Housing, Airport, Capital Spending Topped Chatham News In 2024

CHATHAM – From the eroding shoreline to affordable housing projects in West and South Chatham, 2024 saw the town make progress on some significant issues while others languished or suffered the slings and arrows of outraged taxpayers.

Affordable housing was the big winner as the first major projects in decades took shape. Taxpayers stood up to town officials and rejected several large capital expenditures. And Chatham Airport continued to be shrouded in the same old back-and-forth between supporters and opponents.

Pennrose was chosen to develop affordable rental housing on town-owned parcels in West and South Chatham. Plans being shopped around to town boards at the end of the year called for 42 units on land off Meetinghouse Road and 48 units on the former Buckley property on Main Street in West Chatham. The for-profit firm, which developed affordable projects in Eastham and Orleans and has been tapped to do the same in Harwich, won the opportunity to develop the projects over several Cape-based nonprofits. The decision was not without controversy. Some members of an evaluation committee put together to recommend a developer for the properties, as well members of the select board and affordable housing trust, favored other proposals that included homeowners rather than just rental units. The final choice was up to Town Manager Jill Goldsmith, who went with Pennrose despite the objections.

Officials made some progress in determining the sort of affordable housing that might be suitable for two other parcels, one on Stepping Stones Road and the other on Old Harbor Road. Chatham was also one of the first communities in the state to receive a seasonal community designation under the Affordable Homes Act signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey in August. The designation will provide new tools for advancing affordable housing efforts.

As if to reinforce the need to address the crisis of housing affordability, overall property values in town topped $12 billion, with the median sale price of a home coming in at $1.3 million for the year.

Even as home prices continued to edge higher, erosion ate away at the town’s upland. The most significant losses occurred on Morris Island, where a combination of swift currents and open ocean waves carved dozens of feet from the bluff at the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge headquarters and damaged revetments protecting millions of dollars worth of private property. In April the refuge’s visitor center and offices, the last building standing on the parcel, was demolished as the bluff’s edge inched closer. The federal agency later rented a home from the Chatham Conservation Foundation to serve as temporary offices and intern housing. 

To the west, a revetment that protected a $20 million home collapsed, sending dozens of large trees into the channel, where they joined others ripped from the adjacent Fish and Wildlife property. The property owner contributed $10,000 to the cost of removing the trees, which were a hazard to navigation.

The removal of some 240 trees from an area around a vernal pool just off the Chatham Airport runway won approval from the conservation commission following a prolonged review. It was immediately appealed by nearby residents who claimed that the plan was an airport commission scheme to allow more and larger aircraft to use the West Chatham facility. The appeal remained pending at the end of the year.

At May’s annual town meeting, airport opponents rallied support to prevent the adoption of an airport approach map that would have replaced one adopted in 1958. Airport officials said the new approach map reflected the Federal Aviation Administration’s pilot guidance and would not change operations, but opponents again asserted that the new approach would allow larger planes to take off and land. The measure failed to pass by a two-to-one margin.

Also at the town meeting, voters rejected two major capital expenditures: $2.9 million to complete the revamping of the transfer station facility and an $11.4 million waterfront facility bond, which was to provide completion funding for the 90 Bridge St. project. It was clear from the meeting that voters were not happy with the escalating costs of the projects as well as what was seen as a failure by town officials to provide timely and complete information. 

Voters, however, endorsed the expenditures at the subsequent annual town election, and the select board capitalized on that approval to call a special town meeting for September to reconsider the Bridge Street funding. Board members said it was clear from the May vote that projects needed to be presented independently rather than grouped together in omnibus packages like the waterfront facility proposal. Voters approved the $4 million needed to finish the project, which includes using the historic former Stage Harbor Coast Guard boathouse as a new shellfish growing facility.

The transfer station project is slated to return to town meeting this May for additional funding.

The select board decided to pursue renovating the Center for Active Living on Stony Hill Road rather than continuing to try to gain voters’ approval for a new building. The latest estimate, released in late December, put the cost at $4.6 million. A forum on the plans was slated for Jan. 7 (see separate story). Meanwhile, the town received a state grant to launch a supportive day program at the CFAL. The Ryder’s Cove Respite adult supportive day program is scheduled to open in January.

Indoor air quality at Monomoy Regional Middle School on Crowell Road became a concern as deteriorating siding and trim allowed water to infiltrate the building. In the spring, voters in Chatham and Harwich will be asked to approve spending $6.3 million to seal the building with new siding and trim.

Several longtime town staffers retired, including Harbormaster Stuart Smith and Police Lt. Andrew Goddard. 

In July, the newly rebuilt Eldredge Garage parking lot and visitors center was formally opened. Later the town added electric vehicle chargers. More chargers are planned for town parking lots, although a policy around EV charging stations is still being formulated.

The town lost several prominent citizens in 2024, including former select board member Douglas Ann Bohman and historical commission member Don Aikman (see this week’s editorial for an appreciation). 

Quick hits: Angela Bucar became the Chatham Chamber of Commerce and Merchants Association new director. An iconic tree on the Eldredge Public Library front lawn was cut down to make way for new landscaping and sidewalks. A lot of energy was expended discussing grinder pumps. Chatham police officers began wearing body cameras. Cory Metters and Dean Nicastro were re-elected to the select board. Chatham got some national attention with the Netflix debut of “The Perfect Couple,” in which many local spots stood in for the story’s Nantucket setting. 

Several tragedies struck Chatham in 2024. Shannon Hubbard, a Chatham Elementary School teacher, died in a fire in New York along with her young daughter, Maggie. Two people died of drug overdoses in West Chatham. Larry’s P.X. closed after an SUV drove into the front of the popular West Chatham eatery in late November, severely injuring a staff member and a customer. It will be several months before the restaurant can open.

Which gives us something to look forward to in 2025.