Subdivision Draws Call For Moratorium

HARWICH – The approval of another Eastward Companies subdivision in East Harwich has brought about a call for a moratorium on subdivisions.

The planning board on Oct. 15 approved a 10-lot subdivision for the Chatham-based firm on land located off 1594-1598 Orleans Rd., adjacent to the intersection with Church Street. Eastward Companies was authorized by JBM Family Limited Partnership, owners of the property, to pursue the subdivision. The plan includes eight buildable lots, two lots that are not buildable, and a cul-du-sac.

“I’m here to ask the town to consider a moratorium on subdivisions for a year,” resident Matt Sutphin said at last week’s hearing. “It’s time for the town to catch up.” He questioned the direction the town and the Cape were taking with housing; it is time to catch up with zoning regulations that would make it easier for people to live in town and build equity through housing. He said he would research how to put a moratorium provision in place.

East Harwich resident Patrick Otton said Eastward Companies has the right to build in Harwich, but the subdivision was in a rural residential zoning district. 

“Harwich’s character is small town, nestled within the green of nature, not an urban-suburban commercialized metropolitan setting, but a country setting,” he said.

  Otton said he is most concerned with the environmental impacts and the clear-cutting of trees because of their value to the environment. Otton asked the building company to proceed with sensitivity to Harwich’s town values and character by minimizing the loss of nature in its development.

”I ask that Eastward be sensitive to Harwich’s small-town atmosphere,” said Otton.

The planning board’s authority is limited, said chair J. Duncan Berry.

“The board isn't able to enact or produce legislation,” he said. “We’re simply a regulatory body. Such an initiative has to be pushed through a public hearing process, getting the finance committee and select board behind it. It takes a long time to get things through. We can’t change it.”

Eastward Companies has built several high-end subdivisions in East Harwich over the past couple of years. More than a year ago a group of residents formed the Harwich Community Organization, a civic group looking at the need for zoning and government changes. The type of subdivision developed by Eastward Companies was a major focus because parcels were being clear cut and eventually developed with well manicured lawns. The stone wall entrances were considered out of character. The cost of the homes was also said to be not compatible with Harwich’s small town atmosphere.

The community group discussed the need for changes to zoning and even called for invoking a moratorium on development until those issues were addressed. But the moratorium and changes in zoning never materialized.

East Harwich resident Ted Nelson brought the discussion back to the subdivision proposal, asking about the abutting vacant land behind the Eastward Companies’ subdivision, whether that land is owned by Eastward Companies, and whether it could be accessed from the subdivision.   

Town Planner Christine Flynn said Eastward Companies came in previously for a preliminary site plan review for that property, but there were ownership issues which are being sorted out through land court. Flynn said she could not say anything more about the status of that property.

Flynn told the board the subdivision plan before them met the requirement of the subdivision control regulations. Issues raised by the town traffic engineers have also been addressed, she added. The board approved the 10-lot subdivision plan by a 4-0 vote