Trust Takes Lead In Shaping Stepping Stones Road Project After Split Vote Of Select Board

CHATHAM – Following a split vote last week, it will be the affordable housing trust board — not the select board — taking the lead on shaping the development of housing on the Stepping Stones Road parcel.

 The select board voted 3-2 last week to instruct the town’s affordable housing trust to prepare a request for proposals (RFP) for the development of housing units on the town-owned tract near Monomoy Middle School. The two dissenting members, Cory Metters and Dean Nicastro, argued that the select board should retain that responsibility.

 The housing trust board “has the time and bandwidth of relevant experience and expertise to undertake that process as the primary focus,” said select board Chair Michael Schell, who is also chair of the trust board. The select board has a lot of other business to attend to, and “the affordable housing trust board has expertise in areas of finance, architecture, design, business building, development, valuation, municipal projects, 40B projects, legal, finance projects, and is plugged into...community and local business needs,” Schell said.

 Nicastro and Metters, who, along with board member Jeffrey Dykens, do not sit on the affordable housing trust board, argued that the matter properly belongs with the select board.

 “We have some duty to the voters who put us in office,” Metters said. He said he has useful experience to bring to the table. “I spent eight years on the planning board. I’m not a rookie,” he said. Metters said he would support adding an additional meeting to the select board’s schedule to focus on the Stepping Stones Road project. “But I can’t, in good conscience, relinquish my responsibility,” he said.

 “Town meeting has placed control over Stepping Stones in the select board,” Nicastro added. “Obviously with any development, density and design are issues of concern to the public, and I think we saw from the Buckley property and the Meetinghouse Road property that how the RFP is crafted predetermines the result that you’re going to get,” he said.

 There was a similar power struggle in the lead-up to the Buckley and Meetinghouse Road housing developments. In the end, developer Pennrose was chosen to build 48 rental units on the Buckley parcel and 42 rentals on Meetinghouse Road, having submitted a proposal that met the requirements of the RFP crafted by the affordable housing trust board. Some argued that the number of units was too high, or that there should have been a mix of rentals and home ownership units. 

 The Stepping Stones Road parcel, which was briefly considered as a site for a new senior center but rejected by town meeting, is sandwiched between the roadway and the Old Colony Rail Trail near the Monomoy Regional Middle School. A preliminary "test fit" by a consultant in late 2022 examined several scenarios for the property, including single-family homes and duplexes. Between eight and 10 units with 20 and 36 bedrooms could be accommodated on the property, according to the analysis. Select board and housing trust members have expressed an interest in focusing on home ownership units on the site, since the larger Buckley and Meetinghouse Road developments include only rentals.

 Dykens said having the trust craft the RFP isn’t an abdication of the select board’s responsibility. 

 “In fact, I think we’re actually fulfilling our charge as select board members by handing off to a group that perhaps has more specific talents than is represented on this board,” he said. If the select board gets to approve the final RFP, “then we have final say,” Dykens argued.

 Select Board member Shareen Davis, also a member of the trust, said the select board still has control and can ask for input from the planning board and the Chatham Community Housing Partnership. 

“There will still be a lengthy and robust discussion when it comes back to the select board,” she said. There was ample public engagement in the last process, she said, and “I’m pretty confident that that will happen with this property as well.”

 Resident Elaine Gibbs said the select board is disregarding public opinion by allowing the housing trust to take the lead. With the other developments, by the time the RFPs were drafted, “it was too late to make changes,” she said.

 Housing Trustee David Oppenheim said there is still opportunity for public input if the process is led by the affordable housing trust board. 

“It’s open meetings,” he said. “And you know something? Hardly anybody ever comes to the meetings.” He invited Metters and Nicastro to take part.

 Metters pointed out that neither he nor Nicastro can attend the meetings, “because that would constitute a majority of the select board participating,” and that would run afoul of the state’s Open Meeting Law.

 “Your input, whenever, wherever, however, is welcome,” Schell said.

 Nicastro was unmoved. 

“I don’t report to the affordable housing trust. I report to the people who elected me,” he said.

 The split board voted to direct the affordable housing trust board to develop a comprehensive RFP for home ownership units on the Stepping Stones Road parcel. Initially, the board was expected to discuss a similar strategy for developing an RFP for the redevelopment of the former water department offices at 127 Old Harbor Rd., but Schell said that proposal still has unresolved issues and will be handled separately.