2007-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mashpee Night at the Pops. Special handicapped To date,Eastham, Harwich and Bourne have officially parking was also available for the Oktoberfest. We climbed on the "visitability" bandwagon. continue to seek a procedure to insure adequate hand- icapped parking and access is routinely included in Continuing to educate town officials, builders, ' planning for all community activities. developers and citizens on the "visitability" concept throughout the Cape and obtaining an official endorse. Some committee members have been actively ment of the concept from the Board of Selectmen are involved in a major initiative aimed at increasing the included in our goals for 2008. Additionally, we will accessibility of new and renovated residential housing. continue to work to develop programs and projects to This initiative is part of a nation-wide effort with the improve access for our disabled residents and visitors objective of establishing minimum standards of acces- throughout Mashpee. One initiative we are studying is sibility that will allow persons with permanent or tem- the placement of a hard surface mat or similar device porary mobility problems to remain in their own on the beaches to provide more and easier access to the homes rather than face the option of a nursing home, a beaches for the mobility impaired. major renovation or building or purchasing a new home. The minimum standards of accessibility in res- Assisting in improving emergency planning is idences also enables residents to host friends and/or another major objective. Much work needs to be done relatives with mobility problems. to compile information for data bases showing the name, location and nature of disability of all disabled The minimum essential standards of accessibil- residents of Mashpee. This data is required to insure i i ty, also referred to as "visitability" standards, are: at rapid contact of, attention to, and/or evacuation of dis- least one-zero-step entrance into the residence; door- abled residents in an emergency. ways and hallways wide enough to permit easy access for a person in a wheelchair; and, a bathroom on the A longer range goal is to have a requirement for accessible level that a person in a wheelchair can enter closed-captioning capabilities on the local access ! and use with dignity. channels (Channels 17, 18 and 22) incorporated into the next contract with COMCAST. Committee members have explained this pro- gram to several town boards and committees as well as Finally, we are always on the lookout for more to several developers and builders. The concept has people interested in disabled access issues to join in been received very favorably by most departments, our efforts. To this end we have established a page on boards and committees. However, since the town can- the Town web site and will have an entry explaining ' j not mandate these standards, we have relied on educa- committee roles and activities in the upcoming Town j tion and persuasion to seek their voluntary incorpora- publication on boards and committees. tion into construction projects. Respectfully submitted, To date, we are very encouraged by the positive William Dundon interest shown in this program by all to whom we have Marilyn Farren spoken. Furthermore, we are pleased to note recent and planned Chapter 40B projects in Mashpee include Patricia Lugo a significant number of"visitable" units. The Asher's Patricia ski Merton Sapeapers Path development was constructed with a significant Richard Stevens number of such units, all units in the planned Mashpee Beverly Wooldridge Woods project will incorporate "visibility" features Robert Wooldridge (Chairman) j and the homes constructed as part of the Mashpee Commons/Jobs Fishing Road project will incorporate Charles Maintanis (alternate for Mr. Stevens) "visitability" features wherever possible. i Some committee members are also participating ;r ! l, ,erg in a Cape-wide Ad Hoc Committee on Visitability that Ab is attempting to expand the "visitability" effort on the s 5 % Cape and organize a coordinated effort among Cape towns to encourage State authorities to incorporate "visitability" standards into the State building codes. 102