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| Cape End Manor Resources | |
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Cape End Manor Nursing Home Site Y-- Why Not? December 9, 2002. The Town of Provincetown was notified this afternoon that the Division of Capital Asset Management has cancelled the Request for Proposals for the 5.6-acre surplus parcel known as Site Y, and is awarding that property instead to the State Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, pursuant to its request under MGL Chapter 7. Thus, Site Y is off the table for a Cape End Manor Care Campus- or anything else, for that matter. April 2002 Town Meeting's Decision to Pursue Site Y. By a vote of 363 to 168, April 1, 2002 Special Town Meeting voters approved the filing of a home rule petition for special state legislation to allow Provincetown to site the new Cape End Manor Care Campus on 5 acres at "Site Y" and to permanently preserve another 155 acres along Route 6 as Town-owned open space. The Town is willing to pay for the Care Campus site, and Town Meeting has authorized borrowing $500,000 to purchase those 5 acres from the Commonwealth. The Town intends to transfer those 5 acres to a locally-based 501(c)(3) non-profit health care entity which would build and operate the new Care Campus, which will include a 72-bed skilled care nursing home, outpatient rehabilitation therapies, and affordable assisted living. The 155 acres would be Town-owned open space, with a perpetual conservation restriction granted to the Provincetown Conservation Trust. It is a balanced proposal that preserves an endangered species-a nursing home located in Provincetown. This proposal has earned not only the overwhelming support of Town Meeting, but also the editorial support of the Cape Cod Times (March 14, 2002) and the Provincetown Banner (March 21, 2002).
For half a century, the Town of Provincetown has provided nursing home services by owning and operating the Cape End Manor, at significant annual subsidy by our property taxpayers. That subsidy-- which has amounted to over $2-million over the last five years alone-- is projected grow to over $1-million per year in the near future, as the growth of our costs continues to outpace that of our revenues. We know that the existing Manor building-with 4-bed wards and 8 beds sharing one bathroom-- must be replaced. We know the Town cannot afford to do so itself- since this would add yet another $1-million per year to the cost of the Town's subsidy. But through the design and implementation of a competitive proposal process under MGL Chapter 30B, we have discovered that a locally-based non-profit health care entity could build and operate a new Manor at minimum cost to the taxpayer, if the Town can provide a local commitment. That local commitment is embodied in the actions taken by the April 1, 2002 Special Town Meeting. First, by this home rule petition, the Town has expressed its commitment to provide the site for the facility. Second, Town Meeting approved three amendments to the zoning by-law necessary to permit the facility to be built at this site. The chosen proposer is Roush & Associates of Wakefield, Massachusetts. The site must be large enough to accommodate a range of services which the non-profit needs for the project's financial feasibility and which the community needs to provide a continuum of care services. The site needs to accommodate not only a nursing home-typically a money-loser-but also such revenue generators as outpatient rehabilitation therapies and affordable assisted living. But the current Manor site is not large enough to accommodate these needs, and so an exhaustive search for a new and larger site was undertaken last year. The result was this proposal for the 5-acre parcel known as Site Y, because it's where the trains used to turn around when the railroad was still around. This home rule petition proposes that the state appraise the value of this property based on deed restrictions set forth in Section 2 of the special act-including nursing home and assisted living. Our assessor estimates that this places a value of $250,000 on these 5 acres. Town Meeting voters authorized borrowing twice that amount, to allow us to commence negotiations with the state. Legislative Update: The home rule petition filed by the April 2002 Town Meeting was not acted upon by the state legislature before its formal session ended in July 2002. In fact, it was never even assigned a bill number. Absent any legislative action-- and since MassHighways's discontinuance plan did not include some 122.28 acres, but instead declared them as surplus-- we find ourselves in an administrative procedure with an uncertain outcome. This involves the Division of Capital Asset Management, which now controls the 5 acres sought for the Cape End Manor Care Campus . . . Surplus State Property along Route 6 in Provincetown. In the summer of 2002, the Massachusetts Board of Highway Commissioners discontinued Route 6 in Provincetown as a state highway and transferred to the Town of Provincetown all of the roadway and portions of the adjoining property for wastewater disposal areas. Another 122.28 acres was declared surplus, and transferred to the Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM). Those 122.28 acres are divided into 14 separate parcels, identified as Parcels A through N, and shown on these discontinuance plans (8 sheets - PDF files)
The 5.6-acre "Site Y"-- the proposed location of the Cape End Manor Care Campus-- is a portion of the 31.89 "Parcel B" and is shown on Sheet 4 and Sheet 5 of the MassHighway Discontinuance plan. DCAM Reuse Hearing on the 5 acres: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 at 7 p.m. at Provincetown Town Hall. The Division of Capital Asset Management held its public hearing on the reuse of the 5.6 acres as a nursing home/assisted living/rehab therapies for Wednesday, November 13, 2002 at 7 p.m. in Provincetown Town Hall. This was an important opportunity to present information for the record on the need for those facilities in Provincetown and at that site. |
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