Brewster Officials Discuss Housing On Pond Property

BREWSTER – Should they pave paradise and put in a parking lot?

In the case of Brewster’s Long Pond property, the parking lot could surround up to 48 units of affordable housing, according to the town’s architecture consultants.

That makes the deal a lot more attractive, but divisions remain over the future of the 66 acres Brewster bought for $26 million, along with 55 acres on Cape Cod Bay, from the former Cape Cod Sea Camps.

Last Wednesday, the Pond Property planning committee heard from consultants WXY Studios and Reed Hildebrand as they presented options based on instructions from the Oct. 4, joint meeting of the select board and two planning committees.

“My takeaway from your presentation and some other research I’ve done is that a housing project can be built with neutral impact,” said Tim Hackert, the affordable housing representative on the pond committee. “There are cost issues in terms of designing it but the technology (for wastewater) exists and could be required as a condition of doing it.”

“I can’t agree there would be no impact from an I/A (innovative/alternative) system or a treatment facility,” countered Cynthia Baran, the group’s water commission representative. “They don’t treat for PFAs, emerging contaminants, medicinals, a lot of things. There will definitely be an impact if there is housing or any development on that property.”

The property, which has 1,200 feet of frontage on Long Pond and road frontage on Route 137, was purchased with many potential uses in mind: affordable housing, conservation/water protection, recreation, education — possibly in conjunction with Mass. Audubon — and municipal uses such as wells, cell towers, etc.

The property is in the 9,135-acre Herring River watershed. Under new title 5 regulations, Brewster must manage the nitrogen load in the watershed or all residents within the watershed will need to upgrade their septic systems or tie into a sewer.

“You could manage any proposed housing development to minimize impacts from the lawns, manage the stormwater and come up with a wastewater solution that would meet the [Brewster] water quality review bylaw,” consultant Mark Nelson of Horsley Witten explained in summation of his presentation. “The next step is meeting the Herring River requirement and how you offset that.”

Reed Hildebrand originally presented five options for utilizing the pond property, trimmed them down and based on feedback from the joint meeting.

“We have really narrowed down the plan to one overall plan that has a couple of alternatives for the area of the property along 137,” said Elizabeth Randall of Reed Hildebrand. “There is an opportunity to contribute to the town’s affordable housing goals.”

The consultant was looking at recreation, education, water resources, ecology and natural habitat, housing, possible revenue, reuse of buildings, town character and the long-term needs of Brewster when considering uses for the property.

“There is a zone that is largely being considered for future conservation in partnership with the [Brewster Conservation Trust] and Mass. Audubon,” along with a smaller zone along Route 137 for housing or municipal use with beach access along Long Pond’s shore, Randall said.

Their preliminary plan features two parking areas, one with eight spots and another with 16, neither too close to the beach because of topography. The consensus from forums was for a low access beach because of concerns for the sensitivity area nearby.

Brewster needs 517 affordable units to hit the state’s 10 percent target. Currently the town is short by 145.

David Vega Barachowitz of WXY said of the 12 acre area next to Route 137, about six acres were suited for housing, or about 9 percent of the property.

“We looked at [up to] approximately 50 units with 90 beds,” said Vega Barachowitz. “We were focused on looking at year-round housing. On the Bay Property we were also looking at seasonal workforce housing. Within that framework we looked at three different scenarios.”

Those were 32, 48 or 44 units in single homes or townhouses, in the case of the 44-unit concept.

“The Route 137 corridor has topographical other advantages for housing,” Hackert noted.

“Only being able to use between 10 and 12 percent of the 66 acres is encouraging for us to be able to get housing on there,” Stephen Ferris of the committees agreed.

Baran pointed out both previous public forums leaned towards keeping the site open or for water protection.

“Reading tea leaves, I think housing is a favored use here,” Hackert said. “We all read the tea leaves, we read them differently.”

Brewster will consult more than tea leaves when making final decisions. The committee wanted to emphasize that no decisions were being made yet; these are just all concepts and possibilities.

Baran suggested one option should be housing/municipal space and the other open space.

The pond property is mostly dry upland oak-pine woods with an open field near the beach. Thirty acres are in Zone 2 as part of Brewster’s public water supply zone. The property abuts the Long Pond Woodlands and combined with it has more than 100 acres of undeveloped land. There are eight shacks along the water that were used for storage of equipment and boats.

Mark Nelson of Horsley Witten noted that 99 percent of the groundwater flows into Long Pond and from there into the Herring River. The Zone 2 water overlay includes the eastern half of the property that lies along Route 137, where any housing or municipal use would likely be located.

“It would have to be a Zone 1,400 foot radius, or 800 foot circle around (any) well,” Nelson noted. “And there can’t be anything else in that zone.”

That would include a road going somewhere other than the well, such as to the beach.

The Herring River watershed is now subject to nitrogen restrictions set by the state department of environmental protection.

Pleasant Bay now has a watershed permit shared by Harwich, Chatham, Orleans and Brewster. Fertilizer reductions at Captains Course have achieved 80 percent of the required nitrogen reductions for Brewster’s share of the watershed permit. The town may still need to build a neighborhood treatment plant or upgrade septic systems to reach the target.

The recent designation of the Herring River watershed means it may also have to follow that path and reduce nitrogen loading or have a plan within the next five years.

Under DEP rules, septic systems in the watershed might need to be upgraded to innovative alternative treatment or Brewster and Harwich will need to get a watershed permit for nitrogen discharge. The select Board has already submitted a notice of intent to obtain a permit for Brewster’s share of the watershed. In the meantime septic system upgrades don’t need to be carried out.

“Harwich is the big part of the Herring River watershed,” Nelson said. “There might be a sliver of Dennis.”

He said data suggests Brewster will only need to manage nitrogen loading from properties developed after 2013 in the Herring River Watershed. That would include any housing on the pond property.

The watershed includes other ponds beside Long Pond such as Sheep, Elbow, Cahoon, Seymour and Greenland. If septic upgrades aren’t sufficient to reduce nitrogen a neighborhood sewer and treatment plant might be required. Fertilizer reductions, stormwater management and nitrogen load swapping with other towns could also be used to meet state targets.

Brewster will hold another virtual forum on the two properties Nov. 30 at 6 p.m. Conceptual plans will be presented for both the bay and pond properties then, and residents are invited to weigh in again.