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23 <br />quest for funding assistance. In addition the Committee was <br />provided with a list of individuals and firms considered by <br />the State to be qualified community planners. From this list <br />a representative number of prospective consultants was <br />selected. Interviews were conducted by the Committee and <br />as a result Community Planning Services has been selected <br />to be the planning consultants for the Town of Mashpee. <br />It has been estimated that the expected costs of a satis- <br />factory master planning effort would approximate $18,000. In <br />accordance with the requirement for Federal and State as- <br />sistance the Town must set aside in escrow one-third of the <br />amount, $6,000., prior to submission of the request for Fed- <br />eral assistance. An article has been prepared for insertion <br />in the Warrant for the March Town Meeting asking the vot- <br />ers to approve this sum of money, for the stated purpose. As <br />soon as the Town Meeting has approved the necessary funds <br />($6,000.) the Committee can then proceed with the formal <br />application to the appropriate State and Federal authorities. <br />The disbursement of these funds will be supervised by <br />the Division of Planning, Massachusetts Department of Com- <br />merce. In addition this agency will have final approval au- <br />thority of the adequacy of the finished Master Plan. <br />Nearly every Cape Cod community has done some sort of <br />long range planning utilizing the services of professional <br />consultants. The Town of Mashpee can gain more from long <br />range planning over the next few years than perhaps any <br />other Cape Cod community. Similarly it has more to lose if <br />it doesn't begin to plan for its future growth and develop- <br />ment at this time as some 10,000 acres of land in Mashpee are <br />still undeveloped, a proportion as high as any Cape Cod town. <br />After many years which saw little development in Mashpee, <br />the town, in the last few years, experienced sudden surging <br />growth with no expectation that it will cease. Indeed growth <br />Will undoubtedly accelerate. Mashpee has no municipal util- <br />ities; its streets are mainly the old town ways, narrow and <br />winding; its schools inadequate for the future; its park, rec- <br />reational and other town facilities, rudimentary. Yet the <br />town appears on the verge of a population explosion which <br />could quadruple its size in the foreseeable future. <br />f <br />