Pennrose Tweaks Plans For Buckley Property - Supporters Applaud; Critics Want Wholesale Redesign

CHATHAM – In recent months, the company seeking to develop 48 rental units in 10 buildings at the former Buckley property at 1533 Main St. has adjusted its comprehensive permit application to answer some criticisms raised by neighbors. Supporters of the housing project applaud the effort, but critics say they’d prefer that Pennrose come up with an entirely new plan for the three-acre site.

 Last week, developers were back before the zoning board of appeals for their third hearing on the proposal, which involves building 16 one-bedroom, 26 two-bedroom and six three-bedroom rental units in buildings clustered around a central green space. Having already lowered the height of many of the buildings to within a few feet of the 30-foot limit required by zoning, the project team also reduced the size of the development’s community building, eliminating the fitness room and moving some of the parking spaces farther away from Main Street to reduce the visual impact from the road. 

 Pennrose’s Rio Sacchetti said his company recently completed the 62-unit redevelopment of the former Cape Cod 5 operations center on West Road in Orleans, and there were more than 600 applicants for those units.

 “It’s evidence that there’s a significant need, and there’s real people out there that need housing right now,” he said. The company has been making “meaningful changes” to meet concerns raised about the Chatham plan, and is focused on building a development that provides a high quality of life for residents, he said. 

 Pennrose was one of several developers that responded to the town’s request for proposals to build housing on the land. It’s telling, Sacchetti said, that the other developers not chosen for the job have all sent letters supporting the Pennrose plan. In a letter to the board, Housing Assistance Corporation CEO Alisa Magnotta urged the ZBA to move ahead with their competitor’s plan. 

 “If they succeed, we all benefit,” she wrote.

 Critics of the plan, most of whom live nearby, uniformly agree on the need for affordable housing, and agree that 1533 Main St. is a good place for it. But they argue that the buildings and their arrangement need to be altered to minimize the impact on the surrounding single-family homes. Abutter Rick Leavitt said despite some of the changes they have proposed, the developers have been largely dismissive of an alternative plan neighbors favor, which has the building arranged around a central parking lot, with the green space moved to the rear of the property closest to neighbors.

 “We’re all disappointed in the Pennrose response,” Leavitt said. The developer’s proposal fails to meet the town’s request for proposals “specifying respect for adjacent single-family neighborhoods,” he said. Leavitt and other neighbors argued that the apartment buildings would be located too close to the property line and would loom over their houses. Developers say they intend to screen the buildings with landscaping, and note that they have met the zoning requirement of a 15-foot setback from the property line.

 Attorney Andrew Singer, representing Pennrose, said that the neighbors’ plan has a number of flaws, including a traffic flow that would not provide adequate access by fire trucks. 

 “It would cram the development on the land to the front and it would destroy any interior neighborhood feel with a sea of asphalt in the middle,” he said. But chiefly, the proposal from neighbors is not the one the town awarded in its RFP, Singer said. “The applicant’s proposal, to the contrary, is designed and engineered to provide a safe, efficient, attractive and well thought-out housing development meeting all requirements of the fire department, for stormwater, for wastewater, for landscaping,” he said.

 “It’s an excellent plan. Pennrose is an ideal partner for Chatham,” said resident Michael Schell, who, as a former select board and affordable housing trust board member, helped negotiate the deal. “We have an all-star team and a magnificent opportunity to conclude our 20-plus-year effort successfully,” he said. 

 Resident Ron Bergstrom, a Barnstable County Commissioner, said he also supports the plan, and urged the ZBA to focus on the Pennrose design rather than the neighbors’ counterproposal. 

 “This is the application that’s in front of you. It seems to me the ZBA is deciding yes or no on this. Whether there’s an alternative to that, that’s a political decision, it’s made by the town,” he said.

 Kathryn Halpern, a planning board member with experience with site design, said she is confident that a new design could be produced that would meet the needs of both the developers and the abutters. “I just think that it needs a little more time and attention,” she said. 

 Appeals Board Chair Randi Potash suggested that Pennrose consider reducing the number of parking spaces with the goal of moving the buildings a bit farther away from the property lines.

 “Yeah, you need the setback — the measly little 15-foot setback — but do you think when the Leavitts bought that, or anybody bought property around there, they thought tall buildings were going to be next to it?” Potash asked. The developers might meet the setback requirements, but it might be “fundamentally immoral” to put tall buildings there, she suggested. 

 Karmen Cheung of Pennrose said her team might be amenable to reducing the number of parking spaces slightly, and would consider what changes might be made with such a design.

 Potash also said she favors the idea of having a fence separating the development from neighboring properties, though she wasn’t sure that it should be Pennrose’s responsibility.

 “If you pay $3.5 million for a home, you can probably afford a fence,” she said. 

 The appeals board continued its hearing to Aug. 21 at 2 p.m.