Future of the Cape Cod Commission
by Cape Business staffJuly 11, 2007 -- The Cape Cod Commission has just filed a six-month progress report with the Barnstable County Commissioners addressing recommendations by the 21st Century Task Force aimed at reforming commission practices – in part to better balance economic development with environmental protection.
A copy of the actual report can be read at www.capecodcommission.org/taskforce.
The progress report will be discussed at a Barnstable County Commission meeting at 1 p.m. on July 18 at the Barnstable Superior Courthouse and again that day at 4 p.m. before the Assembly of Delegates.
The most compelling issues for Cape businesses include: expediting permitting; increasing building thresholds beyond 10,000 square feet without incurring expensive and lengthy reviews; and developing more predictable and consistent mitigation costs.
The task force developed a series of questions about the commission’s future, amid growing discontent by business and local government leaders. At least five towns are considering ways to opt out of the commission, and its longtime executive director, Margo Fenn, has announced her retirement.
• How can the commission effectively address its three-pronged mission: regional planning, regulatory review and technical assistance?
• How can the Commission and towns achieve implementation of Local Comprehensive Plans (LCPs)?
• How can the commission and the towns better reconcile differences between regional and local interests in both planning and regulatory matters? How can coordination and communication be improved?
Earlier this year, the Cape Cod Commission established a steering committee made up of both members and staff to oversee implementation of the Task Force recommendations. Commission Chairman Brad Crowell led the effort and under his direction the group evaluated each recommendation to determine:
1. What changes in regulations might be required
2. What changes in process might be needed
3. What changes in organization might be needed
4. What resources (funds, staffing, equipment) would be needed
5. Who would be the key players and partners involved
6. Timing and Priorities for implementation.
Among highlights of the six-month progress report:
• The Cape’s Regional Plan has been reorganized to separate the planning and regulatory components.
• The commission's in-house legal counsel has led a working group to examine how to better integrate the commission's DRI review process with local permitting. Results are now with town managers for their review.
• The commission plans focus groups with developers, consultants and town officials throughout this month to identify bottlenecks in the permit review process and recommend practices to make both local and regional permitting more efficient. Eventually, it hopes to develop a best practices guides to expedite permitting.
• Commission staff has developed a process for limited DRI review now being shared with developers and local governments.
• Commission staff continues to discuss growth incentive zones for East Harwich Center; North Eastham, Buzzards Bay and Dennisport. Other potential zones could be Sandwich’s “Golden Triangle” and a Rt. 28 corridor in Yarmouth – with particular attention paid to converting 35 hotel/motel properties to residenital or mixed-use development.
• Commission staff has met several times with Sandwich officials about a potential development agreement for the Meetinghouse Village development, focusing on wastewater disposal and transportation. Work here should accelerate during the second half of the year.
• The commission is extending “expedited permitting technical assistance” to specific towns, including Bourne, Barnstable, Falmouth, Eastham and Sandwich.
• The commission has extended efforts to help expedite projects of community benefit. Previous examples here include the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre (WHAT), the expansion of the YMCA in Barnstable, the Marine Life Center in Bourne, the Cape End Manor in Provincetown and the Riverview School in Sandwich.
• A commission working group has been evaluating ways to expand threshholds for developments of regional interest, including: measuring a building’s footprint instead of gross floor area; varying thresholds for different map or zoning districts (e.g. higher in growth centers, lower in sensitive natural resource areas); raising thresholds for light industrial and office use as well as affordable housing; and providing bonus footage for projects that meet smart-growth criteria. Another idea: different thresholds for different towns.
• Four 5,000 square feet bonuses currently are being considered for: Municipal Sewer (if the proponent has a sewer hook-up for the project); Mixed Use (where a minimum of 40% of the floor area of the project would have to be residential); and Affordable/Workforce Housing (where a minimum of 10% of the units would need to be affordable and the town would need an inclusionary bylaw to ensure the units remained affordable.)
• The commission formed a mitigation working group to explore how to make requirements of the Regional Policy Plan (RPP) more predictable. It is focusing on four key areas where substantial mitigation often is required: water resources, transportation, open space and affordable housing. In each area, staff has developed a draft mitigation "schedule" to identify potential costs based on the location and nature of the proposed development.
• The purpose of creating these mitigation schedules is two-fold: First, it would allow applicants to estimate many of the potential mitigation costs earlier in the DRI process. Second, it would give project proponents an opportunity to speed up the DRI timeframe by eliminating the requirement for some detailed studies. For example, a developer could opt to not prepare a detailed traffic analysis and instead simply pay the per-square-foot fee to address the congestion impacts of the project.
• The commission needs to coordinate mitigation issues with towns. That includes obtaining from localities proposals for needed transportation Improvements and open space purchases so funds collected could be used in a timely way to address local priorities.
• Meanwhile, the planning committee has invited former applicants, attorneys, consultants and town officials to meet with them to discuss the draft mitigation schedules on July 16.
Cape Business Newsletters
Keep up with the latest issues affecting your business and your life! To sign up for any of the Cape Business newsletters, click here.