Wellfleet National Seashore Homeowners Association

“Native Cape Codders are tough, used to making do with very little, and the traditional architecture reflects these values. Trophy houses are not at all like that. What offends us is the unwillingness of the owners of these houses to acknowledge the local values, and what is infuriating in the process of approving their building designs is that there seems to be no way for the local community to input information about these values. …

“Right now zoning is the only tool we have for involving proposers of new housing in a discussion of neighborhood values, and within zoning the only way to express these values is in the regulations limiting the size of new buildings. In Wellfleet, a group of citizens is promoting the idea of a limitation on floor area of houses to be built on properties within Cape Cod National Seashore. The group reached its collective boiling point when a small, admittedly clunky modernist house was slated to be torn down and replaced by a monster in a prominent location on Wellfleet Harbor. I support their effort.”

excerpt from “Guest Commentary: Time to Set Limits on Building Size“, Jim Hadley, President, Orleans Historical Society, Wicked Local: Wellfleet, May 30, 2008

Seashore homeowner Lisa Swanson wrote the following letter to CCNS Superintendent George Price, Jr., objecting to the Park’s complaint dated May 13, 2008 (read page one, page two) regarding a building permit issued to her for expansion of her home in a wooded location in the Park. Price’s May 28, 2008, letter responding to Swanson may be read here (page one, page two).

May 23, 2008

George Price, Jr.

United States Department of the Interior

Cape Cod National Seashore

99 Marconi Site Road

Wellfleet, MA 02667

cc: Dale Donovan; Rex Peterson; Alan Platt; Gerald Parent; Paul Murphy; Trevor Pontbriand

Re: A90 Tract #19-4152

By Email; Copies to Follow by Ground Mail

Dear Mr. Price:

I was stunned to learn recently that a complaint about the building permit issued to me at 80 Thoreau Way had been circulated between no fewer than seven local department offices, and that the matter was discussed at recent Planning Board and ZBA meetings—without any notice to me whatsoever.  (more…)

The Cape Cod Business Roundtable has called for Wellfleet to “Adopt zoning changes to protect against “trophy homes”. In its Business Roundtable Growth Management Plan’s town-by-town recommendations, it includes this along with other recommendations. Its website is at that of the multi-issue environmental organization Association to Preserve Cape Cod.

Eastham’s Site Plan Review process for residential construction and expansion has been described as successful by members of Eastham’s Planning Board. It is being considered by Wellfleet’s Planning Board for being adapted for Wellfleet. You can read the Minutes of the Board’s April 2, 2008, April 16, 2008, and May 7, 2008, discussions on Site Plan Review.

What do you think about the draft Site Plan Review proposal being considered now by the Wellfleet Planning Board?

Would it be better to limit the mass and scale of large ‘trophy’ house projects by tightening the standards for lot coverage, buildable height, setbacks, etc?

Or would it be better to do both?

Which is the better way to go?

The Planning Board met at the Senior Center on Wednesday, May 7, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. It heard public comment and continued its discussion of its draft Site Plan Review amendment to the Zoning By-Laws.

Minutes of the meeting’s SPR comments and discussions follow:

Site Plan Review – Open Session for Public Comment

Bob Costa had questions about language in the current draft. He also questioned the overall purpose of a Site Plan Review (SPR) bylaw. Costa and Lauren McKean of the National Parks Service also discussed notification to the Seashore for building alterations on property within Seashore boundaries. Notification of other boards was also considered. Griswold “Gooz” Draz said he had researched building permits from 2005 to 2007 for new houses and additions and gave statistics of those which would have triggered a Site Plan Review. Although he noted that there were some limitations on the relevance of the data he could research, Draz felt there was a very limited number of possible case for SPR given the current draft criteria. Lauren McKean recommended two aspects of Eastham’s SPR: 1.) having two different size triggers and 2.) site coverage. She also said she favored different standards for different areas of Town based on the Seashore, ACEC and Wellhead Protection Districts. This could be written into the bylaws, McKean said. She was most interested in the thresholds at this time, however. Required submission, she said, could include neighborhood character. (more…)

The Wellfleet Zoning Board of Appeals held hearings on April 30 and May 1, 2008, on appeals of a building permit issued for construction of a large house to replace the “Billboard House” in the CCNS.

Appeals were filed by the CCNS, a group of Bound Brook Island homeowners, the Wellfleet Board of Selectmen, and an abutting homeowner (who withdrew his appeal). The central legal issue is whether issuance of the building permit was lawful under the Bjorklund v. ZBA of Town of Norwell case, which ruled that a proposed project which conforms to the dimensional requirements of zoning bylaws but is on a nonconforming lot is, under the Massachusetts Zoning Act, a nonconforming use which requires a Special Permit, following a determination that the project would not be substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood than the existing structure.

A second legal issue is whether the Zoning By-Laws’ Park District objective of allowing uses which are “not incompatible with the character of the park, including the preservation of natural and scenic areas”, should be considered before issuing a building permit for the Blasch project.  This issue was raised by the Selectmen’s appeal.  (more…)

Cape Cod National Seashore Superintendent George E. Price, Jr., wrote in Cape Cod Times on May 1, 2008, in an article entitled “National Seashore Still Faces Threats”:

The Cape Cod National Seashore: “The finest victory ever recorded for the cause of conservation in New England.” — The Berkshire Eagle, Aug. 7, 1961

As superintendent of the Cape Cod National Seashore, I often hear people share their criticisms and complaints about seashore management as it affects them. However, they usually conclude by saying, — but I am glad the National Seashore is here!”

I’ve personally enjoyed the National Seashore for more than 30 years. Its establishment is a living legacy to President Kennedy. I have since learned that many others — local community leaders, newspaper editors, local residents, state, and federal office holders — also deserve credit. What all of these individuals had in common was a concern about over development, and a desire to preserve the character of the Outer Cape. (more…)

At a meeting of the Park Advisory Commission, as reported in The Cape Codder, CCNS Superintendent George Price acknowledged the problem of zoning which allows trophy homes to be built in the Park. He will work with the towns in the Park on zoning, as was the original intent of the federal law creating the Park.

[T]hat intention was to keep the 44,000 acres within the Seashore protected and to limit large amounts of growth in the park to protect natural resources as well as the aesthetics of the environment. But with a flood of big money in the region, that has proved to be difficult, said park officials.

The law’s intent was not to create something like Williamsburg, VA, but to have homes continue to be lived in and, according to Price, expanded “so long as it’s ‘not so outrageous that they dominate the landscape’”.

The Wellfleet Planning Board at its regular meeting on April 16, 2008, continued its evaluation of the possible benefits, difficulties, and effectiveness of Site Plan Review. It also considered alternatives such as an overlay district near water. The Board had received comments from CCNS and Town legal and conservation officials and heard the views of the public at the meeting. The SPR discussion in the Minutes of this meeting follow:

Site Plan Review

[Chairman Dennis] O’Connell said that Planning Board had prepared a draft Site Plan Review (SPR) and had received comments which he read from Town Counsel, Lauren McKean of the National Seashore, and Ginie Page of the Conservation Commission.

Planning Board (PB) began discussion of SPR with consideration of the Building Inspector’s denial of a project, a first step in Eastham’s process; the challenging nature of cubic foot calculation; control of mass by considering volume; and cubic foot application for commercial properties.

Discussion and questions from the audience concerned: calculating habitable space; criteria for mass, determining neighborhood character; triggers for Site Plan Review, including impervious ground covers in SPR equations; volume determined by exterior measurement; average house size of Wellfleet; cost and time concerns to homeowners; and provisions for changing plans. Bruce Whitman recounted a story of a New York town which had lost control of building size. (more…)