Select Board Takes No Action On Housing Production Plan

 HARWICH – Members of the select board want to see a clearer path to addressing the community’s housing needs than what is called for in the latest version of the town’s updated housing production plan.

The plan was presented to the board at its Nov. 25 session for review and endorsement so it can be sent to the state Executive Office of Liveable and Community Housing.

Planner and Director of Community Development Christine Flynn called the update a “vitally important planning document” essential to receiving state and federal funding. It contains targeted goals to address Harwich’s housing needs, she said, adding that extensive community engagement went into developing the update, including 1,100 responses to a house needs survey.

Select Board member Jeffrey Handler, who served briefly on the local planning committee before becoming a member of the select board, said the efforts of that committee, along with Flynn and consultant Karen Suunarborg, resulted in an update that “was nothing short of remarkable.” He called the data in the plan “robust.”

 But Select Board member Michael MacAskill said that he could not support the endorsement, citing a lack of community support and information that ignores the wishes of the people. He took issue with a section of the plan that he said clearly seeks to sell the Pine Oaks Village IV project to the community. One section of the town cannot be crammed with housing to reach the 10 percent affordable housing goal, he said.

People are pushing back against the plan because the town is not listening to them, MacAskill said, asserting that the document includes misinformation.  

“I hope the board rejects it,” said MacAskill. “Its emphasis for Pine Oaks Village IV is a mistake, so I can’t support it. We need to tell the state and the politicians we’ll control our own destiny.”

Select Board member Donald Howell said the stakeholders session for the update was more of a “sales job” and not an engagement with any of the housing providers. There was no participation from anyone who can provide the housing, he said, criticizing the lack of deliverables and conclusions.

“It’s a ladder that has had a couple of rungs cut off, and you can’t get from here to there,” said Howell. “I want to see affordable housing and I want to see a mix. There has to be a conclusion that reconciles competing interests. I don’t see a concrete conclusion, specifically to address the issues.” 

“A lot of what has been said, I agree with,” said Select Board member Peter Piekarski. “I see less of a plan and more of a data storage document. I agree with [MacAskill] on Pine Oaks Village IV. It has not been accomplished or approved.”

Piekarski said people want to put a lot of land into conservation and the town spends a “ridiculous” amount of money because the state requires sewers.

“It becomes a difficult puzzle, impossible to manage,” said Piekarski. “The state has to get its house in order, and not tell us what to do.”

 Flynn said she understood some of the concerns being articulated about meeting state guidelines. She said there will be a balancing of land use issues in the updated version of the local comprehensive plan, which is also in the works. MacAskill and other members of the board made it clear they were not taking issue with Flynn and that they understood she is only the messenger presenting the updated plan to the board. 

“I think it is on us to start talking about changing our regulations, and this is a great outline to start those discussions,” Select Board Chair Julie Kavanagh said. “It’s on us to do something on the local level. We need to have the difficult discussions. I want to be part of the community that provides housing.” 

“We need a production plan that needs some meat to it,” added Richard Waystack, chair of the board of assessors. “Starter homes costs are $500,000 to $600,000.”

Waystack spoke about the need to streamline permitting, noting that when Habitat for Humanity built six units in West Harwich it took two years to get permits, and that shouldn’t happen. 

Art Bodin, a housing committee member, said in the last six to eight years only 13 affordable housing units have been developed,  primarily Habitat for Housing units. The last update to the housing plan was done in 2016, he said, adding that it was almost a carbon copy of what came out this year.

 Water commissioner Bob Young said he and a couple of his neighbors sought to add a couple of small apartments to their properties and they were stopped by zoning. The word from the building department was “you don’t comply,” he said, adding that the town is not going to get affordable housing until it addresses blocks in the zoning.

 Kavanagh said the town should be looking at zoning that works for everybody. She said there are a lot of good things in the updated plan but there needs to be a meeting of all the players involved in addressing housing. The planning board also called for such a meeting when it approved the housing production plan and set a tentative meeting date for Jan. 18.

 “We need to get together with the planning board,” Handler said. “The ball has been dropped, but I think we can right the ship.” 

 Howell also took issue with the planning consultant who developed the document not being in attendance during the presentation. He said the plan has generic stats and could be for Anywhere, USA with Harwich statistics added.

 The board took no action on the plan. Kavanagh said she would not drop the ball and would get a meeting scheduled in the near future with the necessary housing committees