Sea Camps Articles Combined

BREWSTER – The select board met Monday night to discuss the upcoming warrant for the Nov. 18 fall special town meeting in regards to the Sea Camps properties. 

One article will go before voters at the fall session seeking funding for updates to two parcels, one located off Long Pond and another off Cape Cod Bay, which the town plans to modify for recreational use.

After comprehensive plans for the properties were approved in May, the two planning advisory committees were disbanded and one official Sea Camps Advisory Committee was created. The advisory committee has met approximately seven times since September to talk through the proposed financing and planning of both the bay and pond properties. 

On Monday, committee member Caroline McCarley was in front of the select board to revise the existing warrant articles. Originally, there were to be two articles — one for the pond property and one for the bay property. The committee recommended combining those into one warrant article, meaning the plans for both projects will share one pot of money. 

Town Manager Peter Lombardi noted that this would create “potential cost savings” from a labor perspective. 

The Dec. 3 special election ballot will ask residents to vote on an $11 million debt exclusion to finance the project in full. This type of model allows municipalities to raise funds via a temporary property tax increase beyond the normal levy amount. It will not impact the budget for other services already approved by the town. 

Lombardi said the town is also seeking approximately $9 million in additional funding through other avenues such as state grants to cover more than half of the full scope of work.