West Chatham Neighborhood Center Represents Major Zoning Change

CHATHAM – One of the most significant changes to the town’s zoning bylaw will go before voters at Saturday’s annual town meeting. 

 If approved, Articles 39 and 40 will establish the West Chatham Neighborhood Center, the second neighborhood center along the Route 28 corridor following the approval of the South Chatham Neighborhood Center in 2016.

 Both flow from recommendations in the town’s comprehensive plan, and the new West Chatham zoning follows a years-long process that included a visioning study of the Route 28 corridor by the Cape Cod Commission as well as development of special use regulations to more closely regulate the size and scale of buildings within the neighborhood center.

 The West Chatham Neighborhood Center aims to establish a pedestrian-friendly village with a mix of commercial and residential uses. However, it is more a blueprint for the future than a scheme for near-term changes.

The detailed standards and regulations, spelled out in the warrant article, will not impact existing buildings or uses, but are meant to kick in when properties within the neighborhood center are redeveloped. The boundaries of the area run from just west of George Ryder Road east to Barn Hill Road and Wheldon Way. 

Within that area are several large commercial parcels with the potential for redevelopment, including the Ocean State Job Lot parcels and the Shop Ahoy Plaza. The bylaw provides design guidelines and standards that are intended to create more of a “village” feeling than the current automobile-oriented arrangements.

“It will be a long-term progression that will transition away from the more intense urban and industrial uses that could be developed under existing zoning,” planning board Chair Arthur Spruch said in a video posted by the town answering frequently asked questions about the proposal.

The district also includes subzones with specific standards for commercial, mixed use and residential development.

Existing properties can be redeveloped with the same uses and coverage, but no new residential uses will be allowed within the runway protection zone for Chatham Airport, which overlaps the West Chatham Neighborhood Center. Existing residences, in other words, can continue and be redeveloped, but new residences can’t be built within the runway protection zone.

The neighborhood center will create “a stronger connection between our community vision, protective zoning bylaw and future development and redevelopment plans,” said planning board Vice Chair Kathryn Halpern.

More detailed information about the West Chatham Neighborhood Center is available in the town meeting warrant articles and on the planning board page of the town’s website.