Town Unveils Detailed Plans, Cost Estimates, For Sea Camps Land

BREWSTER – If India was Britain’s Jewel in the Crown, then the Cape Cod Sea Camps may be Brewster’s.

After almost two years of planning, the final vision for the $26 million purchase was unveiled last Thursday in the fourth and final forum.

“This is a really exciting moment that we have been working toward since the bay committee started meeting almost two years ago,” Amanda Bebrin, the Bay committee chair said. “Our charge has been to work on both interim uses and long-term planning and we are so excited to present our recommended plan for the bay property for voters to consider at spring town meeting.”

Approximately 1,050 residents have attended the first three forums and Reed Hilderbrand received 2,242 survey responses and 120 emails.

“This process has been intense and complex right from the beginning,” Bebrin noted. “We’ve discussed a ton of ideas and proposals to end up here tonight.”

The 66-acre pond property lies just south of the intersection of Freeman’s Way and Route 137 and extends from Route 137 to Long Pond. The 55-acre Cape Cod Bay parcel lies opposite the intersection of Millstone Road and Route 6A and runs from Route 6A to the bay.

The plans for the pond property include setting aside 10 acres along Route 137 for affordable housing and a possible neighborhood wastewater plant, an improved gravel drive to the pond shore, parking for 28 cars in three lots, expanded walking trails and a small public beach, Mass. Audubon programming along the pond (with storage cabins and boat racks) and a conservation restriction on the remaining 55 acres.

“We as a committee have been very impressed with the level of community involvement,” pond committee chair Doug Wilcock said. “We’ve endeavored to listen to what the community has said as well as to remain true to the articles under which the property was purchased.”

Brewster needs 571 subsidized housing units to hit the state’s 10 percent affordability target. Currently, including units under construction or planned, the town has 372 units. The plan could add 44 units (the actual number will depend on the developer’s proposal), buffered by trees on the pond property. The housing would be on a Cape Cod RTA bus route and could be completed in four to six years.

The wastewater treatment plant would be located underground beneath either a lawn or parking lot.

The Brewster Conservation trust has pledged $1 million to the pond property in exchange for the conservation restriction and trails connected to the 42-acre Long Pond Woodlands. Mass. Audubon has pledged $1.5 million for the conservation restriction and right to provide nature instruction day camps, workshops, guided walks, kayaks and field work opportunities. With the $2.5 million contributions from the BCT and Mass. Audubon along with previous town financing, only $750,000 of the $6 million Brewster paid for the pond property remains to be covered by the town.

“Very excited to share an opportunity to combine conservation and housing on the same property along with our partners,” Assistant Town Manager Donna Kalinick said.

Phase one of improving the pond property, targeted for 2025 to 2027, consists of studies and design for wastewater and housing, parking and drive improvements and trail work and would cost $2.3 million. Phase two, in 2027 to 2029, would include final wastewater design, initial housing design, permits, building work for Audubon and would cost $500,000. Phase three, set for 2029 to 2031, would include housing construction by the developer, wastewater construction by Brewster and would cost $4.5 million. Town officials say they hope to find other sources for this $4.5 million, so it’s not borne by the town.

“We have experience with public-private partnerships working on town property, just as we’ve done with Spring Rock Village off Millstone Road,” Kalinick noted.

Phase four has undetermined costs involving permitting and agreements, wastewater plant connections to adjoining properties and land management.

The total spent on the pond property is $7.3 million and the town believes they could get $5.3 million from other sources and would need to only finance $2 million of the work.

The bay property is divided into areas; the beach and coastal dunes, pond preserve and woodland buffer, the cabin glade and central campus, the arrival field and a secluded area by Route 6A. The cabin glade would be partially re-wilded and some cabins retained for seasonal use; a community center could be built in the central campus area while the administration building could be retained; tennis courts, community gardens, a pollinator meadow, an outdoor pool which is already there and a picnic area would be constructed.

Currently there is one administration building, 38 camper cabins, 25 maintenance buildings, nine staff cabins, six shower houses and 12 community buildings on site. Many of those would be removed and some renovated. All told, 48 buildings would be removed, 24 reused and 20 are to be determined. Two new buildings would be constructed.

There would be multiple parking lots comprising 250 spaces for the various functions - although that number could be adjusted. In addition to a half-mile nature trail, there are plans for a fitness loop and campus walking loop and a Cape Cod Rail Trail connection.

“For many years there has been discussion about a dedicated community center in Brewster,” observed Elizabeth Randall, Reed Hilderbrand’s lead consultant. “This keeps kind of bubbling up. The town meeting article to purchase these properties included a community center as a potential use. The vision plan identified providing a community center for all ages as a priority goal.”

The community center would require 34,000 square feet for all the desired activities, including a gym/performance space, classrooms, fitness center, multipurpose room, dance room and meeting room. The feasibility study for a community center would cost $300,000, followed by design and construction at a total cost of around $31 million over a period of eight to 10 years. It would also house Brewster’s Council of Aging and Recreation Department. The center could operate in conjunction with an expanded arts building and perhaps the dining hall can also be reused.

“I think there is still a question: does the town need a community center?” Randall noted. “One way to answer this is to think about the Council on Aging facility. It lacks adequate space for its programming needs.”

Brewster is paying $20 million for the bay property and Mass. Audubon is contributing $2 million to that in exchange for the right to construct the nature center and the 10-acre conservation restriction and the reuse of three cabins. Work on this property would also be done in phases at a cost of $8.3 million for phase one, which includes permitting and designing, demolition of buildings, renovations and installation of roads and trails.

Phase two, projected at $5.4 million, includes permitting more demolition and renovating, parking for the nature center and tree planting. At $10.4 million, the third phase includes the community center design, wastewater treatment design, a playground, community gardens, demolition and renovation. Phase four, for $6.6 million, would involve permitting, renovating the administration building, wastewater treatment plant construction and other items, wrapping up in 2033. Finally, around 2034 or 2035, the community center would be built - if approved - for around $31 million. The total cost of all the work at the Bay property is $61.7 million and Brewster would have to pay $55 million of that.

Other sources of funding include the public-private partnerships, grants and revenue from services.

“The first funding request would be next fall and it would include about $300,000 for the community center feasibility study,” Town Manager Peter Lombardi said.

He wanted to point out that approving the plan this May does not lock the town into building a community center. That approval would not come until 2034 or so.

The funding would be approved in three rounds of debt for $11.4 million, $14.5 million and $31 million, that in total, would add $408 in taxes a year for the average home valued at $710,000.

“More than half the costs to implement the plan are related to the community center,” Lombardi said. The next step is finalizing the plans for voters to approve at the May Town Meeting.