|
|
Turtle brings church plans to a crawl
Banner Daily Update posted Mon. June 18
By Derek Burritt
Banner Staff
WELLFLEET—For over a year and half, Father Jack Andrews of Lady of the Lourdes Parish at Visitation Church in Eastham has worked on plans to build a new church facility on 10-acres of parish-owned land in Wellfleet. Plans have been ready to go out to bid since February, but there’s a final stumbling block — one of God’s little creatures.
Like most of the Lower Cape, the church’s parcel of land between Route 6 and Old King’s Highway is recognized by the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP) as priority habitat under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act (MESA). NHESP, which is part of the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, made major revisions to MESA regulations in July 2005 to clarify the rules and filing procedures related to the review process required before developing land within priority habitat and that is having an effect on the church plans.
Under the current regulations, the parish’s project went through a formal, 60-day review by NHESP, which for a project its size cost $1,800. The results of the review determined that the land is priority habitat for the Eastern box turtle, a species of “special concern” on the state endangered species list. NHESP maintains that it doesn’t want to stop development, and in fact it has worked with the project’s engineer and architect so development will have a minimal impact on the turtles.
According to Eric Larsen, the engineer from East Cape Engineering in Orleans involved with the undertaking, these modifications included relocating a driveway to create contiguous space for turtles, which Larsen said proved challenging because of sight and stopping distance concerns at the curb cut on Route 6. However, a resolution was found. NHESP’s other condition is that a deed restriction be put on the property prohibiting the remaining 5.5 acres of land outside the project’s footprint from ever being developed.
Currently, this deed restriction is the final concession that will move the project forward.
For more on this story see the June 21 Provincetown Banner.
|
Commercial Street repaving raises complex issues
Seeing red at the Strawberry Festival
House full of history comes back to life
Swift Daley House recaptures lost era in Eastham
Eastham teachers win honors
Gay marriage ban amendment blocked
Film Fest underway
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 14th, 2007