08/31/2004 PLANNING BOARD Minutes

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the Town of a s hpee_. on this. day of August 7, 2004, ahpee has a long list of community concerns . They include educational needs, affordable housing, wastewater + treatment planning, dredging our Mashpee River, access to public waters, 40B housing projects proposed in the already nitrogen overloaded I ashpee River Watershed, over development in our designated growth area, and the additional traffic gridlock it will bring. Also included are impacts to our existing roadway capacity, natural resource loss and degradation, citizen safety issues for the Police and Fire Departments, and road imaintenance issues for the DPW. Mashpee currently has an estimated 1 , 000 year round population with an estimated year round populat.'ion of approximately 22, 000 at build out. How long will it take us to get there: And what are we going to do in the meantime".) Money spent today on existing long-term- potential impacts can result in the elimination of catastrophic concerns as the popu:lation grows and reaches build out. The Mashpee Environmental Coalition (MEC' believes that the following' courses of action be adopted 0=ediately. The Board of Selectmen should support the nomination of an entire Torn of Mashpee as a District of Critical Planning Concern, and prepare the appropriate nomination papers for the submission to the Cape Cod Commission. Ghat is a DCP ; The DCPC would provide the needed time for the development of the fact-s of the cumulative impacts that we may be facing from development . both current and future. The DCPC would provide the vehicle to develop appropriate planning tools for the inter-related issues of wastewater, water supply, traffic issues, housing issues, over development in the growth center, and other issues . The DCPC would provide the time out during which time development would not b taking place. The structure of the DC-PC provides that by the end of the stated period of time the Town must comae up with special rules and implementing regulations for which the district was designated. This would insure that the process stays focused and on course and does not get bogged down. Projects which are grandfathered from changes in our local zoning regulations would no longer be grandfathered under new implementing regulations. It should be noted that any DRl under Cape Cod Commission review prior to the first public notice of the DCPC nomination may proceed if the development is there after approved. other actions that the Town should undertake as soon as _possible - The Town- should- endorse and adopt the Community Preservation Act (CPA) , the Town should adopt a housing plan as soon as 5