A Change In Planning Philosophy Proposed For Harwich

 HARWICH – It is time to change the town’s planning philosophy, according to Planning Board Chair Duncan Berry. 

 Berry was before the select board on Dec. 22 explaining that while he usually talks about the town’s history, he wanted to address the community’s future. 

Berry put forward a project called “Vision of Harwich,” a concept to manage development to preserve historic charm and natural resources while ensuring essential services and economic vitality.

 He said in recent planning board sessions, the sentiments of the community regarding development is changing.

 “People are on fire about this,” Berry said. “We’re seeing these tectonic changes in land use and land development with important consequences, economic impacts, as well as quality of life impacts.”

 Berry said he came to the select board looking for help for the planning board in addressing the inevitable changes the community is facing. The current planning system is like a 1951 DeSoto with a 1971 Pinto gas tank and a 1984 transmission, and people are now clambering for a Tesla battery, he said. 

“The structure is not really sound for what we need to do in this town,” Berry said.

The planning board has met with the board of appeals in a productive session, and a working group is being set up, he said.

“We are dealing with unintended consequences from something we refuse to take responsibility for,” Berry said. “The system is now in perpetual imbalance.” 

He said the select board needs to help planning officials explore ways to move away from the use-based zoning code and to a form-based code. This is being explored in other towns, Berry said, adding that planning should be governed by things tailored specifically for Harwich.

“A form-based code can be created as an antidote to suburban sprawl,” said Berry.

A form-based code would provide land development regulations that prioritize the physical form of buildings and their relationship to the public realm (streets, squares) to create predictable, walkable and community-oriented places, unlike traditional zoning which focuses on separating land uses like residential and commercial.

Berry said what he hears “non-stop” is that town regulations lack vision. The local comprehensive plan (presented to the select board Monday night; see separate story) is a nice start, but it contains a lot of consultant language, he said. The document needs “community language,” he said.

The question should be what we want this town to look like, Berry said. The response should be that it should remain a small town and not a suburb, he said. The town has to put the building blocks together to shape the building patterns that are inherent to Harwich, he added, recognizing the settlement patterns that have evolved over the past 400 years.

“This to me is a no-brainer.” Berry said. “We’re facing this tectonic change in town. The land is moving, money is moving in different ways, it’s changing the shape and life of our town. I don’t have the answers, but I think we can do a better job managing our town and what we want to be. We have deep history and architecture around us. Use it.”

Select Board member Mark Kelleher wanted to know the role of the select board in the process.

Berry said there are consulting firms that can work with the town to develop form-based zoning codes. The board could provide funding for a study, which would serve a number of town departments, including planning, assessing and building.   

 He referred to present planning conditions as a “cludge,” an ill-assorted collection of parts assembled to fulfill a particular purpose.

 “I’m worn out,” said Select Board member Jeffrey Handler. “I know a lot of the townspeople are worn out with people moving into our town, essentially leveraging the personal property rights, which I believe heavily in,  and changing little by little,  corner by corner, village by village,  the character of what this town means to me, and a lot of people. I’m tired of our town playing defense, it’s time to play offense.” 

 Handler said he supports moving forward with Berry’s proposal. 

“I think we need to be proactive,” agreed select board member Anita Doucette.

 The town wants to have a say in what happens here, select board member Peter Piekarski said, urging Berry to put additional information together and obtain cost estimates.