Downsized Sundae School Project Wins Support

 HARWICH – Major adjustments to the proposed 28-unit condominium development on the Sundae School Ice Cream property in Harwich Port, including a change from condominiums to rental apartments, won planning board and neighborhood support last week.

 The new plans reduce the size of the proposed building as well as the number of units in response to concerns raised by the board and residents.

In previous hearings on the project put forward by SSHPORT, LLC, Campanelli Company the planning board sent a strong message that the building was too big and did not fit with the character of the neighborhood. 

Campanelli understood that message and returned to the board with new plans Dec. 9. Attorney Marian Rose Rose said the changes proposed address the massing and density concerns expressed by members of the board. The smaller apartment units, reduced by 700 square feet, accommodate the smaller building footprint and reduce the building population from 120 under the condominium plan to 82 people in the apartments. The number of bedrooms will be reduced from 60 to 41.

Those reductions should generate fewer vehicle trips and reduce septic generation and result in lower nitrogen discharge, said Rose. The plan is to redesign the approved septic system, reducing it to handle one-third less effluent, she said. The underground garage and the roof decks have also been removed. The lawn and recreation area will be increased by 12 percent. 

The third story that was proposed in the condominium proposal has been removed, Rose said, and while multifamily zoning allows for a 40-foot height, and the condominium proposal had plans for a 39.4 foot structure, the apartment proposal is two-and-one-half stories with a height of 29.4 feet, she said. The building massing and scale will be reduced from 616,587 to 354,873 square feet. The project conforms to the town’s zoning bylaw, she added.

“This exceeds my wildest imagination for what you would come back with,” Planning Board member Harry Munns said of the new plans. “It shows an enormous amount of flexibility on behalf of the applicant, as well as a willingness to cooperate with all of the parties involved. I was extremely impressed with that.”

 Planning Board Chair Duncan Berry was even more enthusiastic.

“There is probably no one in this room that doesn’t recognize the astonishing talent that went into this transformation and the spirit of community here,” he said.

 Since last March the planning board has been in and out of hearings with Campanelli doing battle over building size and community character issues. The condominium project proposed along Route 28 in Harwich Port drew crowded rooms of residents protesting the project. 

 The change presented to the planning board on Dec. 9, including a change from condos to rental apartments, included a 42 percent reduction in mass and scale and downsizing of units. The changes were well received by neighbors.

 Barbara Nickerson, who lives across Route 28 from the proposed project, was a vocal opponent of the condominiums in every planning board session. Nickerson said she met with a group of neighbors before coming to the Dec. 9 hearing and there was support for the rental apartment proposal. 

 “On a personal level, I want to thank you, Mr. Demarco (Rob Demarco, an owner of the Campanelli Company) for really stepping up to the plate and really listening to us. We really appreciate it,” Nickerson said. “We’re looking forward to meeting our new neighbors when it’s built.”

 Support for apartments was evident among the 35 people in attendance and members of the planning board, although the board did not take its final vote on the project. A number of conditions were recommended, and Berry said Town Planner Christine Flynn would need additional time to include the conditions in the decision. The board continued the hearing to Tuesday, Jan. 13.

The impact of the changes is significant, said Rose. She compared the proposed building to the Melrose Inn Condominiums across the street, which has a footprint of 29,025 square feet compared with the apartment project at 17,875 square feet. The Melrose is 39 percent larger, Rose said.

Rental units are sorely needed in Harwich, she said, adding that the people who will live in the building will be local residents. 

“The goal is to create a desirable living community within a very desirable village neighborhood,” said architect Russell Dion, a partner in Campanelli Company.

He described the new look as Cape style, capturing several of the architectural styles in the neighborhood, including colonial, Greek revival, gambrel, and elongated farmhouse styles. The facade of the building will be a mix of one-and-a-half and two-story structures representing the various architectural styles, and there will be a couple of one story wrap-around porches

The combination will provide less of a monolithic appearance, he said. The building would be pinched in on the sides and rear and moved back from Route 28. The closest portion of the facade would be 26.7 feet from the road, and to the west side it would be as much as 40 feet off the road. 

Town Planner Christine Flynn said the town’s peer review consultant, VHB, Inc., found the content of the application to be satisfactory.

Attorney Jack Herndon, who is representing Bob and Barbara Nickerson, said the project is going in the right direction, but he wanted to see several conditions included in the decision, including having the tenants issue an affidavit on an annual basis to the building department assuring that the studies in the apartments are not being used as habitable space. He expressed concern that the building population could be as high as 110 residents.

The Nickersons provided several other conditions that were met with approval by Campanelli, including no subletting of the apartments, working with neighbors on locating hedges, replacement of trees that die within the first five years and saving one tree that traffic engineers have designated for removal. Campanelli has also been requested to submit a full set of plans to the planning board before the final vote is taken.