Cape Tech Moves Ahead With Agricultural Center

HARWICH – The town and Cape Cod Regional Technical High School are moving ahead with an intermunicipal agreement that will allow Cape Tech to lease the 33.6-acre Main Street bog property to establish an agricultural education center.

The select board approved the intermunicipal agreement last week. The conservation commission, which has jurisdiction over the property, voted 4-1 to support the agreement, and Cape Tech Superintendent Robert Sanborn said on Monday that he received the final version of the agreement on Friday and would be signing it and forwarding it to the select board on Monday or Tuesday.

“We’re very excited,” Sanborn said Monday.

The agreement provides a 25-year lease to the Tech School at $1,000 a year. There is a provision that will allow a 25-year renewal. The town-owned parcel, located at 374 Main St. in North Harwich, had previously been leased to Leo Cakounes, who raised animals and grew cranberries there.

The intermunicipal agreement allows Cape Tech to operate education programs related to agricultural, animal science and husbandry, veterinarian technology, horticultural, forestry, aquacultural, environmental technology, natural resources management and general education.

The educational program will require the approval of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, according to Sanborn. The school is planning a two-part submission for approval, he said. The first part seeks approval of veterinary science and environmental science technology programs to be established on the property.

Sanborn said he does not expect to hear from DESE as to whether the requests are approved until late in this school year. The hope is to be able to set up a freshman class at the location next fall, although he admitted that goal is ambitious.

Sanborn said he has been going back and forth with DESE as they request additional information. If necessary, he said the school might start with just one program.

“I do have a sense they are receptive,” Sanborn said of the state.

While DESE‘s timing of approval is important, the school will be seeking state and federal grants and private donors to assist in setting up the facilities at this location, he said.

The infrastructure needs there include classrooms, laboratories and greenhouses and the use of an existing barn or the construction of a new one. The school’s current horticultural program will be moved to the new location, Sanborn said. There will also be a small storefront along Main Street, like the structure there now, which will offer for sale items generated from the agricultural educational center.

“This will happen over time,” he said. Grants from agencies and private contributions will be sought and fundraising will be necessary for equipment to operate the programs, he added.

If a program can be put in place for next fall, he said, a temporary modular unit from the school could be relocated to accommodate students.

Initially an additional teacher will also be necessary for each program, and a second teacher would be necessary after a few years. Once the programs are operating, the towns served by the school would fund the programs through the normal budget process, Sanborn said.

As for the cranberry farming that has occurred on a major portion of the property, the agreement allows for its continuance by the school or for an assignee or contractor to oversee cranberry cultivation. Sanborn said it is not likely the school will be doing cranberry farming, other than perhaps a small demonstration area, though a farming operation could continue through an assignee.

“We’re not training people to be cranberry farmers,” he said.

If the agricultural learning center is not in operation within three years of the effective date, the agreement will be terminated.

“It’s been a long haul, but it looks like we are there,” said Select Board Chair Julie Kavanagh when addressing the agreement last week.

“I’d like to thank Leo Cakounes,” Select Board member Michael MacAskill said. “This would never have happened if not for him pushing it forward.”

“It preserves that property and advances agriculture into the future,” added Select Board member Donald Howell.