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Photo Kaimi Rose Lum
Peter Watts, Wellfleet representative to the advisory commission, exhibits elevation plans for the controversial house proposed in the Seashore. |
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Blasch house is flash point for Seashore
By Kaimi Rose Lum
BANNER STAFF
WELLFLEET — Large houses have been built in the National Seashore before, in defiance of zoning guidelines issued in the 1980s, but never has there been a furor quite like the one surrounding the 5,300 sq. ft. “home” planned by Pennsylvania residents Mark and Barbara Blasch.
That was evident at Monday’s meeting of the National Seashore Advisory Commission, where the proposed development was front and center of the dialogue between representatives of the Outer Cape towns and Seashore Supt. George Price.
The project involves tearing down an existing, 2,000 sq. ft. house and replacing it with a structure more than twice that size, with an octagonal turret resembling the lantern room of a lighthouse protruding from its roof and 1,800 square feet of deck space. It is located in the Seashore, on a preexisting nonconforming lot that also happens to be on one of the most prominent hillsides in town — occupying the view of Great Island from Chequessett Neck Road.
“We are at a critical junction point of saving the character of the Park,” Price told members of the commission.
“My bottom line issue is impact on the landscape. To go from something that’s very modest to something of this scale is all out of proportion, we believe,” said Price.
The property owned by the Blasches has a controversial history of flouting Seashore guidelines for redevelopment within the park. The construction of the so-called “Billboard house” — the existing house which the Blasch building will supplant — in the 1980s was allowed only because the previous structure, a 550 sq. ft. cottage, was threatened by coastal erosion, according to the Seashore. The owners got permission from the Seashore to relocate the cottage to more stable ground and improve it, with the conditions that there be at most a 50-percent increase of livable space and that materials from the previous cottage be reused.
Those conditions were not heeded, and the 2,000 sq. ft. house resembling a billboard is what ended up on the hillside.
The Blasches’ proposal takes that defiance “to a new level,” Price said in his recent letter to Wellfleet’s selectmen. First, there is no compelling reason to rebuild the “Billboard house,” because the structure is not, currently, threatened by coastal erosion. Second, the new structure will be more than 200 percent bigger than the existing one, greatly exceeding the Seashore’s 50 percent use guideline.
Third, it is proposing to disturb 3,000 square feet of an area located in the buffer zone of a wetland adjacent to the Herring River. The town and the Seashore, as well as state and federal agencies, have been working together for several years on a project to restore the Herring River and its wetlands to tidal flow.
“This property is in a very fragile area,” said Peter Watts, Wellfleet’s representative to the commission, at the meeting. Watts also serves on one of the town committees involved in the Herring River restoration and, after working so intently on a project that is expected to benefit the environment, sees the Blasch project as a slap.
“To have this monstrosity go in right at the gates of the Herring River is unbelievable,” Watts said.
So many members of the community have approached the Seashore with concerns about the Blasch property that the park seems to have renewed its energies in facing this particular challenge of insensitive development projects and is rolling up its sleeves.
Price and Seashore planner Lauren McKean said they are urging the town’s zoning board of appeals to review the project. They also have been taking a close look at the language of the zoning bylaws for the Seashore districts in Truro and Wellfleet.
On researching those bylaws, they have uncovered some interesting information. According to McKean, it appears the Secretary of the Interior never signed off on certain amendments made by the towns to their Seashore district zoning. Under the Seashore’s enabling legislation, any change to the zoning for the Seashore districts must be approved by the Secretary.
“This nuance has become quite important at this time,” McKean said. One of the amendments to Wellfleet’s rules for nonconforming properties in the Seashore changed the definition of “alteration” to include the tear-down and reconstruction of a building.
“We don’t believe the Secretary had previously approved that definition,” McKean said. “That bylaw language had never been mutually agreed to.”
Price and McKean said they will continue researching the issue with the towns and in the Seashore’s own records.
Brenda Boleyn, vice-chair of the commission, suggested in the meantime that the Seashore create some sort of graphic image showing what the Outer Cape towns will look like if all of their Seashore properties become the sites of extravagant, oversized homes. She said she had heard from naturalist Bob Finch, a former alternate to the commission, that this tactic had succeeded in galvanizing other communities facing similar challenges into taking action. “We need a dramatic sort of visual picture so people can see what it really might look like,” Boleyn said.
Watts pointed out that another large project is already in the pipeline in the Seashore in Wellfleet — a 10-bedroom building on Bound Brook Island that will be twice the size of the Blasch property.
“This is what is going on in Wellfleet, and unless we can do something to stop it it is going to continue,” Watts said.
klum@provincetownbanner.com
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Feb 28th, 2008