Community Forum Reviews Warrant Ahead Of Fall Town Special Meeting

BREWSTER – At fall special town meeting on Monday, Brewster residents will have the opportunity to vote on 14 articles, including a majority of the year’s capital expenditures. 

Last Thursday, Nov. 6, Town Manager Peter Lombardi, Assistant Town Manager Donna Kalinick, Finance Director Mimi Bernardo, Planning Board Chair Alex Wentworth and Vice Chair Rob Michaels, Select Board and Sea Camps advisory committee member Caroline McCarley, community preservation committee chair Sarah Robinson and short-term rental task force chair Rob Leavell joined the public for a community forum to go over the warrant and answer any questions. 

The warrant opens with funding for outstanding obligations, a standard practice for invoices received after the fiscal year. Legally in Massachusetts municipalities are not allowed to pay bills from a prior fiscal year with the current year’s funds, so it must be brought before taxpayers at town meeting. The obligations total $3,316.60 and are for an elevator fix at town hall and shoes for the golf department.

Article 2 is another standard practice of voting to rescind authorized debt that ultimately was not used. 

Article 3 seeks to transfer funds for the Vesper Pond private road betterment project. At the community forum, Bernardo said that a number of abutters have paid off their portions of the project early, so this money can be transferred to pay off a chunk of the debt ahead of schedule. 

Article 4 is an appropriation of $97,000 from free cash to compensate the state for use of the Crosby Mansion parking lots as beach overflow parking for the last eight years. If approved, $52,000 will go to the department of conservation and recreation and the remaining $45,000 will be transferred to the Crosby Mansion revolving fund. 

Article 5 looks at Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding for two upcoming projects. The first, which falls into the community housing category, is a $105,000 appropriation to Habitat for Humanity Cape Cod for the Mackie Drive community housing project. Habitat for Humanity is planning to build two affordable homes on two lots at 3571 Main St. The Brewster Conservation Trust holds a conservation restriction on a portion of the parcel. The project is a collaborative effort between the two organizations.

The second project seeks $20,000 from the budgeted reserve for the community preservation committee to update its five-year community preservation plan. The plan will extend from 2028 to 2032.

Article 6 combines capital requests from town departments and totals just over $2.7 million. On Thursday, Kalinick said approximately $1.2 million would be funded through a free cash appropriation. This year, the town’s free cash was certified at $3.75 million, she said. 

If all of the free cash appropriations, including Article 7’s Sea Camps capital requests, are approved, Kalinick said that the town would have a remaining free cash balance of $1.4 million which would be used at annual town meeting in the spring for capital requests. 

The remaining requests are funded through a mix of retained earnings from enterprise funds and a reappropriation of prior capital articles. Departments requesting funding for the upcoming year include the assessors, natural resources, water department, department of public works, facilities, IT, police department, fire department, the library and the golf department. 

The Sea Camps advisory committee has spent the last year addressing many of the public comments after funding for the property’s comprehensive plan implementation was denied in December. A new funding and phasing plan has been developed and presented to the public. The first funding request appears on the warrant as Article 7, which seeks $1.07 million to finance the new schedule of projects; $50,000 of that is from retained earnings from the water department and the remaining $1.02 million is from free cash. 

 The new plan is divided into three categories: infrastructure work, amenities and general maintenance. Since the bay property will need a majority of the money, funding allotted for that parcel is $920,000. The remaining $150,000, if approved, will go to initial design and permitting for the pond property.

Maps with specifics of the updated plans on both properties are included in the warrant.  

 In order to meet its nitrogen reduction requirements for the Herring River Watershed, Brewster opted to control the land known as Thachers Bog, which is owned by the Harwich Conservation Trust. Article 8 seeks approval to purchase a conservation restriction on the property to prohibit any future fertilizer application, which would meet the town’s nitrogen mitigation requirements. The article seeks $300,000 from the water quality stabilization fund to cover the cost of the conservation restriction. 

 Article 9, if approved, would amend the town bylaw in order to create a short-term rental revolving fund. The account would separately hold fees collected to support operation of a registration and inspection program. The annual spending cap would be at $200,000. 

 Leavell will provide the final report for the short-term rental task force at the special town meeting. Article 10 seeks approval of the report. 

 Leavell said the report contains a number of recommendations and will now be handed off to the select board and any other relevant boards. In collaboration, those boards will develop a plan to implement the recommendations moving forward. 

 Article 11 seeks authorization to enter a five-year contract for property valuation services. Every year the town hires an outside contractor to set assessed value, collect new growth information and perform property inspections. The current contract is up in the next year and town meeting needs to approve any contract of more than three years duration. If authorized, the town will go out to bid for a new agreement.

 Article 12 proposes a number of amendments to the zoning bylaw, specifically in reference to accessory dwelling units (ADUs). In 2024, the state Affordable Homes Act made ADUs an allowed use in all zoning districts. Brewster now needs to align this with its zoning bylaw.

 The main changes would be an elimination of owner occupancy requirements, bedroom limitations and special permit requirements. Brewster is able to preserve existing ADU zoning such as prohibiting short-term rentals and continuing to allow 1,000 square feet of floor space. 

 The amendments would also include updating the “accessory commercial dwelling unit” name to “mixed-use dwelling.” This phrase is more standard in zoning and land use, Wentworth said.

 Article 13 was brought to the warrant by a citizens’ petition and seeks approval of a nonbinding resolution for Brewster to become a pollinator-friendly community. Lombardi said some of the resolution is educational and some is aspirational.

The final article is a proposed amendment to the alewife committee’s bylaw. The suggested changes help to define the purpose and charge of the committee. It also requests an expansion in membership from three to five members. 

Printed copies of the warrant are available at town hall, the council on aging, the Brewster Ladies’ Library, the Brewster General Store, the local post office, Café Alfresco, Brewster Pizza House and Millstone Liquors. 

The special town meeting begins at 6 p.m. Nov. 17 at Stony Brook Elementary School.