06/09/2010 ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS Minutes

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Mashpee Zoning Minutes Board of Appeals June 9, 2010 occupied" by people staying for longer than 30 days. Attorney Mills suggested that the • Board could make that a condition in its Decision. Mr. Furbush asked for Mr. White's `definition of transitional housing'. Mr. White said that there is a State definition, but in his opinion it means "basically people who are transitioning from one place to another". Mr. Furbush asked if that means 60 days, ten years, forty years. Mr. White said that would depend on the situation and that some low - to -moderate income people are on a two-year waiting list for Section 8 apartments. He stated that some of the transitional people staying at the motel stay a week or two before finding a longer-term situation and other people move off -cape or out of state. Mr. White said that at check-in, he requires motel residents to be employed. He said that there are exceptions to that requirement because he works with the American Red Cross in Hyannis and the Wampanoag tribe with emergency housing situations. Mr. White reiterated that this is meant to be "transitional, not meant to be permanent." Mr. Bonvie asked if Mr. White receives federal or state funding. Mr. White says that he does not receive federal or state or town funding. He said that he has received some emergency assistance from Christ the King Church and the Wampanoag tribe and other private, non-profit organizations. Mr. Bonvie asked if the guests stay on a weekly or monthly basis. Mr. White said that all of his guests are on a weekly basis, except for one disabled single man who pays $500 a month and has been doing so for years. Mr. Furbush questioned how the Board would be guaranteed that Mr. White would • comply if the Board granted the Petition with definite limits on duration of motel stays, such as 60 or 90 days. Mr. White objected to any limitation on duration of guest stays because that would put him in the position of removing a family from an apartment in the middle of the winter. Mr. Furbush asked if a ten-year limit would be acceptable. Mr. White said that would be satisfactory. Attorney Mills said that anywhere between 120 days and ten years would be fine. Mr. White said that when he purchased the motel there was a woman with three children who had already been living at the motel for two years who finally got housing 1 % years after Mr. White purchased the motel. He said that he didn't start this program. • Mr. Furbush pressed Mr. White for an answer. He said that the Board denied Mr. White's petition in 2008; now he is "back in, and rather than asking for the entire pie, you're asking for half the pie." Mr. Furbush expressed doubt that Mr. White would abide by any conditions that the Board places in view of the fact that Mr. White has ignored those conditions in the past. Mr. White argued that he didn't ignore the Board's past rulings, but that he appealed the "Cease and Desist' order to Superior Court because, in his opinion, the Board's decision was not consistent with State law. He said that he will "always follow the law. Anything I agree to, I will always follow, but I'm not going to agree to a short time frame that's going to put me in a position of throwing people out in the middle of the winter". Mr. White claims that the State law has no time limit on hotel stays. Mr. Furbush said that "it really doesn't matter what we vote, is that what you're saying?" Attorney Mills asked if he could clarify that point and said that Mr. White did not disobey anything. He said that the `Cease and Desist' order exists because "there is 12