Wellfleet National Seashore Homeowners Association

Planning Board member (and WNSHA Vice-President) Gooz Draz has written a public letter inviting Wellfleet residents to support the Board’s proposed zoning revisions for residential zones R1 and R2:

“I am writing to ask for your help in support of new zoning regulations for Wellfleet’s R1 & R2 districts. The Planning Board, of which I am a member, has a plan to regulate house sizes in our town in similar fashion to what was done for the Seashore District. Saturday, January 30th, 9 AM at the Senior Center, an open meeting will be held to explain the zoning revisions and get feedback.

“So, if you are interested in wanting to see our town zoning revised so that it reflects the many desires expressed to better regulate house sizes here, I and the other Planning Board members who have worked on this plan would appreciate your show of support at the January 30th meeting.

“In short, the zoning revision proposed would do away with our present 15% Lot (or footprint) Coverage, which allows for a 2 story 9,000+ square foot house (not including habitable cellar space) to be built By-Right (or without recourse to alter) on a 3/4 acre lot! Bear in mind that most of the lots in Wellfleet, meaning the R1 & R2 districts, are between 1/2 to just over 1 acre in size.

“Instead we are proposing a new Site Coverage sliding scale standard (one that reflects our existing housing stock averages) that would limit by-right house size on such a 3/4 acre lot to ~2,600 sf. And if anyone wanted to exceed the by-right sliding scale allowance for their lot size would be required to seek a Site Plan Review Special Permit.

“Five of us on the Planning Board believe this sliding scale plan is a very reasonable and fair one. No zoning revision will be perfect in all regards, but we hope this is one the town as a whole will accept and adopt, and with your understanding of it and support we can make it happen.

“If you care about this, please come to the January 30th meeting. And if you’re interested in the details of the plan ahead of time, please email me and I will send them to you.

“Thank you and best wishes,

Gooz”

The Conservation Commission was informed that the State’s review of the proposed ACEC Bylaws found no problems.  At its December 2 ,2009, meeting, the Commission discussed having another public hearing on the ACEC Bylaw and making some revisions before presenting it to Town Meeting for approval.

A public discussion on house size and possible approaches to limiting it will take place on Saturday, January 30, 2010, with presentations by Planning Board members, starting at 9:00 a.m. at the Senior Center.

The Board discussed site coverage rules, including Site Plan Review, at its January 6 meeting.

Wellfleet residents are concerned about preserving the character of the town and its not becoming like the Hamptons, whose changes were recently described by writer Mark Helprin:

“Mere multimillionaires cannot afford anymore to go where within living memory actual people made a living from the farms, clam beds, and sword-fishing grounds.  Now the potato fields are covered with houses that look like the headquarters of Martian expeditionary forces, ice-cream factories, vacuum cleaners on stilts, the Seagram building on its side, or shingled New England cottages monstrously swollen into something you might see after eating a magic mushroom.  In simple and quiet towns that once deferred to the majesty of the ocean, the streets are now clogged with a kabuki theater of Range Rovers and $35,000 handbags.”  “A Non-Delirious New York”, The Wall Street Journal, January 22, 2010.

Vandals have removed stakes from the site of the proposed White Crest Beach wind turbine, the Wellfleet Energy Committee vice-chair has resigned, and project opponents have voiced vehement objections to the CCNS as well as to the Town.  See “Wellfleet Wind Turbine Plan Hits Turbulence“, K.L. Lum, Wicked Local: Wellfleet, January 15, 2010.

Wellfleet Energy Committee member Geof Karlson has described “attempts to intimidate Wellfleet voters, selectmen, town volunteers, and even National Seashore staff, into repudiating this project”.  “Ugly Tone Besets Wellfleet Project“, Cape Cod Times, January 20, 2010.

The turbine project opponents’ website is saveourseashore.org.

The Wellfleet Energy Committee issued a summary of the status of the White Crest wind turbine project as to its environmental, health and safety, legal, appropriateness, and financial impacts.

The report is on the Town’s website together with earlier site, acoustic, flicker, zoning, and funding studies.

The Committee also has posted a draft budget projection, showing annual average revenue of  $249,553 over 20.5 years.

For National Park Service policy on preserving the natural acoustic environment in national parks, see its “Explore Nature/Natural Sounds” website:

The symphony of natural sounds within our national parks is an important natural resource and a critical component of the ecological communities that parks seek to preserve. …

The National Park Service Organic Act mandates the preservation and/or restoration of natural resources within parks, including the acoustical environment.  Noise can impact the acoustical environment much like smog impacts the visual environment.

On January 5, 2010, a CCNS press release said:
“Superintendent George Price stated today, ‘I am deeply disappointed that Cape Cod National Seashore received notice that the Massachusetts Land Court justice dismissed the Complaint of the USA v. Wellfleet Zoning Board of Appeals and Blasch Del Mar, LLC on December 28, 2009′  The complex zoning case commenced on July 23, 2008. The case concerned the upholding of a building permit for demolition and construction of a new, replacement dwelling triple the size of the previous dwelling at 1440 Chequessett Neck Road in Wellfleet.  The Judge found that there was not a “particularized injury” and, accordingly, the USA lacked standing to appeal.

“Price said National Park Service staff will review the particulars of Judge Trombly’s decision and consider next steps.”

On December 28, 2009, Land Court Judge Charles Trombly, Jr., ruled that the Cape Cod National Seashore did not have legal standing to appeal the Wellfleet Zoning Board’s decision upholding the Blasch del Mar, LLC, building permit for construction of a large house at a highly visible site at “The Gut” in Wellfleet Harbor in the Seashore.

Read a summary by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly staff of the 16-page decision here.

“The size of the newly reconstructed Blasch house, which has 5,848 square feet of living area, is nearly three times the size of the original house on the lot, according to court records. It also is more than twice as high as the original house, court records indicate.

“The house’s bulk and location on a prominent vista within the Seashore boundaries had raised questions for federal officials about its legality.

“The house construction has also triggered a review by Wellfleet town officials of local zoning bylaws, with an eye toward limiting overall house size.”

      —- “Judge Upholds Wellfleet House Ruling“, Cape Cod Times, December 31, 2009.  See also, “Blasches Win Lawsuit, ‘Trophy Home’ Will Stay“, Wicked Local: Wellfleet, December 31, 2009.

For photos of the Blasch del Mar, LLC, house under construction in the fall of 2009, see here and here.