Our View: Character

If you’ve lived on the Cape long enough (and read our paper), you’ve no doubt heard the inevitable complaints that are sure to arise around traffic, density and town character whenever there is a proposal of new development.

 Cape Cod is a special place, and residents have a keen interest in protecting it. We all understandably want to protect the look, the charm and the feel of our towns, and new development of all stripes is commonly seen as a threat or a challenge to the quaintness we try to preserve. But it’s worth exploring one of these oft-raised complaints in a little more detail.

 We talk a lot about character in our towns and what new and repurposed development will do to it. During a public hearing in Harwich last month on a plan to convert an existing office building on Route 28 into 10 residential units, concerns were raised about how the proposal might impact “the character and charm of the area.” In Chatham, similar complaints have been raised over two proposed developments that together could bring 90 additional housing units to town. In a letter about the project to the select board, a Chatham was blunt in her assessment.

“We love our quiet, beautiful, peaceful and friendly community and we want to keep it that way. We have enough town projects. Choose somewhere else.”

 Charm and feel are important, but there’s more to character than just aesthetics. Among the word’s many definitions outlined by Merriam-Webster, there’s one that stands out as being particularly prescient, that being “moral excellence and firmness.”

 We’re well past the point of arguing about the need for housing of all kinds across the region. According to the Cape Cod and Islands Association of Realtors, the median cost of a single-family home on the Cape in July of this year was $820,000. It’s a figure that is well beyond the reach for many residents and families looking to stay in our communities. According to the nonprofit Housing to Protect Cape Cod, 29 percent of homeowners in Barnstable County are “cost burdened” by housing, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing annually. For renters on the Cape, that figure jumps to 53 percent.

 The data speaks clearly to an ongoing housing crisis. But making any sort of headway on the housing front requires some concessions. When we try to supress a housing project because of noise, traffic, parking and/or character, we’re choosing those concerns over very real needs. But ask yourself: What does it say about our “character” as a community to turn away from those in it who are most in need? What will the “character” of our towns be if the locals who make them what they are can no longer afford to live here? 

When it comes to affordable and attainable housing, the question of character isn’t about parking, traffic or what kind of cedar shingles we want to see. It’s a fundamental question of who we want to be. Instead of looking at a project as too dense, look at the potential it might provide for housing more families. Instead of fretting over how many more cars a project might add to our roads, think about how many teachers, public safety workers and service employees it might house. The ability to allow some of these admitted annoyances for a greater cause shows real community character.