Welcome to the zoning board of appeals. Please silence all cell phones and note that this meeting is being taped by FCTV. If there's any private party recording this hearing, please step up to the podium and request permission. I'll introduce the board and staff. To my far right is Mark Finan. And then we have
Frank Duffy. To my my closest right, he's the clerk. My name is Suzanne Murphy, chair. To my left is James Moss. And to his left is Tony Patuuchi, our voting member tonight. Then we have Noren Stockman, zoning administrator, and Ashley Dlo, office assistant. The
zoning board of appeals is charged with applying the state zoning statutes as well as the town zoning bylaws in reviewing and voting on applications. All decision decisions are made through the public hearing process. Our goal is to hear testimony from the applicants and the public and to allow a full and
fair discussion of the project prior to closing the hearing and reaching a decision. Number one, to begin each chairing, the clerk will read the public announcement for the hearing and read pertinent information from the file. Two, the applicants and applicants representatives will then have 15
minutes to make a presentation, but time may be extended by a vote of the board. Three, the board will then question the applicant. Four, the public will then be invited to comment. Comment should be limited to two minutes and be strictly related to the proposal. All members of
the public wishing to speak should wait to be recognized by the chair and should come to the podium. State your name and address for the record. Speak into the mic and it will not amplify your v voice but will record audio for the FCTV viewers. And before we start any
hearings, we have a time if anyone wants to make a public comment that's got nothing to do with our agenda tonight. You're welcome to come up. Everybody's all set. So we'll start off. Unfortunately, tonight we have executive session first,
which means no one can be in the room, but there is a room down the hall that's available for people to sit in. It's down the hall on the right, past the clerk's office on the right. Um, the board will be entering into
executive session under GLC 33 3A section 213 to discuss strategy with respect to litigation in the matter of Felmouth Residential LLC regarding 809 Sandwich Road East Felmouth where discussion in open session would have
detrimental impact on the town's litigation position. thing over there. Madam Chairman, I move that we move into the executive session for previously stated reason. Second it. We have a motion and a second. Let's have a vote.
I Murphy I Petruchi I. Right. We can start. We're going to have the hearing starting. This is application 66 of the year 2025. Sandwich Road Housing LLC has applied to the Fment Zoning Board of
Appeals for a comprehensive permit pursuant to chapter 40B of the Massachusetts General Laws to construct 50 residential units that will be age 55 restricted. 10 of the units will be affordable. The subject property is Zero Sandwich Road. It's also identified as
lot 003 Sandwich Road in East Palmouth, Massachusetts. The zero does not represent the number of the property. It just represents that there's no number for the property. So, it's vacant land with some relevant facts from the application. Jim, go you you
uh judge, excuse me, Madam Chairman, preliminary motion. Uh, Madam Chairman, I move the Falmouth zoning board of appeals has the grounds to declare that a denial or approval with conditions of the application is consistent with local needs as defined in general law chapter 40B sections 20 to 23 and 760 CMR
56.031A. 03 1A and 3A because the town's subsidized housing inventory exceeds 10% and further under 760 CMR 56.031B and 4 for municipal compliance with its approved housing production plan and to provide the requisite 15-day written
notice following tonight's hearing to the applicant and to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. I second that motion. Call discussion. Any discussion? Anybody down here? No, thank you. Is that a roll call?
Yes. Vener and I. Buffy. Burfy. I Morsai. Petri. Relevant facts from the um application. This is an application by Sandwich Road Housing LLC. Um it's a application for a
comprehensive permit. The zoning district is AGA. the file. There's no relevance of overlay districts. Uh it does not appear to be in a flood zone. There are no previous decisions of the zoning board of appeals applicable to this property. The lot is 6,000
637,283 ft, which works out to 14.63 acres in a zoning district which currently has a a minimum of 45,000 square ft. Street frontage is 120 ft in a zoning district
which currently has a minimum of 100 ft. Sandwich Road is a public right of way at this particular location. The application is for 50 units of home ownership tend to be affordable 40 market. It's 55 age restricted. There'll be 135 parking spaces and the
application reveals that 100 are required. The uh application does not reveal any information about lot coverage by structure and does not reveal any information about lot coverage by structure parking and paving. The lot is currently undeveloped and there is a Massachusetts housing um
site approval letter dated July 28, 2025 in the file. We have one letter of opposition on the file. All right, for the record, good evening. Uh my name is Matt Terry of the law firm of Ahmed Clower here in Falmouth. I'm
the attorney representing the applicant Sandwich Road Housing LLC. I'm going to turn uh the lectern over to William who is one of the principles and managers of uh the applicant LLC to give an initial presentation.
Thank you Matt. Thank you everybody. Um so uh you gave a good description of the project. We'll give a little more color on the background of the project and how it came about to be this project. So, um I actually been looking at this
property for over two years and it sat it's been on the market or was on the market for probably three or four years uh with a variety of ideas that they were trying to sell. When we looked at it, the location, we thought about what what made sense to do here and and from
personal experiences, we're we're very focused on looking at senior housing. Um doing a project on Martha's Vineyard right now and it's it's a needed type of housing in the community more so than most people realize. Um so what we
looked at is we originally the letter is actually from Mass Housing at 60 units. We cut that back. When we looked at final site layout, trying to preserve spaces, buffers, uh we actually cut that back to 50 units. Um and so we're currently uh we'll come through the
units. We're proposing uh a 50% AMI uh subsidy level. That means prices are well below 100,000 for each of the units, the affordables. And and what we'll we'll come on to is senior housing. um even though there's an aging
population um seniors tend to need more of a highly discounted type of housing and that's why we went for the 50% AMI threshold which requires 20% of the units to be affordable at the prices we mentioned. We are offering the town of
Falmouth preference um for up to 70% which is the maximum allowed by law and that's a category that the t the town has to actually make the case to the state the developer has to support it and we absolutely support uh the town uh receiving that preference up to the
maximum. So why did we focus on 55 plus? Um we looked at a lot of statistics. You know the state law allows us to give that preference. Uh uh 55 plus is a protected classes. So we have the right to offer
an age restricted project. What it means is specifically um is that the units would be restricted to to uh individuals at least one household member is 55 or older. And we get a question a lot of the times, what happens if the spouse
passes on and the remaining spouse is under 55? Well, they would it's a it's a deed restriction that we would agree with the town, but we feel strongly obviously that that household member would be uh able to stay in the household. uh it's at transfer that we
would want the test to apply and as a matter of law uh 80% of the units has to consistently have uh a member of the household 55 or older little statistics around Massachusetts
um the state. So the median age is much much lower across the country and across the state. Um, Falmouth, I checked this just recently, is now approaching uh median age of 63 years old. Um, the town's population, as we know, across
the Cape is is aging. So, this is, believe it or not, housing that's needed. We'll come on to why and more more basis. We actually um developing this kind of housing uh is is is deeply uh subsidized as needed. We took this
right out of the Fmouth um uh Falmouth housing needs assessment. Um the median age by 2030, I'm sorry, the average age is expected to be over 60. So we're quickly getting to a much older population, both median age and average
age. One of the things we found, and we've looked at this a lot, and this is not just in this area, it's across the country, it's across the world. What happens is is seniors tend to live in oversized houses. they had a family or they had other members of the household that have moved on. It's not easy to
move. And in fact, we're finding this more and more of a problem. And and I didn't put this statistic in, but uh it was recently reported in the Wall Street Journal. 60% of the housing stock in America is controlled and owned by individuals 60
or over. When you look at people 40 and under, it's only 10% of the housing stock. We have a log jam. It's not easy for people to sell and move. They've got capital gains. There's not lots of options to downsize, especially in Falmouth, and we'll show you why that is
in a second. Um, so let's see, smaller properties. What we find is seniors want to or have the option of downsizing, but smaller properties, there just aren't a lot. And what we also find is starter families
are also competing for their same smaller properties. And so when you look at what we've designed, you'll see every unit is a is effectively most of the units are two-bedroom units. And there's a reason for that. It's because smaller properties, less maintenance, lower cost
of overhead. And so, uh, that was part of the reasoning behind that. Um, let me keep going. This is a map. It's a little stale, but what it shows is across Massachusetts um dwelling units percent of housing
that is multifamily versus single family. And what we find here is is that um thmouth and Martha's Vineyard have some of the lowest multif family uh units in the entire country, the state, but also the country. And what that
means is we have lots of single family residences, but there's nowhere for smaller homes. there just isn't the the the the the choices for people to um downsize to an apartment or a smaller home.
Um going to move on to the project. This is the property. The yellow in the middle is the power line easement. I think people are familiar with the site. Uh this the narrow part is out on Sandwich Road. What we've laid out is is 50 units. Um
the average um it's 3.4 4 units per acre. Um, we have two open greens and we've created uh cottages and we'll come on to that. We've actually uh the architect we're working with, Union Studios, is actually uh created a very
similar project that we saw in Brewster called Brewster Landing. And it's it's beautiful and it's a community field. There's porches for people to uh sit outside, but they're smaller, more manageable properties.
This is an an inclo view. We have uh three to four different types of units. So, not everything looks the same. Uh every home is intended to have a garage. We thought that was important. Mo most of the units are expected to have full basements, but that's still
TBD um depending on on topography and so on. But we have two community greens for people to walk around. Um, what you may notice on this is we specifically preserved the area on the other side of the power lines. We obviously have more
room to to to build there and what we've talked about in the past is trying to preserve that and that's part of the discussion with the town in terms of where we end up. So, this is just a little bit about the design. 50 50 cottage style single
family homes. Um, every unit has a bedroom on the ground floor and every unit has a bedroom upstairs. And that was important. That was actually something the town said, look, we we we understand what you're trying to do, but you know, not having a lot of bedrooms on the first floor doesn't really allow
people to age in place. So, we went back to the drawing board with the architect and we changed it. And I'm going to show you some of those units, but the style is really meant to be shingled, some clabber to mix it up. Most homes have a porch. This is some of the elevation plans of the different units and what
they would look like. This is just a sample unit A. And as you'll see, there's a porch on the side. There's a master bedroom downstairs with a bathroom, kitchen, living room, and a garage. We have the ability to put basements in all of these. Um, and you
see they have bulkheads, so there's access from the inside outside. This is just another example of one of the units. Again, um what we have is a bedroom downstairs, bathroom downstairs, and a bathroom um a bedroom bathroom upstairs.
Unit C is another example here. All different uh the zoning map. This is where we are. You know, agricultural A. The entire area seems to be agricultural A. Um and the star is where we are located.
Uh, in terms of locust, we're we're halfway between Mashp and Falmouth Center on Sandwich Road. We show 809. That's the ad the actual property next door, but as mentioned before, our technical address, I believe, is zero Sandwich
Road. Um, nitrogen loading. It's one of the things we have a lot of experience having dealt with on Martha's Vineyard in Falmouth and the new regulations. um even before this the regulations came in we were expecting to do a an advanced you know IIA system and we understand uh
that's a requirement now um there is no water resource protection area what that means is zone 2 uh or wellhead protection area in the vicinity um we noticed that you mentioned the safe harbor we put this in a slide I
think it was earlier this summer um and we're well aware the word the uh the regulation. Unfortunately, I've been through this before with with a challenge on Martha's Vineyard. And the reality is the Easterly can't pull a building permit. It was condition of their building their your approval that
they actually have a sewer wastewater system. It's a one to two-year process to actually be able to uh get a water discharge permit. So, it was impossible that they were ever not going to fall off the inventory. So, as of July 29th, they uh no longer were eligible to
remain on the SHI and so um I think it's it's it's our position that ultimately um those units will not return until they get a CFO. It's impossible at this point. So, for them, it makes all the more importance that these units um step
in and become part of your inventory um down the road. That's not an absolute uh in terms of what you just said. I mean, it's it Well, fortunately, we have an arbitrary state. Well, I'm not going to accept it. You present it as an absolute. Okay.
But, um but that's the regulation 56032C. Uh if the if the if uh the time lapse between your approval and the applicants pulling a building permit is more than 12 months, they fall off.
This is a little bit about Chris and I. You know, we're in the industry and have been in for a very long time, both development and real estate finance and um and and doing uh affordable affordable housing. And this is our team. We we tend to hire really
knowledgeable people. Matt is a great um part of my I've worked with Matt for five years on on almost everything I do. Uh we have great architects, Union Studios. They do work across the Cape uh and and the vineyard in Nucket. Um our
transportation engineers, they're they're well known. They actually turns out they did the traffic study next door to us. So at this point, I will take questions from the board. However you want to handle, I'm at your discretion.
Um uh first off uh Kevin wasn't here last week although he's not part of your but uh during the board discussion uh we worked long and hard to uh hammer out some rules and uh one of them was the
biggest thing was staking and this thing isn't staked and I think everyone should be treated equal and the fact that it wasn't staked I believe it certainly puts me the way I approach things at a disadvantage. Um, and uh, letting anybody get ahead of me isn't uh, the
way I like to play the game. Um, and uh, I stated to this board and anybody does this again, they're an automatic no from me. Just so you know, doesn't apply now, but uh, keep that in the back of your head. And um,
we send them home if they're not staked, right? They continue. Yeah. And I mean, everybody should be treated the same. You should have to apply abide by the same rules, right? And it was right on your application in the red lettering, right? And um well, look, we want to comply. We we
have 50 buildings and they're going to have to come down because it is a used site. So, we certainly would like to get a date that's convenient. You know, there's I mean beforehand. I mean, if you own this property, you're going to spend $50 million, whatever it is, and make 7
million bucks. You can get somebody with a gravely there to give us something to walk around and look at. and we wanted to see what we're dealing with that you haven't and you didn't. No, but we wanted to schedule that what it says on your application, right? Um, but other than that, I'm I'm I'm I don't have anything at the moment, but
I'm content to sit back and Frank absorb. I don't have any questions at this point. I want to hear from all the other presenters. I'm I'm in agreement with Frank. Jim, so general uh comments, questions, concerns I have is and through you,
Madam Chairman. This will be the first 40B that I've sat on in which there's a request to restrict it to 55 plus. And while I understand that yes, 55 or 62, they can do that. My concern is is the legality of enforcing that on the affordable it's exclusive or not. So,
I'd be asking that town council weigh in as to whether or not that can be done or if those units have to go out to anyone. Uh the concern I have with that is then it creates some very unique problems. uh if somebody if you get someone who's 25 or 30 in a community of 55 plus or vice
versa. The 55 plus having represented condominiums uh with deed restrictions can be problematic when grandchildren of of occupants suddenly come to have to live with people. again won't be part of my deliberations to approval or denial but it's concerning the the representation
sir that concern I've got is we we do have an aging community but what Fmouth also needs is it needs younger people with families moving in here just as much as it needs senior citizens moving in um and you are absolutely correct the market drives the cost but seniors are
generally not always but in generally are in a much greater position to buy market rate housing they're towards the end of their prime earning years. Some are retired. They've usually had some type of u transfer of wealth from a previous generation, whereas younger people don't always have that. So, I
applaud that you're using 50% AMI. That's that's quite plottable. I'm very happy that you're using a dite system. Um, at least the representation is that there's a dite system on your your your application. So, there there are some things that I think are are are very good about this project. Um, having
worked in Oakluffs for a long time, yes, I know you can have it looks kind of like a a square version of the camp meeting association. Um, so in terms of the architecture, yeah, it can definitely fit in, but uh, overall density is always a concern with 40BS.
The 55 plus is concerning for me uh, only because I think that there's adequate senior 55 or 62 plus communities in this uh, in Fountain currently. Um, those are my initial concerns right now with the uh and and positives.
I'm sure I'll have many other questions after the butters weigh in. I I can chime in with my number one concern is it's only 10 units for affordable. Tony, uh, you've got 3.42 units per acre on this site. Um, and there are others in
town like that. I I think that I got a couple quick questions because I think you should go away with understanding some minor concerns. There'll be maybe more. Um with regard to because we've not heard from our board
of health at this point in time, you're going to produce and I let me finish before because I know what you're going to say. I think you're going to produce 11,550 gallons per day with 105 bedrooms. But is it true that the state or DP can
reduce the 110 gallons per day down to 55 to 66 gallons per day? Is that true for two bedrooms? It's right in the regulations. Right. The regulations. Do you have D approval on that? Because you've got certain hurdles to get over to prove that. No, it's an automatic calculation.
You'll go into the tables and they're probably two pages long of every type of use and it's specific. Uh, and it's only for two bedrooms. So we're only going to that on two-bedroom units and that's how we stay below the 10,000 gallons per day. All right. Because in that case should
be well below the 10,000. Correct. Right. So that's how you're getting around that and so and very having IA systems that's a wonderful thing given the problem. It's a no-brainer. Right. No brainer. Exactly. I think it's wonderful. This will be a a clustered ganged correct. Yep.
Uh system on that. There are four systems that are approved by D. I don't think they're the best, but that's what they give us. Well, they're they're evolving, but you got to get to 10 milligrams per liter minimum. No system exists that does that today. So, when you and again, I'm happy to
talk or leave it for another time. Okay. Okay. Sure. I I'm trying to get out a few things now. I think it's only fair to the applicant that you hear some of the Sure. concerns. That's all. Um you say that Vanessa and Vanessa is one
of the top traffic engineers. Uh everyone in the development industry uses them very often. They did just down the street at I think at 375. You mentioned them as part of the team. Have you performed that traffic study yet? Nope. We're we're on doing that. Yep. Immediately. It's
all right because that's going to be important particularly since right next door we've got uh a very dense site as well on a very busy street. Um another thing that this board uh especially in these large developments is very
concerned with is u lighting exterior lighting the lighting you have and I I pulled the cut sheet on your um on your lights. I couldn't tell if they were dark sky friendly or dark sky compliant. We would we would certainly work with the board to ensure that that that's a
given. It's it's um typically we'll do we'll hire a consultant to go through and do the whole photo photoelectric survey study and you'll get that as well. And the reason I'm bringing it up because this I will speak for myself. Yeah, I will ask that you will absolutely have one. You don't
even need to ask for it. We will give it to you either way. Uh the other thing because you didn't ask for a height waiver and you haven't shown any ridge heights on this. Do you know where the ridge height will be? It's I I don't off the I have to turn to the slide. It's under 30 sorry
because they're all twotory cottages. So the um I'm very u I think that you've done wonderful job with the designs by the way. I really do think it's nice design. Uh and I am it's
very important to this board member and I'm sure others too. uh pride of place uh for folks to come and live and we don't always get that in these 40bs. This is I think fits that bill. Uh with regard to pride of place, but just out of curiosity, you're going to be using
white cedar shingles or uh uh cedar clabs on this. We expect to mix it up so it doesn't look homogeneous and and absolutely want to mix it up and diversity of of uh exterior siding for sure. and all your rakes, cornerboards, sopets, faces, all
column wraps are all going to be PVC. Uh, we're not there yet, but I we certainly will take we'll certainly we want it to look good. We don't want to we we're cognizant of that. That's a sensitive issue environmentally, but it's wear and tear for a senior, too. So, it's it's a balance.
That's important. Absolutely. Uh, this board has always been concerned about storage. Yeah. Because you have no room for sheds and we, as I mentioned, sir, if I can address, I think we're we're leaning towards basement. It's it's a cost issue, but we think it makes a lot of
sense. And and with the garages, you know, that will give people I know I use my garage for storage. So, I think we all do. Yeah. And u and I bring this up because it has been a concern of this board especially where you're so tight
these things uh with regard to uh any outside storage sheds things of that nature. Um do you have now a lot of these homes that I'm notic they're using trusses which give you no real attic space. Will
you be having a a uh truss attic or you'll have storage up there? I so so again my partner Chris has built it. We we've I'll tell you how we're looking at it because we look at efficiency um in terms of a whole host of metrics. It's
not just cost. It's time to build disruption on our neighbors. So we're leaning towards modular because it really is so much faster and it's less disruptive. It's not cheaper necessarily, but we haven't decided. But we like it because it's more predictable,
more consistent quality of product and we can manage the process better. And this we do not expect this project like a lot of developers and it's pros and cons to come in and build all 50 units at once. What we'd like to do is start in neighbors, try and do it modular,
minimize the disruption and move in an orderly fashion around the site. It ends up being longer, but again the type of disturbance is less when you're doing modular. Well, again, pride of place is very important, especially with affordable housing. Yeah, it's very very important for us. And I I
have no more questions at this point in time. Uh I'll look forward to the traffic study and our peer review both from an engineering perspective, wastewater uh wastewater management uh not wastewater management, storm water management, all of that. And
you're asking to wave a roadway. So what your driveway turns out to be the exit from the site, the entrance from the site and how that affected by you've got another project next door. Yep. You're going to have a lot of people who are very very concerned about the traffic here as will this board be.
Right. So that's my thing for tonight. Thank you. I appreciate that. Jamie, you had a followup. I I did. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Um I'm not looking for a definitive answer tonight, but kind of broad strokes. I've seen what the setbacks are going to be between the buildings and such. What's
the approximate setback or buffer zone you're going to have for the uh property owners who are directly south of the driveway for the the so-called duplexes there approximately? And then what's the approximate setback from the property
line from buildings 12 to 21 to the uh sorry I'm going to try and get there because I'm not I'm not well verssed yet. That's that's the slide. So, I'm talking about the the Grove houses up uh on the the entrance way. What's the approximate set? Yes. What's the What is the approximate
setback going to be from the rear of those buildings to the neighbor's property line? 38 ft. 38 ft on on our end. And what about on the the road running north to south? That's a significantly looks like a larger buffer. Do you know
approximately what that distance is? I'm going to guess it's about the same. Well, obviously we need a very detailed site plan that gives it and I don't I don't think I include it in the presentation the but I think proximity to N to lot lines is always a concern for abundance and for this board
thank you what may I just do a quick follow on now an important issue that's going to be coming up will be your set back from the road very busy road I think your setback right now 35.2 two feet. Is that correct? About Yes. All right. That's very So you're you're
going to meet the the standard setback. Yes, I believe so. What what I would wanted to introduce something. So when we started this project, I don't know how many people know this. We actually offered all this land to the town and said, "Look, we'd love to do some municipal housing. We'll do it for free
in terms of the land. We'll do the building at cost." And there was a lengthy debate and we we didn't get um a lot of traction and we understand that. Can you go to the mic for me please? Sorry. Thanks. And we understand there wasn't a lot of traction because it's a density
issue and so on. So we said look we can talk about preserving it. We have flexibility and we're really open to kind of understanding. You know we understand that maybe you don't want the units on the road. you know, we have room to move them and we're happy to have a discussion about what's and we'll
have a debate. We won't maybe we agree, maybe we don't, but we've we've certainly one of the reasons we went to 50 units instead of staying at 60, even though we have a a letter from the state, is we looked at and said what feels right. We didn't we when we when we went for 60, it was sort of the
maximum we could get, but we said, you know, and this was the instruction to the architect, do what's right, what fits. Don't just jam the 60 in there. We could have we could have just done 10 on the other side of the power lines, but we're not here to just jam what we can. We our names go on this. We care about
what we do and that's why we went to 50 units. Madam Ch just out of curiosity because I'm trying to understand process uh when you get your PAL that indicates that you uh Mass Housing and various department
heads in town of Win of Winchester of Falmouth uh actually went on the site. Did Mass Housing actually walk the site? Yes, they did. All right. I met with Kim Fish and um Jed on site with them. So the town officials you
met, no one from DBW, just our planning director and a housing director. Correct. No other. Nope. And Mass Housing? Yep. A representative from Mass Housing. Correct. And they actually went on the site, walked this site, met me. Yep. Thank you.
Yeah. So that's some of the history of how we ended up where we ended up in terms of shrinking the units. And you know, again, that that was our logic. You don't have to agree with it, but we think there's some merit and we thought about it.
Mark two. Um, just uh for my own curiosity, the math on the reduced wastewater calculation. Is that because statewide an appreciable amount of two-bedroom units, the second bedroom is
empty? I think again I'm I'm going to speculate like you. They they base those numbers. Again, they're also flow numbers as we know. They're not the real world numbers. They tend to be about half of that number. Um they must have come up with a calculation that says look on average when you have a two-bedroom
unit. It's crystal clear in there. You know, we've been through it and it's it's the only way thing it could be. Yeah. They wouldn't have just made it up. They would have done a study and the fact is I don't know. They might have. But the fact is they're twice what they normally show anyway. So we do this a
lot on the vineyard. we we we have a D calculation and then we get into a negotiation about okay what's our nitrogen impact and what do we got to mitigate and and it's half literally half of what the D numbers are so we understand and it's to properly size the
system but when you really look at our impact it's much lower for everybody and everybody is by the way just two questions um you mentioned that you're going to be building this sort of in phases as you go along. How long do you think your total construction period
will be? Good question. I mean, it comes down to um balancing that window that you're talking about versus demand. You know, we don't want to come to market and flood the market with 50 units. And so,
you know, we we would we can come up with a sales projection and talk about that. I don't have it off the here, but I it's a fair question and and and a phasing schedule. We've done that. We would do that for you. Where would you start? At the back and go forward or in the forward? Tend to work in one neighborhood and
then you want to be less disruptive. You don't want trades going through neighborhoods. So, we tend to fortunately we've got two entrances, you know, that we can work around the site once we get in. So we tend to want to you know move the
sorry I said in terms of once we get to the site we can move around the site there is one interest but that when we move around the site we have different areas we can actually locate the building versus where the residents are. So what I mean is it's one side or the other but we haven't decided that yet.
Okay. So um what is the distance between each unit? It looks kind of tight on that plan, but I'd like to know how how what is it the dimensions between each unit? What's your sideyard? They vary for sure and depends on where
um and obviously we need to get you a detailed site plan for that. Okay. I don't have any I didn't put it on this presentation. All right, fine. We'll we'll get to it when we sent you a a civil set. What are the prices going to be in terms of the market rate units? Yes,
all of them. The affordables are below 100. And I I don't they may not be in this presentation, but they're in the the application. Below 100. Below 100 for the affordables. Yeah, the threebedroom affordables. Well, can I answer that question based on his packet?
They put it in. It's uh the three bedrooms are 130, the two bedrooms 119. Based on your packet 119 and everything else, the market rate go from 950 to 1 million. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
Okay. It's all right. Anybody else have any followup before we go to the public? Anybody else have any followup before we go to the public? You guys good? Are there any more presenters? No, we we obviously we're going to have
a series of professionals come in here. We obviously expect you to have peer reviewers. So, if we can get a budget and we're happy to approve that quickly, you know, we understand that's important. Okay. Okay. Moren, do you have anything before I go to the public? Just Oh, go ahead.
The question about the distance between units. I mean, just roughly scale it. Does 32 feet sound like too much? It sounds a lot actually compared to what it's something whatever. It's um again I think each unit is
different depending on where it is. Um just there but that's just we have 13 ft. Something's wrong with this scale then. Maybe it's not scaled. Okay. The scale on it.
I'm going to go to the public in equals 150. You want to start off? See the Are you all set with the presentation? Yes. Before we go. Okay. Do you need anything? N. Yeah. I was going to ask you to I was going to ask the same thing if you'd
leave the plan up. Thank you. Thank you. We just need your name and address, please. Incoming 40 Main Street. Me? No. John Roger Augusta, 522 Meeting House Road.
I bought this property by 450 ft. If you go from the east side of the easement where the easement starts, my property goes 450 ft to the west. I'd like to find out about a secondary egress. I'm pretty sure in Felmouth if you have a road that's over 500 ft long, you need a
secondary address. This road going from Route 20, I mean from Sandwich Road to the end of my property at the Eastman is about 1,000 ft long. So why isn't there a secondary address? Are duplexes considered single family housing?
Because single family housing is not allowed in agricultural district A. Well, curve of course we know is dangerous as hell. These all these units are going to have electric heat. There's no provisions for any roof solar
panels that I know of. And if it's a HOA, it's difficult for the affordables to afford an electric bill to live in these homes. I'm very interested in the land beyond the power lines which they couldn't find anybody to town of Felma to take it or anything else.
Why can't he move 25 of these buildings back in that property? What are they going to use that property for in the future? They're going to buy a lot, possibly an old old meeting house road to gain a secondary egress to maybe put another 25 or 30 units on that
property. If the project is approved, I'd like to find out if the ZBA would require the land beyond the power lines not to be further developed in the future and have this written in conditions as a restriction for perpetuity.
Needless to say, the curve is the most dangerous curve probably have in Felmouth. There's going to be two or 300 people living in this property and the property next door. It's going to be dangerous as hell. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, John.
Anybody else want to come up? I don't know. Should we uh attempt to answer any of their questions as they He's pro They're probably taking notes, I guess. Go ahead. Good evening. My name is Valerie
Harding, 540 Old Meeting House Road. I have a few concerns. I've lived in my home for 51 years. Now that we are in safe harbor and we are not mandated by
the state to wave any of our local zoning bylaws, the builders are asking for a substantial number of waivers. I'm strongly against being asked for a waiver to build such a high density project in an agricultural district that
has been zoned this way for the protection of the residents way of life. Most here want to use their property for agricultural purposes. Once we get a lot of density there,
people will begin to complain about chickens, horses, smells, they will not be happy and our property will no longer be agricultural for agricultural use. We fought very hard to get this zoning in place in the
early 1980s when Hatchville was being overrun by developers taking all our farmlands. At the time this was passed, we thought we could comfortably go about our lives and livelihood. Unfortunately, once again, we must fight for the
agricultural zoning. A waiver is requested for the buildings. The zoning states only one house per acre. This is 14 acres. 50 buildings plus 36 rental units that
will be built right next to this development equals 86 cars times two if every home has two vehicles, which is likely a total of 172 vehicles entering and exiting the roadway at least twice a
day, if not more. Both developments will be using entrances very close to each other on a very bad curve and on a hill that has seen numerous accidents in the past, two of them fatal.
A waiver is also requested for construction of a roadway less than 300 ft from Dosta Circle. The zoning states limited frontage of this property on Sandwich Road prevents this. The Smithfield Farm development.
They've done a nice job with their drawings proposed by two fellows from the vineyard. They're also trying to get affordable housing on the island where it seems they are struggling there as well. We know affordable housing is an
admirable task and we all know it is needed. I am not against affordable housing at all, but this area is not that close to gas stations, grocery, etc. As stated in their proposal to the state, the proposal is for 55 years and
older. Being realistic, most of these homes will be sold to people coming to Falmouth to retire, not our Falmouth residents. Our population needs more housing for younger working people with family, not
more retirees. This does not help the town. I fully understand that it takes many hands together, financing together for a project like this. However, I am a little untrusting about so many projects
in this town coming from people who do not live here, nor do they have any vested interest in what the town will be like when they leave with their comfortable profit. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. I think there's so many people here with
questions and concerns and I mean uh some of them could be addressed as they go. Um and and the people can leave a little more comfortable or you want the applic um like Mr. Augusta's question about the
uh remaining land on the other side of the power lines. the chances are very good that we would condition that not to be developed and Mrs. Harding's concern about the agriculture. Felmouth is is a right to farm community. So that's not
going to happen. Um and then your other concern about people from out of town. This is going to be for 70% Felmouth preference of 70% of the units for Felmouth people. Just so you're um uh excuse me comfortable. Let me let me you got to
get up to the microphone to speak. And um and uh so that's that's how that most probably will work. So did I misunderstand? I thought the affordable units would be available to 70%.
Oh, excuse me. Yeah, that's you're correct. Yes. Okay. So then the 40 homes won't will be open to anyone who wants open. Yeah. So it's not for Fmouth residents. No. Now I mean we can only you we couldn't put that restriction on any
other development either. I understand. So but my point is that you know it's not found with people who would be selling their homes to downsize and coming into a home here. It it it it's unlikely. I mean I'm the age of retirement and most
of the people I know if they're downsizing they're going into a retirement home. They're not, you know, once they sell their home, they're they're not going into a place, but people coming from away 55 and older will be looking for a great place to
retire on the Cape. Well, that's kind of the demographic of changing in this town as it is. And again, it's true. It's true. But you can't restrict that. On the other hand, we I feel we need to be looking more towards helping the younger families,
the families with children. That's where our future lies. And that's that's and those concerns have been expressed. That's what our housing production program calls for in town. Yeah. Whoever else wants to come up, come on up. Just need your name and address, please.
Sure. My name is Peter Reagan. Um I live on 113 Lakes Shore Drive, East Valmouth. I own 751 Sandwich Road, uh where my son and daughter live. And uh I have a two points I want to
make or or uh things that have happened. I lived at Sandwich Road for 20 odd years. And I don't know if I could say in the mic, but my property is right off this corner and it goes down all the way out to
Sandwich Road here. Um up at the horse farm there's a hill that starts there that drops down towards town. Um over the years I personally have pulled three people out of wrecks
there. Uh none of them those three were fatal but I I had personally took them out of the cars. There's a 35 mph sign there coming from town going out
towards 151 at the top of the hill at Bittersweet. I mean, the sign's at the bottom, but coming from Bittersweet, um I've been out there many times working on my property. Um and cars go by well over 60.
Um, I've just seen a lot of bad accents there and I've helped people out of wrecks. My other concern is something that no one's talked about. Um, is that this area right here
is wetlands. It's swamp. Okay. There's a a year round wet area here. Trees grow up through it. Um, I always looked like the area because um, there was a fisher cat that
lived in there at one time. Um, I always enjoy seeing the deer in our back field, fox, you know, um, whatever wildlife uh, is around I I've spotted there. Uh,
one of the concerns I have is that the nature of this isolates that wetland from any kind of wildlife traffic. And I, you know, I don't, to me, what's
a sense in protecting a wetland if everything around it is developed? it kind of is a redundant thing, you know, where you it clearly isolates the area and that's just a concern I want to bring up
and something that I think should be thought through because as we talk about um you know, one of the things attracted me to Falmouth back in 1981, well, I always came down here since I was a kid, but was the rural
um life in Felmouth, you know, um and and the agricultural part of it. And it's hard for me to swallow the fact that you have something that's A1 zoned and because someone wants to do something different that they can just
at any one time come in and have some studies done this and that and change this, you know. Um it kind of makes me say, what's the sense in having the zoning at all? Well, I hope you're paying attention to what the state is attempting to do that's going to make it even worse. So you might want to call is what all of us
should call our state representatives because what you're talking about is completely out of Fment's hands. Uh and the state is going to make even bigger potentially make bigger changes. So all of you may want to start getting more involved with your state reps and
understanding what's coming next. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And and on top of that, I mean, all you people that have genuine concerns, showing up here every time is is the best way to pursue them.
I mean, we try to think of what you tell us or whatever, but having you here to prod us, if you will, is uh definitely worth your investment in time. Not guaranteeing anything, but
anybody else come on up. Okay. Uh Natalie Lohan 8 to Costa Circle. Um I have lived at that address for most of my entire life. Um I bought the house from my parents. Um so I'm
very familiar with the history of this neighborhood. um particularly the the curve in the road which was fixed um back in uh well maybe back in the 80s
79 okay that was close um and it still remains a dangerous curve um they my neighbor who is on Sandwich Road uh many years ago put large rocks in front of their house um because a car went
through or hit their house. Um, and rock cars are still hitting those rocks. Um, it's um the other concern is with this road is um with the number of um
housings for both of these projects is the traffic coming in and out. Um there's already um heavier traffic being used on Thomas B. Landers and Hatchville Road. Um this is one extreme example. Um
but it was a Friday afternoon um sometime between 4:30 and 5 and we were leaving to go to my mother-in-law's house and it we had been sitting there for about two minutes. My husband threw
the truck in park and said, and I was like, "Don't be, you know, absurd. You know, we're going to be able to pull out." It took eight more minutes before. So, we sat there for 10 minutes trying
to take a left out of our road and and I'm not exaggerating because I looked at the clock in his truck. And again, that does not happen all the time. Um but it it generally already takes just a couple of minutes to try to take a left out of
that road. And to imagine having more um housing just across the street from us is going to make it a real safety challenge of just trying to navigate that road, especially between the curve and the amount of cars that are coming
out of Carriage Shop, Hatchville, and Thomas B. Landers. I cannot tell you how many times throughout the day or night I hear car horns blaring because of Thomas Beanders Road and people trying to
navigate taking a left out of there. Um I I will say that the thoughtfulness of the designs makes sense of having a primary bedroom on the first floor. I don't want to completely bash this um
development. Um there is definitely a need for um for our seniors to be able to downsize. However, the and this isn't just um to them, but it's a capewide issue. Um,
most people here on the Cape are not going to be able to downsize to the um 950 to a million dollar house. It, you know, most people can sell their house, can afford to sell their house. Most
people here cannot afford then to buy a house here on the Cape. Um, not at 7% interest. Yeah. No, exactly. Um the other thing um my background is I'm a social worker. I'm also a mental health. I work with a
lot with the senior population. Um the other issue is um that there's not a lot of generational style houses. um the we are in a not only a lack of um
workforce um but there's a dynamic that is also happening where um young families have to move off Cape because they can't afford to stay here and then what happens is that puts a strain on our
systems because now grandparents aren't here to help with the grandkids and then when the grandparents get to a certain age, their children aren't here to help care for them. So, that's another um thought is to be creating more
generational houses with a primary suite on the main floor. Um it's um it's um yeah I I was concerned about the number of devel housing units that were going into Sandwich Road I mean the
Smithfield farm and then when I realized this one was being developed right next to it. There's just both of them have way too many units for I think this area and for the curve of this road. Thank you. Thank you,
Madam Chair. Just a point of interest. Go ahead. Is just remind me because I've forgot. Is this a state, excuse me, a state controlled road or a town controlled road? Town. It is town. Okay. Town road. Uh thank you. And uh just as individually to address
people's concerns is low. Um, there will be a traffic study here and uh I know it's not going to satisfy it, but I cannot see uh this this being built without um considerable more signage, perhaps some flashing lights or
whatever. But um you know, we'll we'll try to bake something into this that improves that a little bit. And um and and an example of that uh is the the one on Sandwich Road. Um, we fought long and
hard and and uh went to mediation afterwards to uh get a sidewalk. Um, and as you know, I I listen to these repeated concerns. Uh, I just like to say that maybe a sidewalk from uh uh
carrot shop or old meeting house down to bittersweet or something might be something that we'd consider here. I know it's not going to make anybody happy, but it's certainly going to improve things. And we are concerned about the safety of everyone. And if you
have anything to say, just come back up here. Um, thank you, Mr. Finn. Yeah, because you bring up a great um point. Um, I believe that the um the other traffic study that was done at um Brook Hill and Sandwich
Road um and please correct me if I'm wrong was done like during the winter and I would really um school vacation actually school vacation week and and I would really yeah suggest um yeah maybe like June when school is
still in session and we've already by that time we already have a number of um summer people coming down to the Cape. Yeah. Oh, I'd be cognizant of all that. Believe me, we we have a history.
Anybody else want to come up? Hey, you both have backup. There you go. We called each other before. There you go. That works. Um, I'm Ellie Costa 19 High Street. This is Patricia Gatsby 77 Lily.
Um, as you can see, we are board members of Farming Falmouth and uh we are here to support the protection of the agricultural zoning of this property. Um, I I too thought the cottages look lovely. uh appreciate a lot about the
design, but in fact um this this is a development that obliterates uh obliterates 14 acres or more of agricultural land and we believe strongly that a resilient community
needs uh needs to have land on which to grow food. I'm hearing the hard uh hard one victory of the 80s when this agricultural zoning was put into place and I see with my own eyes the people in this town who really are concerned and
really do want to grow their own food and the more expensive that food becomes and we're all experiencing that right now the more important it is for us as a community to learn how to grow it for ourselves. We would like to see the town
of Falmouth adopt um adopt an attitude of balance. Absolutely. We need affordable housing. Um I agree that uh we need it more for young families. Um but we also need food. We also need a
healthy food system. And so this idea of balancing com competing needs, the town has competing needs. and I would like to see the town adopt a balanced approach to the development of the remaining properties.
Um so this weekend we actually um hosted um an MDR Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources meeting. Um we were asked to host it. Um there's a lot of concern about the rapid
disappearance of farmland in this area. This is a state u driven concern. Um and we're supposed to be considering protecting farmland in our municipal planning. So um I would just like to
bring that up. Um and also um there is one um strategy that has worked quite well in some municipalities which is to consider more cluster housing um and try and save like 50% of the
agriculturally zoned land to keep it in agriculture. Thank you. Madam Chair, may I just say something right? You know, uh there is definitely a concern about how we use our land in this town.
We are we are not it's very important for everyone to understand we are not a policy board. We administer overzoning bylaws, things that exist. So we're more reactionary for unfortunately the state mandates that the every ZBA is the one that rules
over 40bs. I think the concerns that you've brought up just now are extremely valid for what is happening in this town, but you need to go start talking to your select talking to your select board because they're the ones that drive what we do
with land in this town and to talk to your town planner. They're more than happy to talk to you. U you have to start with your town plan because you're absolutely right. You need to start getting the policy boards to listen to what you folks, we all want in this
town. It's not us that can make that change. It's the policy boards. So, I just encourage you to talk to the town planner and to the select board u and see where you can get with that. It's not going to be easy, particularly with 40B. It's a state driven situation, not
a town driven. So, that's my advice on that. But to be honest, this even the town can do nothing about even the town can do almost nothing. But we're we're just and unless we're in safe harbor. Unless we're in safe harbor, right? But we are. So c can the zoning exactly
can the z zoning board of appeals and I thank you for that. Thank you for that uh message of support. Um can the zoning board of appeals protect the zoning of the property? So Madam Chair, you you can answer. Go ahead. you. Sorry.
Go for it. In safe harbor. In safe harbor, we can protect. We if we we are in safe harbor, we can say absolutely no to this. All right. And uh I would encourage all
of you to read uh the housing coordinators uh memo on this project dated September 12th, 2025 and why they have concerns about it. and they're the ones that participate in
um advising the select board about lips local initiative programs would support like the one neck on the other side. So you should talk you should understand what's in this September 12th uh memo. It might help you uh develop other
questions. It certainly appears to have kept this from being a lip a local initial pet petition, but we can we actually could say no. They could appeal that. They have actually 15 days to appeal right now what we're stating if
they can prove and they've alleged in their memorandum as part of this package. You can see that they were out of safe harbor because 375 Sandwich Road did not pull their building permit. Whether they are accurate or not
is another matter. But they can appeal this in the next 15 days and join the people next door who are appealing our safe harbor. If we lose that, if we lose that, the game is over. We
cannot we have very little control other than say where does the UPS truck park and where does the dumpster go. Pretty much that's what happens. Uh, we can No, that that that's an exaggeration. We can do more than that. But as long as we're in Safe Harbor, we don't have to do any of this. We don't have to do next door.
We don't have to do this. There's going to be some moderation of something going on here as long as we stay in Safe Harbor. And you might want to talk to your town folks to make sure that they support staying in safe harbor.
Yeah. Yeah. All right. Thank you for that. One more. Uh, yes. is in your concern for that land and then uh first off I'm I'm with you all the whole thing of food's more than a staple it's a lever but um and it's being applied all over the world but um
you and and the this gentleman seems at least on the surface to be very aminable at anything but you there's no access to this um that's just something I wanted to point out to you I mean even if they
were to give some of that land. You you you got no way to get to it. Well, we we have a vision. Drones. We have a vision. Let's just say you had half the houses there. Or if you did
respect the zoning, you had one on every acre, right? One on every acre. Um, the people there can be farming on the rest of their own acres or they could all decide the to Patricia's point about maybe clustering
the houses more on one side. The rest could all be farmed by an association of the people who live there. I there there there are ahoods where people look out their window and there's somebody farming that food and giving it to the people who live in those houses because
everybody has pulled a resource to to to to make that happen. So there are lots of different ways harbor as long as we stay in safe harbor becomes more of a negotiation right than a dictate coming from the developer. So I'm I I just want to clarify you're
saying speak to our representatives to that's on that's on another matter. Okay. Okay. The safe safe harbor is a is a question. Safe harbor is something that is controlled by 40B. There are rules about it. These folks are saying we are not in
safe harbor. Right. The folks next door to you, Northland, are now appealing if we're in safe harbor. Whether or not they win is another matter. All right. But if we stay in safe harbor, it becomes more of a negotiation and less of a mandate if we're out of safe
harbor. So, please make sure that the folks that you vote for in town support. Okay. Okay. Got it. Can I make one plug as we leave? Um I do feel support coming from you and I
I do appreciate it. Uh I just want to let the whole room know that we are sponsoring a series of discussions about farmland preservation right here and our food system right here. Uh and we're going to be inviting all of the public to join us for four conversations starting in December and through the
winter and our hope is to get our representatives to those conversations as well so that they we can decide on some action steps to make our food system stronger and also check with your traffic with the traffic committee in town. Have any of you gone to speak to them about now
that I remember it's a town road? your traffic committee uh are the ones that are in charge of safety of our roads and taking safety measures. understand what any of you hopefully some of you have gone and petitioned before them to do
whatever one does to make road safe although it's pretty hard on Sandwich Road but understand what you can do talk to your traffic committee to see because we can't do it all right see what you can get through on the traffic committee and talk to them about what they might
or might not do and understand what we will be up against in trying to negotiate something with the developer uh for for your safety. For all of us safety, we all travel to Sage Road. For all of our safety, we all live here. So,
just talk. Thank you. Thank you for giving so much of your time. Keep up the good work, girls. May your concerns grow like the proverbial mustard seed. Come on up, ma'am. Sure. Hi, Susan Kinchilla. Augusta, 522 Old
Meeting House Road. Um we are right if I get just for a minute right up there above group number 43 42 41 um we have a large barn there we have a
turnout lived there for about 30 years and probably about 25 of those years we had a wide assortment of horses donkeys you name it they were there as our children get more involved in our
property as we age, there will be animals there again and they will be right lining the back of those properties. Um, and I also had a question in regards to my husband asked the question regarding the secondary egress. I was
wondering if anyone had a response to that. Well, that's one of the waiverss they're going to ask for. Okay, within the probably 15 years ago, um maybe 20 years ago as well, there were different projects that were
proposed for this and at that time there um they were requiring a secondary egress and um since there's probably about a th00and feet on that main runin um may I respond to that?
Sure. You mind? No. Okay. I think it's important and I and I will be asking as this one member that the applicant refer to DPW's uh notes of n September 19th, 2025 for the
concerns that all of you have are enumerated in this with regard to the road and many other things. And I'm certainly going to ask that the applicant answer every one of those. So your concerns are and please read this.
It's in the packet. You can go online and it's from the uh uh Department of Public Works dated September 19th, 2025. So a lot of what you're talking about Scott Schula, the engineer, has is bringing up and I'm going to be asking the applicant to answer each one of those, okay,
in some form or another. So they may it may be helpful. I don't know yet, but you should all understand what the towns are already asking for, okay? And then see where we get with it. All right. Thank you. Excuse me. Um, just and and and this goes to show my
concern about this not being staked. I went up and I drove around today. I mean, there's no getting into this property, but um, is your barn the one that's relatively close to the house on the Smithfield property?
If you go through the back gate, there's some trucks parked there and it's the the red barn on the left. Okay. just to put it into, you know, I mean, as I say, with no stakes. I mean, I'm coming into this half blind, which I don't like. Yeah. We come off of Old Meeting House
Road. Um, as you come up our driveway is our house. Then we have a carriage house. Then we to the rear of the property is that large red barn and then there's another Well, I was in where all the trucks are parked there, Mill. Oh, in the back of this property itself because it right now is a contractor's
yard. Yeah. Oh, so that is actually this that contractor's yard is actually uh okay. Thank again. My exact concerns about being presented this without being staked and um I'm never going to let
that happen. Well, you're going to be guaranteed no vote for me and anybody else that comes and tries to pull this again. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else want to come on up to the podium? Richard. Richard, come on up.
Richard Johnson, one Ambus Avenue, which is a long way away from this site, but I had some um comments about getting closer all the time. Um these units in the sample footprints that have been given have a basement, a
first floor, and a second floor. And basement yet. Stairs going down. Yeah. Um but those are I wonder about the wisdom of that kind of housing structure for aging in place. I have a two-story
house. I'm 70. I can see the time when I have to live on one floor and all that other space upstairs just goes to waste and I have to heat it. So, um I think that's one concern about it. The other concern is the second floor has a
tremendous amount of living area and only one bedroom and the living area is duplicated on the first floor. So the potential of a third bedroom in that space is very tantalizing which that throws off some of the septic calculations. That's true.
Thank you. So to grandchildren. Yeah. Anybody else want to come on up? Karen Morurell, 44 Bittersweet Road. And mine is more just like a question. Um, in regards to the traffic study, we
really haven't even actually seen the effects of the first project that's been built and created. So, how are we really going to do an accurate traffic study for a second project when we haven't even really seen the effects of the first project?
Well, they have models that they use, but um just I don't know if you watched any of the uh sandwich road, but um I did. I attended a few of those. See, we'll be watching this quite closely
because I mean a lot of it's just math and I mean they it's a concern of ours too and and believe me I'll be doing the best I can but u and I do echo what the other woman said about it would be nice if it wasn't in January the quietest
Oh, absolutely. and we brought that up before and um and there was a lot of back and forth and there's still parts of that that I personally don't accept and I'm certainly not going to forget and obviously this these things are very cumulative and uh you know everybody
knows it's a dangerous road and well and the sidewalk piece is interesting to me too because well the the the state plan is and I mean we fought long and hard and this board got that sidewalk got the money for the sidewalk. I mean, obviously this person is going to join the two, but
that is on the state's wish list to have a sidewalk from Brick Hill Road all the way to 151. And um you know uh I I think at least in my mind just listening to
your concerns I think um having a sidewalk to uh old meeting house and to bittersweet certainly would um be an improvement and um but I can tell you
my parents are aging and I would not want them walking on Sandwich Road sidewalk or no sidewalk. Well, they'd certainly be better with a sidewalk than without it would be a the same as the other one. There would be a a buffer as well with a curb. Um, so
still concerning. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Naturally. I mean, I'd be concerned. Yeah. But anyway, we only do what we can do. And I mean, I understand we did we did a good job on the other one. Hi there, Mike Lima, 791 Sandwich Road.
Uh, I think I'm just going to repeat a lot of what uh some of the other concerns are. Of course, just to hammer them home one more time. You know, the uh density of the project. Uh, you know, some of this if you look at the row of houses on the where the roads coming
through is the other sides of the pro. So right there is like 50 it seems like in that run little small area. Um we actually live on that property that borders that whole length. So it looks like there's about eight or 10 houses that are going to backyard into our
yard. Uh which I think was 22 feet from the line. But maybe I'm off. But anyhow, uh it seems like things are tight. I'm really curious what's going to happen. Is there any buffer fencing shrubs or some type of hedging proposed or
they're drawn in the picture? I think Well, I think those are the trees from my property probably that are overhanging. I think they actually asked for a waiver to not show us landscaping if I'm correct. Well, in any regard, I that's a concern of ours with having, like I say, 8 to
10, you know, properties unloading into the side of the property here. So just uh curious how that might end up. Um but just want to reiterate, you know, I think our town's losing a lot of its resources and this has just taken more of them. You know, the trees, the animals, water, you know, you name it.
It's just uh you look at maps 50 years ago, 70 years ago to now it's there's not much left really and you're just taking what's left. I mean, I guess that's the way it is. But that's all I got. Thank you for May I just say something to you on that? Go ahead, Tom. May I say something?
Again, you folks need to talk to the people you elect here in town because they're the ones that decide how this all happens, including your town meeting members, your select board, your town planner, all of that. Because if you want the town to look at things
differently, then those folks we have we just apply the bylaws or not apply the bylaws depending if we're in safe harbor or not. As regarding landscape plans, I mean they have landscape plans but not definitive landscape plans. Very likely we will
probably ask because they are so close to you to provide some form of buffer. I'm saying that aloud now so they can consider this as they go along because they're very very tight and it's going to make a big difference to you and everybody else. Yeah. I mean it's it's like moving from
a quiet neighborhood to a to a town to a city, you know. And speaking of that, maybe we're heading towards a city. Maybe we'll have a mayor soon. You know, I I don't know. But anyhow, thank you. I I appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else want to give it a shot? Come on up, sir.
Joe Brodzky, Turner Road. Uh question I have is I maybe should have studied more. Is this going to be a gated community? It's going to be private. I don't think there'll be a gate or or someone stopping you. I don't I don't think
Well, that's what I'm asking because it reminds me a lot of the developments that I see in Florida. It sure does. Looks like a condo farm from Florida. Usually those are gated. It doesn't show on the plan that and he didn't mention anything like that.
Thank you. Peter McCormack. Uh 70 bittersweet. I just hope the board maybe can use this opportunity to uh uh to do historical surveys in the area for the uh investigate the indigenous
uh and historical uh activity in the in the area. 14 acre the other area in this that whole area was quite a significant area and uh I hope you use that opportunity to to have an archaeological survey on the
on these uh in this neighborhood. That's all. Thank you. I was wondering a wildlife study myself because there's quite a lot up there. Oh, you can be sure the fish.
Anybody else want to come up? We're all good. Do you want to respond to anything before we finish off for the night? Sure. Thank you. Lots of good questions and comments for sure. And and some of it is, you know, landscaping, things like that. Of
course, we need to go into it with the board. Just as much as you don't want to see our units, I'm sure the buyers of these don't want to be looking in your bedroom. So, that's a natural. No, there's a no gate, you know. Um, not to harp on the we we reshape this
irrespective. We have a view on safe harbor. Not trying to rebr it up, but we understand this has to work. And so, you know, we expect to have a dialogue and a debate and where we can make accommodations that make perfect sense. Of course, we're going to do that. And so I think that's part of the healthy
debate that goes on through this process that we're, you know, that we we see we're we're going through. So I think traffic is absolutely a legitimate um discussion. I think one of the reasons we looked at senior housing is it
produces half statistically half the traffic. We don't make that up. The traffic engineers of America do that. They have uneamed studies and they look at these things. They just as they have an impact on wastewater, there is a difference on traffic. And so ultimately that will come through in the traffic
study and the peer review. So we get assure these people that you will tell your traffic people that there's 300 units down the street 30. It's it's already in the traffic study. So I've already looked online at the project next door and they mention our traffic project, our project. So it's
factored in. It's called build no build. So they look at that, they factor it in and and ultimately it's in the numbers. And I, you know, I did a we did a project and I'm very sensitive to the January issue. We can't wait a year, right? The process is 180 days. We start
the process and and I get the seasonality impact. We're going through this right now in Edgartown, right in Main Street. And so ultimately, I'm aware of it. We obviously want an accurate picture for everybody. At the end of the day, just so people understand, that tends to be a factor
and it took me a I didn't know this when we went through the process that traffic study actually drives what our mitigation payment is. The more the traffic there is, the smaller the percentage our project is, the lower amount we have to pay. They tend to look at other factors such as level of
service, which we already know this is not a great route. It exists as a not a great level of service. So that's what our traffic study will look at. That's what your peer reviewer will look at. That's what the project next door looks at. And and and you know, if there's an
F, a level of F, we didn't create it. It exists. It doesn't mean that it's not something to be looked at from a a safety perspective, but ultimately it is something that exists. We didn't create it. And it's when you look at the percentage of traffic we are relative to
the to the traffic, it's it's a legitimate debate. I mean, you're very good at what you do, but you're paying for the traffic study. And I mean, we were born maybe at night, but not last night. No, I I hear you. You know what the
Martha Virginia Commission does is they scope it. We actually were told what to do, just to be clear. And there is a state standard. You know, there is a standard that we have to follow. You will hire somebody. He's not going to sit there and just rubber stamp it. That's not his job. So, we get it. It's
it's an important piece of the project. Health, safety, nitrogen, uh built environment, open space. We get it. As it as it relates to the rear area, we're absolutely open to figuring out should it be preserved? Does the town want it down the road? Should it be farmed for
these residents? That's something we should discuss and come up with the right solution. For sure. Sounds good. Hey, thank you. So, we're all set for this evening, I think. What is our next date?
Uh so we would be looking to continue to November 20th. Make a comment for continue. Yeah, that is the date that we've also selected for 809 sandwich and we felt that that was in the best interests of the public because most of these people are bought both properties.
Can you guys hear her? We're going to try to do the same project together on November 20th 6 p.m. 6 p.m. So you don't have to show up twice. Jim. Thank you, Madam Chairman. And I would just like to to point out to the one
second. He's speaking. Uh, Madam Chairman, thank you. Just to point out to the abutters and anyone who might be watching out in FCTV land. Um, the board reads written submitted comments. So, if you can't make a meeting for some reason, please submit comments, questions, or concerns
to the zoning administrator. We all read those. They will become part of the record. Uh, and we value all your input tonight and at future hearings. Thank you. Um, before we close the hearing, I I wanted to raise Sorry, before we continue.
Yeah. Yeah. For the evening until the 20th. Sorry, poor choice of words. I wanted to just have a conversation around a site visit and whether it's appropriate to try to schedule that now or if we should schedule through the zoning administrator. I would go through the zoning
administrator. Okay. We're doing one tomorrow actually. Well, that's what the conversation we're not going to go see it until it's st right. And part of the reason why wasn't pre-application was because access from Sandwich Road is in the uh vacant
undeveloped lots current condition is pretty much impossible. So that panhandle we wanted to provide access to the members so that they could come into the site via the site uh and uh and do staking
uh uh at the same time as that land clearing was done. So we wanted to try to come up with a site visit date that works for the ZBA and that also gives us time for that clearing activity and the staking and talk about the extent of the
staking as well. uh because we felt like it wasn't necessarily um necessary to stake all 55 buildings um to give or 50, excuse me. Um to give
the the board a uh an idea of the project um but that there might be some more limited staking that would accomplish the same purpose. I don't like that word limited. Is it all right if they go through you? I that's the way we've been doing it. Yeah, we've been going you go through
her and then she throws us dates and you know we'll figure it out later. She'll ask what we want to have for staking and the dates and then we will respond individually to the administrator. Terrific. Thank you. And it's good for the neighbors as well to know what's going on and where it is because they might have plans to build
the moat. Okay. Can I have a motion from somebody up here? Motion to continue to 11:20. Second. We have a motion to continue all November 20. November 20th, 11:20 at 6 p.m. All those in favor?
I oppose. None. Thank you all for coming out and thanks for your patience. It is later. It's the 27th. So, this would be the Thursday before. Thanks, guys.
Nice to see you. Yeah. still pay. No, it's still attorney. Oh, it's all good. I mean, I'm still stuck on the subject matter basis. It's really limited to the staking. You keep kicking
this can down the road. I don't like it. No, it's pitiful. It it it's not We got to We look at me. I'm I'm getting ready to stand up and get my stuff together like like I'm in some kind of hearing. I need an agenda. You got one
on you, Frank. Thanks. I tossed mine, I think. Are we doing any minutes? Nor the 18th. 18th. Okay. Has every anybody read the 18th? Yes, I read them. I'll make a motion to um approve September 18th.
I'll second his minutes as published of the 18th. So, we have 18th. Everyone's all set with that. All those in favor? Opposed? None. You got board discussions tomorrow 2:00 2 o'clock there will be square
I'm in court in Orleans I don't I don't think I'll be able to make it back in time if if I can get back I'll be there pictures are going to help so I'm not going to take you want to wear a body camera instead you can wear a body camera so 2:00 I'm familiar with the locust and I will it's Friday you're bringing the beer
no no no day tampering for me on Friday. Oh, yeah. Wow, you're on candy. Board updates. May I just go back for a minute? Yeah, sure. Sorry. Yeah, because I don't know the answer to this. I know the site from Benjamin I pretty
well. Do we actually drive up that driveway because you can't park on Benjamin Nye? No, you should be able to access the site. It would pull in uh because there's a driveway that enters into the property. So, yeah, it should go all the way up to the houses that are there, the barns. So, I
think we can drive up there because it's, you know, Benjamin Knight, it's very narrow. So, yeah. Yeah. You want some apple cider donuts? I brought some. Anybody want any? Sure. I think today at the We have We have hungry Jim right here.
Everything I want you. That would be nice. I'm hungry and a moth on a nylon sweater. You didn't even eat your dinner. I ate yesterday. Everything I want, nothing. He's got his butter finger for a dinner. All right. So, board updates. Wasn't
that kind? Did we finalize our up or our weekend? What was the date? November 15th 15th. It was 15. Okay. She's going to send out the food right in front of me. I want to make sure and I'm bringing the coffee. It's my
favorite recipe. I usually do the food, but she'll send us stuff out. Ash is on. Okay. Future agenda items. We'll pick all this stuff up at the 15th of November. Yeah, I think we're all set. If anyone has anything to send in to put on the
agenda, feel free. Right. Okay. I think that's I'm uh Okay. And our next I'm going to uh as future whatever uh I want that thing stake so we know what's going on there. I'm not I'm not happy about this. I think it puts us in
an absolute disadvantage. And um I mean the fact that I was up there driving around today and uh u you know helped but it's you know come on it's you got to be able rules to apply to so the the board does not have the
authority while you've got 180 days within which to hold the hearing. If an applicant appears and they haven't done what they had promised to do for the meeting or they appear before you or not and ask for a continuence and don't use
the hearing, you're entitled to add that time on to the end. Well, point being, we shouldn't neither this hearing or last week's hearing should have got past step one. Apple door. Thank you. What about the rest of these people? Step five in there.
Aren't you kind? Thank you very much. Thursday at the market to you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Enjoy. Thank you. Come on. Don't hide them. You pass them down. Delicious. Thank you very much. We're still in session. Yes. Sorry.
Our next meeting to mention tomorrow's site visit, right? Our next meeting is October 16th at 6 p.m. Mark, before you chew, I need you. Well, well, motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Sorry. No, before you do it time,
uh, Madam Chairman, I will be away on the 16th. I'm in Texas at a forensics conference. So, uh, I hope Scott is back and if not, you'll need to Scott is not back. You'll need to fourman board. Do we have a full Did he have a baby? No, but he's taking the month off to
wait for the Do we have What do we have on the 16th? The 16th of October. Benjamin Nye, isn't it? Sorry, I was looking Benjamin Nye. Oh, boy. Uh, habitat. So there's no vote to be taken though, right?
No. And he he have to have a minimum of four people. Yeah. So we should be okay. And they can use the mulligan. Um the police department to give you an escort if you need. Okay. Watch the video after the 16th, but I apologize for not sending notice.
Uh I thought I'd done this when I was with my email, but make sure the board is aware. I'm not horrible. Okay. So we have a motion to adjourn and a second. All those in favor? I I