August 29, 2001
The Provincetown
Planning Board and the Local Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee
(LCPIC) held a Public Meeting with staff representation from the Cape Cod
Commission (CCC) at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 29, 2001, in the Judge Welsh
Room, Town Hall, 260 Commercial Street, Provincetown. Those in attendance were:
Cape Cod Commission: Dorr Fox, John Lipman, and Martha Hevenor
LCPIC: Mindy Baransky, Anne Howard, Ted Malone, and Rex Peterson.
Planning Board: Mindy Baransky, Ellen Battaglini, John Paul Grunz, Anne
Howard, and Richard Olson.
Town Staff: Warren Alexander, Gary Delius, Dana Faris, Stephan Nofield, and
Judith Oset.
Meeting Agenda
Discussion of strategy for implementation of the vote of Town meeting
to approve the following article:
The Town vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $20,000, to be
expended under the direction of the Director of Regulatory Management for the
funding of the Cape Cod Commission's assistance to the Town, the Planning Board
and the Local Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee, under a Memorandum
of Understanding, in performing a comprehensive update of the Town of
Provincetown Zoning By-laws, Subdivision Regulations, and Sign Code in a manner
consistent with the Local Comprehensive Plan. Said update of the by-laws and
regulations to be subject to public hearings conducted by the Planning Board
and approval by Town Meeting Vote.
Judith Oset who was acting as the facilitator called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. She began by telling the group that this meeting was to be deemed a strategy session. Everyone in attendance received a large, filled, three-ring binder which they were to consider their own working document. First the meeting was called to discuss the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that Provincetown has with the CCC; the CCC will be facilitating the implementation of the Local Comprehensive Plan. Also it is hoped that both zoning and general by-laws will be looked at and advice, if needed, offered by the Commissioners. Sub-division regulations, condo conversions, and general by-laws will be considered.
Judith worked hard in trying to develop a timeline for the group to work within. Some of the group felt the presentation to the Town meeting should be in a completed form encompassing all the changes; others felt that it would be too much to digest and a decision should be made on a starting point with time frames. John Lipman assured the group that the implementation time for the Plan could take as long as two years with no detriment to the final outcome. John told the group that he had worked closely with Dave Hall in developing the Local Comprehensive Plan.
John also told the group that jumping onto the implementation of the plan is great. Basically the CCC role is facilitating in implementing the plan. He said there are lots of ways to do this. No “one size fits all.” John said he wants to sit in periodically as the implementation progresses. The focus of the plan needs public involvement for a better product. He thinks of himself as an architect and will listen to how Provincetown wants to sculpt public involvement. The input of townspeople is ideal with the end result having people get up at town meeting and say, “Oh, yeah, we know what that’s about!”
Judith said Truro has told her of their headaches so she really wants to get everyone involved.
Timeline is the first consideration and any decisions on the subject must be finalized by December. Early part would be January 1st. when the sub-division regs are discussed.
Ted Malone said that realistically, with a January 1st deadline, we should focus on an April town meeting in 2 years. He would rather not see it go piecemeal to town meeting but have the whole issue all set out.
Richard Olson said the way to proceed would be to have everyone read the LCP in full and to think about what there is we need to address. Substantive questions might be what the Planning Board wants to discuss – then we can have an agenda – and advise the Board of Selectmen (BoS) long before so they can absorb the full package. Mindy agreed saying everyone should familiarize themselves with the LCP.
The term “prioritize” was bandied around quite a bit i.e., ACTIONS and/or PRIORITIES should be identified and put in order of importance. After everyone offered his or her opinion, the following was decided upon:
1. Priorities should be decided upon under the categories of high, medium, or low. Maybe categories under priorities should be further labeled controversial or non-controversial.
2. Definitions of current “buzz-words” i.e., “condo-conversion” “studio” “affordable housing” should be provided in an introduction to the final document.
3. A Mission Statement should be in the works so that any citizen could understand what the permitting agencies were trying to attain.
4. A “statement of purpose” might be a good introduction to each section of a proposed hand-out for permit requesters.
Judith Oset suggested formatting of the by-laws might also be an important concern. Someone suggested taking all the legalistic terminology out of the by-laws such as “whereas” which is used in a wholesale fashion in some laws.
Rex Peterson brought up the subject of District of Critical Planning Concerns (DCPC) and how it might work in Provincetown’s case. According to John Lipman a DCPC could refer to either any specific district or to the entire town; whatever the town decided upon. It would then halt any and all permitting (except for some construction already begun) until the DCPC was lifted. However; John cautioned, it would take about two years to implement.
The entire joint Committees were given the following homework assignments:
1. Everyone is to thoroughly read the contents of the large notebook handout and make comments on their working document as they see fit.
2. A copy of the matrix developed by the LCPIC will be e-mailed to all for their input as to which Committee(s) should be concerned with each subject/concern.
Please mark your calendars for all future meetings which are to be held
on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month at 5:00
p.m. (Sumptuous meal not necessarily
promised!)
The next meeting is scheduled for September 26th at 5:00 p.m. in order to give everyone ample time to complete their assignments.
Respectfully submitted,
Evelyn Rogers Gaudiano