8/2/2018 AFFORDABLE HOUSING Minutes

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Mashpee Affordable Housing Committee Minutes for the Special Meeting Development of 950 Falmouth Road August 2,2018 at 6:30 pm Mashpee Town Hall Present: Chairman Allan Isbitz, Walter Abbott,Berkeley Johnson,Marie Stone Also Present: Selectman Liaison Tom O'Hara, Town Planner Evan Lehrer Absent: Bruce Willard CALL TO ORDER Chairman Isbitz opened the Special Meeting for the Development of 950 Falmouth Road at 6:35 p.m., with a quorum, and the roll was called. NITROGEN MITIGATION GOAL The Chair reported that, at the request of Selectman Gottlieb and the Affordable Housing Trust, Horsley Witten had been contacted regarding further calculations to determine the feasibility of meeting zero net nitrogen for a potential affordable housing development at 950 Falmouth Road. Horsley Witten did not yet have the calculations needed to make a determination, but yesterday's conference call with Brian Kuchar,Mark Nelson and Joe Henderson of Horsley Witten, Chairman Isbitz and Assistant Town Manager Wayne Taylor, provided further preliminary insight. Horsley Witten would attend the August 16 Affordable Housing meeting to present a full report. The Chair reported that the feasibility study made an assumption that the project would meet the Town's Bylaw requiring treatment to meet 5 mg/L, determined to be a reasonable request for a potential developer. Mr. Nelson, Horsley Witten's wastewater specialist, suggested the possibility that the project may be able to meet 3.5 mg/L, at a reasonable cost, based on the results of the study. Additional strategies could potentially be pursued, such as landscaping that would not require fertilizer, which could potentially save .25 mg1L if identified as a requirement. Additional strategies, such as an advanced treatment plant could add$1 million to$2 million in capital improvement costs and would require intensive maintenance at approximately an additional $100,000 per year, and would be prohibitive for an affordable housing development. The cost of an additional treatment plant could be reduced, per unit, by increasing the number of units. Although it could help lower the cost, additional construction of units on Parcel C, which had been set aside as an offset,would also involve additional abutters to the project and could raise further public concern. The other option could be to build more densely on Parcels A and B, with greater height. Both of these options would likely present issues of mitigation or complications with abutters. It was possible that the project could allow abutters, such as South Cape Resort, to tie in to the new treatment center, though it could cause considerable delay to the project. Finally, if the Town required the affordable housing development to reach net zero, overt Town participation may be necessary, such as assisting with a percentage of mitigation. However, doing so could also delay the project or set a precedent for future affordable housing proj ects.