearby intersections expressed concerns about additional traffic from this project and other planned developments in the area. Pine Oaks Village Homes is proposing a potential 280-unit project a few hundred yards away, near the intersection of Main Street and Queen Anne Road. And plans are in the works to develop a section of the former Marceline property at 456 Queen Anne Rd.

The select board asked Steven Rhoads of VHB, Inc., the company that serves as traffic consultants for the town, to study the intersection of Route 124 and Queen Anne Road; the intersection of Main Street and Depot Road and south to Great Western Road; and the intersection of Queen Anne Road and Main Street..

Rhoads was also directed to conduct traffic studies for the Route 6 on- and off-ramps at Exit 82 (formerly exit 10). With concern about deficiencies in lighting and crosswalks along Route 28 in Harwich Port, the board requested a study of conditions from Sisson Road to Saquatucket Harbor.

With the town engineer position remaining vacant, funding for the traffic studies is available from that salary account.