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Land use & zoning issues top warrant
Marilyn Miller
Banner Staff
WELLFLEET — When Town Meeting opens at 7 p.m. Monday at Wellfleet Elementary School, voters will be asked to approve an operating budget of $15,241,713 as recommended by the selectmen, or a lesser one of $15,161,240 as recommended by the finance committee.
They'll be asked to approve both Proposition 2 1/2 overrides and debt exclusion articles on the warrant, and will be asked to back up their votes on these articles at the polls on May 5.
The first 21 of the 38 articles on the warrant are financial ones, including a request for $25,000 as Wellfleet's share to keep the Flex bus running, and requests for $145,000 for a new front loader for the department of public works, and a request for $60,000 for a DPW refuse trailer.
They will be asked to appropriate $100,000 from Community Preservation Act funds to restore the Gips House off Wiles Lane within the Seashore to preserve a modern style house that could then be used for tours, academic retreats and a scholar-in-residence program though the Cape Cod Modern House Trust.
They'll be asked to appropriate $240,000 of CPA funds to help the housing authority reach its goal to acquire enough land to build up to 10 affordable homes under a USDA Self Help housing program, and another $100,000 in CPA funds to help the Wellfleet Conservation Trust buy a one-acre lot on Pilgrim Spring Road at a bargain price of $200,000.
The financial articles are followed by zoning and land use articles, with the most controversial article being one petitioned by Ben Zehnder, the lawyer representing the owners of the Captain Higgins Restaurant, who were denied a special permit to stay in business since they had ceased to be in operation for two years. That denial squelched their plans to sell the property to a would-be buyer who wanted to turn it into a Roo-Bar.
This article would allow a restaurant in the central district, provided the zoning board of appeals grants a special permit for it. Now, restaurants are only allowed in the commercial district, which is a strip along Route 6.
Zehnder, at last week's pre-Town Meeting session, said this change could allow restaurants and small cafes in the central district, and thereby provide employment opportunities for the town's young people.
But judging from the response at that meeting, there will be a lot of discussion about this proposed zoning change, as concerns were raised that the quality of the harbor will be affected by more restaurants in the central district, and that townspeople will end up paying a high price if there are more restaurants in the central district.
Voters will be asked to approve the local comprehensive plan, which has already won preliminary certification from the Cape Cod Commission, If approved by Town Meeting, the commission will certify it next month. The planning board is fully supportive of this article, with the understanding the proposals within the plan are proposals, and will not take effect with the Town Meeting vote.
There also is a petitioned article to install solar panels on the library roof, a proposal that with rebates from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative would end up costing the town only $56,000 instead of the total cost of $115,000. It is expected concerns will be raised on whether it would be wise to do this work now, when the library may have need of other work that should be done first.
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The final four
Mailer’s house on course for new life as writers colony
School lunch menus
Worship
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Apr 24th, 2008