ZBA Satisfied With Prence Design Modifications

ORLEANS – The zoning board of appeals appears to be on board with the modified design of the proposed Governor Prence Inn redevelopment brought before it last month.

 The board on June 24 voted to continue its hearing on the proposed 78-unit mixed housing project on the 5.5-acre property at 66 and 76 Route 6A, but indicated that it is largely satisfied with the layout presented by Housing Assistance Corporation, Preservation of Affordable Housing and Habitat for Humanity Cape Cod.

 “I’m of the position that I’m comfortable and would like to move forward,” said board member David Lyttle.

 The hearing was continued to July 27, at which point the applicants are expected to devote more time to questions about landscaping, traffic and the project’s specific waiver requests.

 The project includes 61 rental units across two three-story buildings at the rear of the property which would be rented to tenants that make between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income in Barnstable County. An additional 10 ownership units would be located in two townhouses fronting Route 6A, while seven single-family homes on the eastern side of the property would be managed by Habitat for Humanity and deed restricted as affordable.

 At the zoning board’s first hearing on the project in May, concerns were raised by board members and residents about the size of the project, especially the three-story buildings housing the rental units. In a letter submitted to the board after the May 20 hearing, the town’s architectural review committee asked that the massing of the rentals be addressed, and that they be designed to be more “aesthetically pleasing.”

 “We are mindful of the constraints made by project financing, funding agencies and myriad building code requirements,” the letter read. “We do however feel that the project as presented allows opportunity for improvement within the project limitations.”

On June 24, a revised schematic showed the buildings, identified in the plan as buildings one and two, with reduced heights and more diversity in the proposed window designs. The project also features a consistent gable roof design across all of the buildings. 

“The buildings I think are a lot more Cape Cod appropriate now, very much in style with what I was hoping to see,” Szeber said.

But the revisions to the plan didn’t please everyone in attendance at the June 24 hearing. Orleans resident Ed Peppin said he disagreed with the scale of the project, and also said the project as designed “does not meet the need” for housing that exists in town.

 Peppin said that the majority of the 78 units will be occupied by people who don’t live in Orleans. But Elizabeth Jenkins, the town’s assistant director of planning and community development, said a local preference designation from the state would reserve the bulk of the units for qualified local residents. She pointed out that of the 78 units in the recently completed developments at 107 Main St. and West Road, only six are being rented by people who aren't from here.

 Bob Wilkerson of the zoning board called the proposed project “a missed opportunity.” He said too much of the project is devoted to rental units when the land could have been used to build more homes for ownership.

 “These buildings, no matter how you slice it, are massive,” he said. “When they get constructed, I think a lot of people in Orleans are going to be surprised.”

 Zoning Board member Sibel Asantugrul, an architect, prepared a different layout for the project that reorganized the configuration of the buildings. She also asked if the applicants had considered using the rear of the property for parking, where the elevation of the property drops about 14 feet.

 “This project is going to get obviously approved because we all want this for the town,” she said. “That’s not a question. The question is did you by any chance look at such options?”

 But Peter Freeman, the attorney representing the project applicants, said while the applicants are willing to work with the board within the plan as submitted, considering a new plan would be “inappropriate.”

“We want to work with you, but we simply can’t redesign the site in the substantial way that’s been suggested,” he said.

Mark Mathison of the select board said that substantially redesigning the project before the zoning board would upend years of work by town officials and committees that was done to bring the project to this point. He said the design prepared by the applicants was crafted according to the request for proposals that the town submitted.

“And the [RFP] process resulted in the group of POAH, HAC and Habitat winning the opportunity to develop this [project],” he said.

Board Chair Gerald Mulligan said that Asantugrul’s rendering was preferred to the applicants’ by the zoning members who saw it. But he said the board’s ability to substantially change what’s before them is limited, especially considering the town is the project applicant.

“Sitting at this table defending this plan is the town,” he said. “We’re the last effort to make it look as good as it can, but fundamentally changing it seems to be beyond our purview.”

Others on the board asked for more specificity on aesthetics such as building color and trimmings. Orleans resident Neal Ahern was sharply critical of what he saw as the board’s overemphasis on aesthetics and building size. A local shellfisherman, he said he is one such person that would qualify for the housing being proposed on the Prence site.

 “Nothing gives you the right to sit in your chairs right now and get in the way of this precedent-setting project that we have voted for twice as a town,” he said.

 Some additional discussion could be set aside for project design on July 27, but board members asked specifically that the focus be on other elements of the project. That could include the possibility of installing a bus stop near the property.