Chatham’s New Town Planner Drawn To Coastal Communities

CHATHAM – Christine O’Grady has always had a strong love of the environment and has found herself drawn to coastal communities.

She’s also had a fascination with the Cape. Growing up in Rhode Island, she vacationed here frequently, and recalled that Chatham “was always the pinnacle” of Cape visits.

Now O’Grady finds herself in a position to help the town shape its future. Last month she was hired as Chatham’s new town planner.

O’Grady will be working with the planning board on both short- and long-term projects. She’ll jump right into the frying pan with long-gestating plans to rework zoning for the West Chatham neighborhood center, expected to come before voters at the spring annual town meeting. Other projects she'll be working on include updating the town’s open space and recreation and hazard mitigation plans.

Many of the issues Chatham faces are similar to what O’Grady dealt with in the two communities she worked in previously, Newport, R.I. and Dartmouth, including short-term rentals, the impact of seasonal housing on year-round residents, climate change and coastal resilience.

“These types of things are pretty standard across the board,” she noted.

O’Grady has a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture and master’s degree in community planning and area development, both from the University of Rhode Island. She also completed the Public Service Fellowship Program at the Harvard Kennedy School and attained certification from the American Institute of Certified Planners.

She came to municipal work later in her career. She spent 20 years as a planner with the CDR McGuire Group. While based in Rhode Island, she worked on a number of projects in Massachusetts, gaining familiarity with how planning and environmental projects work in the state.

She served as city planner in Newport before taking the position of planning director in Dartmouth in 2019. With a population more than five times that of Chatham, Dartmouth has a considerable coastline along Buzzard’s Bay, with similar issues related to climate change and coastal resilience. Chatham’s coastal position is something that O’Grady said drew her to the position. She noted that she spent a year in Italy living along the Mediterranean.

“I’m definitely drawn to the water,” she said.

“She has great coastal community experience,” Director of Community Development Kathleen Donovan told the select board when introducing O’Grady a few weeks ago.

Key planning positions don’t open often, O’Grady noted, which is one reason she applied for the Chatham job.

“It’s a fabulous way, with all my experience, to kind of pay it forward,” she said.

The mother of two grown children, O’Grady plans to commute from her Rhode Island home but will stay locally when her work schedule allows for it. After just a few weeks on the job, she’s working to get to know the “ins and outs” of the town.

“I’m very excited to be here,” she said. “It’s a fabulous opportunity.”