09/28/1998 SELECT BOARD Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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SEP. -28' 98 (MON) 10:27 DEP-BMF TEL:517-292-5850 P. 002 September 28, 1998 Board of Selectmen Town of Mashpee Town Hall Mashpee, MA 02649 Dear Selectmen: I am unable to make the meeting this evening but wanted to take the opportunity to comment on the proposed conversion of Pickerel Cove Rd to a public way. As property owners who signed the original petition initiating the conversion process,my family supports the conversion and very much wishes to see the road upgraded. We are very much concerned that the proposed betterment is unreasonable and unaffordable . The assessment of the almost $300, 000 cost to just 1.5 lot owners is unreasonable and an outcome we would oppose . Pickerel Cove road offers some unique challenge when one looks to equitably distribute betterment costs . The road is .long and has two large undeveloped tracts of land as well as significant frontage held in open space trust in accordance with the Town' s special permit requirements . In order to make the assessment of betterment more equitable, the Board is urged to consider the following options : 1 . Assess the betterment based on road frontage . This approach will avoid the obvious inequity of treating the large developable tracts the same as one. lot . Using frontage will better account for the benefit to the large property owners who will gain the additional benefit of being able to develop an Approval Not Required subdivision once. the road becomes public. 2 . Include the land held in Trust by the large subdivision in the assessment of the betterment. 3 . If there is no record owner to pay the assessment the Town Ought to assume that portion. The only reason the current situation exists as it does is because the Town' s bylaws require subdivision open space to be held the way this is. The residents of Pickerel Cove Rd should not be forced to bear additional costs because of the existence of this subdivision. Were the frontage held differently then the other owners would not be facing such a high cost . Since the Town required this outcome, it should help offset some the costs that would otherwise be unfairly shifted to other owners .