Brewster Approves Sea Camps Funding

BREWSTER – After four hours of debating, voting, then debating again, Monday night’s special town meeting came to a close with a few heartfelt cheers. 

 Voters approved all articles in the warrant including several related to the Sea Camps properties. The largest financial appropriation of $11.4 million failed on an initial vote but passed after it was reconsidered. 

 The Sea Camps properties were the main focus of the evening, particularly Article 6. Set to appropriate $11.4 million for implementation of the Sea Camps Comprehensive Plan, Article 6 was a key talking point for many local residents. 

 Susan Bridges, a local resident and president of the Ponds Coalition, was in favor of Article 6, but said she will be paying “very close attention” to the wastewater treatment facility proposed on the pond property. 

 David Faherty referenced tax records from the assessors website to show a 31 percent increase in property taxes since 2021, urging other residents to vote in opposition of the article. He followed up by asking what the increase will be if Article 6 passes. 

 Many residents feared that along with their taxes, they would have to pay fees to use the grounds. 

One resident called upon two members of the finance committee who voted against recommending the article to speak to their reasoning. Finance Committee member Bill Henchy said, “It’s my view that the debt load the town has undertaken since the acquisition of the sea camps property is not sustainable going forward.” 

Members of the newly-named Sea Camps committee spoke to the outstanding work of the town in sourcing funding outside of taxpayer dollars and being extremely deliberate in the planning stages. They all backed the article. 

The article needed a two-thirds majority to pass since the funding will be borrowed, but the vote failed, 234 in favor to 120 against, just two shy of two thirds. A number of attendees stood to leave after the announcement. 

 But resident John Dickson took the floor and made a motion to reconsider the vote. It was then specified that a party of the winning side of the initial vote must make that call, to which a resident who voted no responded in agreement. That motion was then put to a vote and passed, which left the remaining of attendees to vote again on Article 6. 

 As speakers started to line up at the mics, a strong “no” supporter made a motion to postpone the vote indefinitely. A heated discussion followed with audible applause for residents urging their neighbors to vote both in favor and against. The motion to postpone did not pass and the final vote on Article 6 ended with the necessary two-thirds majority by about 10 votes, 239 in favor to 109 against. 

 The excluded debt funding is subject to a special town election vote on Dec. 3. The single ballot question requires a majority to pass.

Outstanding obligations from the last fiscal year will be fulfilled and the Sea Camps Pond Property acquisition debt of $720,543 will be appropriated from free cash. Voters approved the current municipal hearing officer being able to issue fines for housing and sanitary code violations. 

 The Bay Property Overlay District, a zoning bylaw amendment, was approved, but not without some hesitation regarding the specific permitted uses. 

“In terms of the zoning, the planning board’s exercise was to look at what was captured in the bay property plan that was approved at town meeting and translate it into ‘zoning speak’ to ensure that the community’s vision for what we wanted to see on the site didn’t get hung up because of the zoning,” said Select Board Clerk Amanda Bebrin. “Just because something is included in this overlay district doesn’t mean that we have to do it or that it will get proposed.” 

 Article 3 focused on capital expenditures with a list of 12 departments and/or projects and their related funding requests totaling $4.2 million, all coming from free cash and retained earnings. Section 12 was broken into three categories under the Sea Camps project header: a community center needs assessment for $300,000, pool equipment for $32,000 and planning and facilities maintenance for $200,000. 

Residents were unhappy with the inclusion of the community center needs assessment in the larger scope of department funding. “I believe the community center was part of phase three and I think there was a great deal of sentiment that we should not move ahead with phase three until we secured the funding and had a reality check on what our expenses were in phases one and two,” said Sarah Stranahan.

A motion to divide the article into two separate votes passed, followed by another motion to divide section 12 further into three separate line items. The entirety of Article 3 was ultimately approved, including section 12. 

 Community Preservation Act funding will be given to the Brewster Affordable Housing Trust for its rental assistance program in the amount of $150,000, the Brewster Cemetery Association to repair and restore 850 gravestones in the amount of $72,500 and to the town to digitize historic records in the vault in the amount of $28,750. 

 Voters agreed to appropriate $116,000 in free cash to the Elementary School Special Education Stabilization Fund. A majority also voted in favor of amending the affordable housing trust’s general bylaw to increase the threshold at which the select board needs to be involved with approving funding for projects. 

 The short-term rental task force report brought residents up to speed on the formation of the group and its next steps. A more in-depth report will follow at the annual town meeting in the spring. 

The local option for Sunday morning liquor sales was indefinitely postponed. The select board is the local liquor licensing authority and has the authority to adopt this chapter, which would allow restaurants to sell alcoholic beverages between 10 a.m. and noon on Sundays.