Paperwork Filed For 248-Unit Housing For POVH

HARWICH – Pine Oaks Village Homes has put the state on notice of its plans to seek a 40B permit to construct 248 housing units on the 30.5 acres it owns off Queen Anne Road and Main Street in North Harwich. The plan is to build the complex in five phases.

Pine Oaks Village Homes (POVH) filed a project eligibility letter application in early August with the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. The agency will review the financial feasibility and the suitability of the project. Once the letter is approved, the town will be notified and given 30 days to comment, said Robert Doane, vice president of POVH. 

Doane said POVH will be seeking funding from several sources. The $5.1 billion Affordable Homes Act, signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey on Aug. 6, is the largest housing investment in the state’s history, and there are special provisions for towns dealing with seasonal populations, Doane said. He believes Harwich will be included in that designation, potentially qualifying projects for increased state housing funding. Doane also said tax credits would provide major support, and funds would be sought from the affordable housing trust, community preservation committees in Harwich and surrounding towns, and Mass Housing.

It could take three to four months before a response to the project eligibility letter is received, Doane said. POVH is ready to file its 40B application with the zoning board of appeals, which is charged with deliberating on such comprehensive permits, he added.

“Pine Oaks Village IV is conceived as a neighborhood within a village within a town,” reads the eligibility letter signed by POVH president Gregory Winston. “When fully built, it will consist of 248 units of mixed income family rental housing on 30.5 acres of land in North Harwich.”

The initial POVH proposal called for 264 units. The units will be one, two and three bedroom apartments.

The first phase would consist of 50 rental units in three buildings: two townhouse buildings containing a total of 14 units and a three-story structure, or “lodge” building, with 36 units, according to Doane. The remaining 198 mixed-income rental units will be built in the remaining four phases, with approximately 50 units in each phase. Doane estimated it would take 10 years to complete the project, building one phase every two years.   

POVH is an offspring of Mid Cape Church Homes, Inc. (MCCH), a Harwich-based nonprofit founded in 1975 which owns and operates three developments — Pine Oaks Village I, II, and III — in town comprising 163 units of affordable housing for older adults.

Given the intense need for housing, the rental units will be affordable to households in a broad range of income levels, according to the eligibility letter. Three tiers of area median income (AMI) levels will be targeted, with 22 percent of the units going to families at 30 percent AMI; 45 percent of units going to families at 50 to 60 percent of AMI; and 33 percent of units going to families at 80 to 110 percent of AMI.

The letter highlights the need for year-round housing for the workforce as employment is projected to grow over the next decade. At the same time, the Cape is experiencing a long-term surge in seasonal housing demand. Most of the new housing built, as well as an increasing portion of existing homes, serve high-income seasonal buyers. This puts an extraordinary stress on the supply of housing that is affordable for year-round working families, according to Winston’s letter.

POVH has assembled several parcels of land totaling 30.5 acres that will provide low-to-medium density housing at about eight units per acre. The buildings will be located close to each other to reinforce the neighborhood setting. There will be on-street parking as well as several parking lots. A community center and a tot lot will also be centrally located.

The letter stresses the group’s commitment to an inclusive planning process. “Although we are strong advocates for our vision, we know that community involvement almost always improves the project,” the letter reads. 

Traffic is a concern, Doane allowed, and POVH has done a traffic study, but the town wants to do another of the area.

According to the transportation impact assessment conducted for POVH by Vanasse and Associates, Inc, the development would generate 2,234 vehicle trips on an average week day, with 211 trips expected during the morning peak hour and 235 during the evening peak hour. The project will not result in a significant increase in delays and vehicle queuing, and the intersections in the study area are expected to continue to operate at an “acceptable” level, according to the assessment.

North Harwich resident Paula Myles disagrees, however. She sent a letter to the state protesting the proposed development based on traffic and environmental impacts 

  “A major problem is that the two narrow roads slated to transport and service these populations are narrow, tree-lined country roads with poor lines of sight, no sidewalks and often no room to walk safely next to guard rails,” Myles wrote. “On Main Street and Queen Anne Road, commuters rub shoulders with 18-wheelers taking shortcuts between industrial areas and ramps to the Mid-Cape highway.  Pickup trucks speed through with trailers to landscape and building jobs. And now Massachusetts law requires four feet of clearance around bicyclists, forcing vehicles to swing out into the oncoming lane. These streets are designed for disaster.”

Doane said he did not know if the project will have to go before the Cape Cod Commission for a development of regional impact review. The group has been told that it would not, but the town can ask for such a review, he said