Select Board August 21 Meeting Recap: Board Votes to Request Local and Regional Preference at Spring Rock Village
Housing Coordinator, Jill Scalise and Assistant Town Manager, Donna Kalinick, presented to the Select Board last Monday night on the possibility of local and regional priority in the initial leasing of the future affordable rental housing community in Brewster, Spring Rock Village located at 0 Millstone Road. Ms. Scalise and Ms. Kalinick explained that as part of Spring Rock Village’s affirmative fair housing marketing and resident selection plan, the Town may request local and/or regional preference. The Select Board can decide the level of local and/or regional preference, if any, Brewster would like to request from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC).
“A municipality may request a maximum of 70% local preference for the initial fair housing lottery,” explained Ms. Scalise. “Local preference applies to people presently living or working in Brewster or who have a child attending a Brewster public school. There is also the possibility of requesting a regional preference – the region would be Barnstable County.”
Select Board members noted attending a Joint Local Preference Information Session last week and agreed that a combination of local and regional preferences would be ideal for Brewster, and, after discussion, settled on a plan to request the EOHLC to allow a 55% local preference and an additional regional preference. “One deed restricted house recently went on the market and had 21 applicants, so the justification for us acting on local preference is solid, and we’ve heard from residents who support it,” said Select Board Vice-Chair, Mary Chaffee.
The Select Board approved a motion to request the EOHLC to grant a 55% local preference and the corresponding maximum regional preference allowed, expected to be either 15% or 20%, during the initial fair housing lottery for Spring Rock Village, and to authorize Ms. Kalinick and Ms. Scalise to draft a request letter to EOHLC, and for Chair Chatelain to sign the letter.
Spring Rock Village, 0 Millstone Road
The Select Board also heard from Mark Nelson, the Town’s long-time water quality planning consultant from Horsley Witten, who presented on behalf of the Water Resource Task Force regarding the new state watershed permit regulations and Title 5 septic system requirements. The new watershed permit regulations were issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and became effective as of July 2023. Town Manager, Peter Lombardi, explained that these regulations will have major policy and financial implications for Cape Cod but that Brewster is well positioned to respond to these regulations based on decades of progressive land use policies and conservation practices.
In his presentation, Mr. Nelson outlined how the new regulations will affect water resource planning for sections of Brewster in the Herring River, Bass River, and Swan Pond River watersheds. The regulations allow Cape towns to apply for a watershed exemption if the town’s baseline nitrogen contributions in a particular watershed does not exceed 3% of the total load.
The Water Resources Task Force recommended filing a watershed permit exemption application for Swan Pond River this fall, followed by an application for Bass River. Furthermore, the Task Force recommended that planning work for the Herring River Watershed permit should begin by early 2024. Select Board Clerk, Kari Hoffmann, asked if Brewster homeowners should be concerned about upgrading their Title 5 systems. Mr. Lombardi responded that there may well be a need to eventually upgrade Title 5 systems in Brewster in a phased approach, but that the Town will decide how and when this is applied. “We, the Town, and our residents, are not being forced into changing our septic systems with these new state regulations”, said Mr. Lombardi.
The Town’s longstanding collaborative efforts to partner with Orleans, Chatham, and Harwich through the Pleasant Bay Alliance were also highlighted in a presentation on the Pleasant Bay watershed permit annual report. This permit was grandfathered under the new DEP regulations, which identified the Pleasant Bay Alliance as a best practice in regional watershed planning efforts.
Jurisdiction of New Title 5 Septic System Requirements
Finally, the Select Board reviewed the draft of the FY24-25 Strategic Plan. Mr. Lombardi explained that the Select Board recently held its annual retreat to develop new goals for the next two years. “The Town solicited feedback from Town staff, committees, and residents for priority values and principles for the Select Board to take into consideration,” noted Mr. Lombardi. The Board voted to adopt the FY24-25 Select Board Strategic Plan, which will be shared out with the community in a new format consistent with the Vision Plan and draft Local Comprehensive Plan next month.