As seen in the Cape Cod Times, by Zane Razzaq
Housing Assistance Corporation‘s plans to create a homeless shelter in South Dennis can proceed after the Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously voted to uphold the project’s building permit Tuesday evening.
The Planning Board, through its Chairman Paul McCormick Jr., had appealed Building Commissioner Paul Fowler’s earlier decision that the project falls under the Dover Amendment, a state law that exempts educational and other uses from certain zoning restrictions, and that the building permit issued did not include the conditions approved by the Planning Board.
But on Tuesday, Zoning Board members said they believed the project satisfied the Dover Amendment requirements.
“Although this might not seem like the most extensive curriculum … I think it is well within an educational purpose,” said Zoning Board member Elisa Ridley.
What are the educational services?
Housing Assistance wants the project to be allowed by right under the Dover Amendment because of the educational services planned. The nonprofit has previously said that the site would have educational services such as workshops, case management, and other programs focusing on financial management, family planning, MassHealth enrollment, searching for housing, parenting, and cooking skills. The shelter would focus on serving families, mostly single mothers with infants and children.
The Zoning Board of Appeals also voted to include conditions set forth by the town planner to the building permit.
Before the vote, McCormick told the board that the project’s primary purpose is housing, not education. In a presentation to the board, an attorney representing several Planning Board members said the site at One Love Lane will not have enough educational staff to handle 79 adults or a syllabus to last the average stay of up to 12 months.
“The Planning Board opposes the applicant’s obvious misuse of the Dover Amendment to circumvent town regulations,” said McCormick.
Robert Brennan, an attorney representing Housing Assistance, said the project’s purpose is to “rehouse families and to keep them stable in their rehousing.”
“Housing Assistance Corporation achieves that through education … the way to understand the educational program and the primary purpose of HAC’s use of One Love Lane is to equip and empower and position those individuals who have found themselves unhoused,” said Brennan.
What are the requirements for the Dover Amendment?
As he reached his determination regarding the Dover Amendment, Fowler said he learned from Town Planner Paul Foley that from his experience “only a small amount of education is necessary for the project to qualify for Dover.”
Fowler also looked at seven examples of Massachusetts case law in support of the Dover Amendment and saw they all had different levels of education, pointing to the Brockton Coalition for the Homeless as an example similar to Housing Assistance’s intended use for One Love Lane.
On Sept. 16, the Attorney General’s Office sent a letter in support of the project to the Zoning Board of Appeals, saying the Dover Amendment “creates a wide umbrella of protection for educational uses of land, and in the view of the Attorney General, HAC’s proposal falls comfortably within its spread.” A spokesperson said it was the first time the office has gotten involved in a local Zoning Board of Appeals consideration.
Housing Assistance Corporation raised objections
Previously, Housing Assistance and its attorneys accused two Planning Board members of hiding conflicts of interest related to property holdings near the proposed site while the board members probed the project about size, impact on traffic, and more. The Planning Board members have denied any bias.
They also argued McCormick is ineligible to serve on the Planning Board by raising concerns that he does not live in Dennis. McCormick bought a house in Harwich Port in April and signed a Declaration of Homestead that he and his wife occupy or intend to occupy the house as their primary residence, according to records with the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds.
McCormick has said he still lives in Dennis while renovations are ongoing and he will move to the new Harwich house when it is livable. He characterized the statements from Housing Assistance as a “campaign of bullying and intimidation” at the Zoning Board meeting on Tuesday.
The project will also need to go before the Board of Health for approval.
For more context, read the story in the Cape Cod Times in May, which explains some of the recent family shelter decisions challenged by Dennis Planning Board.