BCT And BPC Raise Sea Camps Affordable Housing Concerns Ahead Of Select Board Vote

BREWSTER – The select board is set to vote Jan. 5 on the future of affordable housing on the Sea Camps pond property. 

The Brewster Conservation Trust (BCT) and the Brewster Ponds Coalition (BPC) have requested that the vote be postponed pending receipt of additional information. 

In 2024 voters approved the Sea Camps comprehensive plans, which dedicated a 10-acre section on the pond property for affordable housing. The proposed 44 units included an associated wastewater treatment system since the designated area sits directly in the middle of a Zone II recharge area for town wells, is in the Herring River watershed and borders the Pleasant Bay watershed. 

The town recently completed a survey of the pond parcel as formal documentation to send to the state for the conservation restriction application. The survey identified four additional acres that were not initially included in the total acreage of the property. This means the parcel sits at 70 acres, with 10 set aside for affordable housing and wastewater, and now 60 set aside for conservation. 

If approved by the select board on Jan. 5, the 10-acre site will be transferred to the affordable housing trust to begin a feasibility study and pre-planning for the site. 

Town Manager Peter Lombardi reiterated that the 44-unit proposal developed by Reed Hildebrand was purely conceptual and remains illustrative. He said the affordable housing trust would lead the process of developing definitive plans. 

Last week, both the BCT and BPC sent the select board formal letters detailing their concerns with the proposal and asking to postpone the vote until there is more information regarding all potential sites in town. 

“First, let me make clear that the Ponds Coalition, and me personally, don’t oppose affordable housing,” said John Keith, president of the BPC, in a phone interview on Dec. 23. “In fact, we’d like to see affordable housing. The issue in our minds is where to put it.” 

Within the affordable housing proposal, the town has come up with two variations of wastewater treatment options. The first was to pump the wastewater to a treatment facility off Millstone Road, over a mile away from the site. The second was to create a treatment facility onsite.

“Pumping the wastewater a mile away would take it out of the Zone II and out of the Herring River Watershed basin and put it into the Cape Cod Bay Watershed,” said Keith. “Whereas treating it onsite would mean that the wastewater still goes out into the groundwater within Zone II and the Herring River basin.” 

Keith said with both of the options, there are still many questions surrounding how many additional houses in the area would be connected. He also said there are significant costs associated with both options, as well as environmental advantages and impacts. Keith suggested that resolving the issues of how wastewater will be treated is an important step before moving forward with the project, and the potential pollutants must be a large part of the conversation.

At the Dec. 15 select board meeting, Henry Minis made comments in opposition of the proposed housing. 

“I think there are many higher levels of decisions that need to be made first by the select board and the Brewster public,” he said. “We all know that housing versus drinking water and pond water quality protection has been a big controversy and one that merits a lot more discussion.” 

BCT president Charlie Sumner echoed Minis’ remarks in a phone interview on Dec. 23. He said when the Sea Camps comprehensive plan was presented to the public at town meeting, there were a number of questions concerning the development of affordable housing on the Long Pond property. At the time, assurances were made that the public would get another opportunity to have a conversation surrounding public policy, and that the vote would return to town meeting. He argued that if the vote proceeds on Jan. 5, the public will not get that opportunity. 

Select Board member Caroline McCarley asked how the affordable housing trust would proceed through the process if the vote was approved on Jan. 5. 

Ned Chatelain, select board member and liaison to the affordable housing trust, said a work plan and timeline would be developed initially and include public comment as well as feedback on the design. 

Referencing the feasibility study, the site work study and the wastewater study, Chatelain said, “We have a great groundwork on the wastewater study, but there is more that needs to be done there to understand what we’re doing.” 

At the Dec. 15 meeting Chatelain said, “I think it is important to remember that we tonight signed a land lease for a project that was referred to the affordable housing trust seven years ago and there is not a shovel in the ground yet. The time has been well spent between now and then answering the sorts of questions for that property that have been raised here tonight. We’re not at the very beginning of this process.”

Keith said the town is still in the process of updating the integrated water resource management plan. The BPC urged the town to update the plan before the annual town meeting in May and the revised plan is set to be released this month. The updates will take into account Zone II, the Herring River watershed, the Cape Cod Bay watershed and potential long-term pollutants that include conventional and unconventional contaminants. 

In a letter drafted to the select board, Sumner wrote, “[BCT has] long endorsed the commonsense priorities laid out in Brewster’s vision plan, local comprehensive plan, and housing production plan that call for building new affordable homes in areas where public services, transportation, and economic activities already exist; and using environmentally sensitive land for conservation purposes. While the Brewster Conservation Trust has long been a strong supporter of the Sea Camps property overall, we have consistently opposed the development of a high-density residential neighborhood on the pond parcel. This area is environmentally sensitive and is located far from existing business and commercial infrastructure. As such, the proposal is a poor fit from a housing planning perspective and even more concerning from an environmental protection and public health standpoint.”

Sumner also said he believes the new land evaluation committee needs more time to assess all available town-owned parcels for affordable housing projects. As the committee is in its infancy, it is important for it to finish the process of evaluating all possible sites before making any formal decisions, he argued. Select board member Pete Dahl made similar remarks at the Dec. 15 meeting.

Chair Mary Chaffee urged community members to come forward at the Jan. 5 meeting to participate in the discussions before the select board’s vote. She said there are essentially three paths forward: voting to proceed with transferring the project to the affordable housing trust, voting to defer the decision and not move forward with the project in the near future, or voting to bring a warrant article to town meeting that would change the comprehensive plan and remove affordable housing and wastewater from the plans on the pond property.