COA, Racial Incident Dominated 2023 News In Chatham

CHATHAM – Much of the year’s news was dominated by the failure, yet again, of voters to agree on a new home for the council on aging, as well as the town’s renewed focus on developing affordable housing.

But for a short time this summer, other stories took a back seat to a troubling racial incident that captured the attention of the town and region.

A 14-year-old teen was indicted by a Barnstable County grand jury for attempted murder on Aug. 31 for a July 19 incident at Goose Pond. The boy, who is white, was alleged to have tried to drown another teen, who is Black, while both the indicted teen and another boy uttered racial taunts. The boy, who had attended Monomoy High School before moving to Florida sometime after the alleged incident, pleaded not guilty to the charges and was initially held before being released to his family.

The alleged incident touched off a discussion of racial issues both in town and beyond, with some noting how it highlighted behavior that often goes under the radar. Local human rights organizations as well as social justice organizations weighed in and vowed to work toward healing within the community.

The failure to find a new home for the council on aging bookended the year. The proposal to build a new center for active living — the rebranded senior center — at 1610 Main St. in West Chatham came back before voters at the May annual town meeting after failing to get the necessary two-thirds majority in 2021. Construction of the $10.6 million, 10,965-square-foot facility drew controversy on several fronts; some opposed it because the land was being donated by developer William Marsh, others criticized it for being too large and too expensive. COA advocates pointed to the existing center for active living on Stepping Stones Road as being inadequate for the agency’s needs as well as its structural and space problems.

When it came to the vote, the measure failed to reach the two-thirds threshold by a single vote. A revote that same night had, remarkably, the same result.

A subsequent ballot question to approve borrowing of the funds for the facility won voters approval, leading advocates to keep the proposal alive. A special town meeting was called for September, and the plans for the facility were retooled, adding space for an emergency warming session. The price tag also went up to $11 million.

Although it drew the highest town meeting turnout in Chatham history — 1,395 voters showed up at Monomoy Middle School, forcing Moderator William Litchfield to split the crowd between three rooms — it wasn’t enough. The proposal once again lost due to the need for a two-thirds majority, this time falling 105 votes short.

Proponents were disappointed, to say the least, but vowed to move forward with finding a way to provide a viable space for the COA and the town’s seniors. In November, the select board authorized Town Manager Jill Goldsmith to hire a consultant to conduct a structural analysis of the current center for active living and provide a cost estimate for addressing deficiencies as a first step toward figuring out how to proceed.

If there was another theme to the year, it was affordable housing: the lack of it and efforts by the town to get three major housing projects underway. Several forums were held to start the planning process for two parcels, on Route 137 in South Chatham and Route 28 in West Chatham. Residents commented on different scenarios for the number and type of units as well as the building style. Members of the select board expressed a desire for each site to host at least 25 units, preferably more, in a mix of income-restricted affordable housing as well as “attainable” or workforce housing. Near the end of the year, the affordable housing trust board agreed to buy another parcel to add to the land along Route 28, increasing the number of units that could be built in that location.

The select board also agreed to pursue affordable housing on former school department land along Stepping Stones Road and hired a consultant to come up with options for housing on the former water department property on Old Harbor Road.

In other news, the May annual town meeting — the one that rejected the COA facility — was the first at which electronic voting was used. The system was not without its glitches, but most agreed that the quick results shown on a screen to all helped with transparency and efficiency.

The town completed a major renovation of the south jog area of the municipal fish pier, including new walkways to improve pedestrian safety at the town’s most popular tourist attraction. Delays occurred when crews ran into an unknown obstruction which prevented a section of bulkhead from being driven as far underground as other sections.

In a break from tradition, the select board authorized the police department to leave paper parking tickets in the past and begin issuing tickets electronically beginning in 2024. For the first time last summer, a team of community service officers patrolled downtown, helping with traffic and parking enforcement and working with merchants.

St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church established an emergency shelter at the Main Street house of worship to keep both parishioners and residents warm in the event of a long-term power outage. The tall ship Lynx paid a visit to Stage Harbor, and with sadness, officials announced that an iconic tree in front of the Eldredge Public Library will be removed as part of an accessibility upgrade. The town implemented regulations governing short-term rentals as concern grew that investors were snatching up homes in order to cash in on the lucrative summer rental market.

Chatham received national attention after former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson passed away in his Chathamport home. He had a long connection to the Cape, including playing in the Cape Cod Baseball League as a college student, and made many friends locally during his time in town.

An August report confirmed what most of us know: the Cape, including Chatham, is a great white shark hotspot. Shark researchers continued their weekly expeditions out of Chatham, tagging 34 great white sharks during 22 trips from July to October. Since Dr. Greg Skomal and his team began tagging white sharks off the Cape, a total of 304 individual sharks have been tagged, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.

Finally, Netflix commandeered a Chathamport neighborhood and space at the Northport Plaza for filming of a six-episode mini-series based on Erin Hildebrand’s novel “The Perfect Couple.” Set on Nantucket, the show included Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber and Isabelle Adjani. Much of the filming took place at an Eastward Point estate, while space at the plaza was converted to resemble the Nantucket Police Station. There was little interaction with the local community, although many local businesses benefited from the production. Filming was halted in June when members of the striking Writer’s Guild of America picketed the locations, shutting down production. A release date for the show has yet to be announced.