Brewster To Vote On Seasonal Community Designation

BREWSTER – Just under two years after the state Affordable Homes Act was passed, Brewster voters will have the chance to accept the seasonal community designation, which offers a wealth of tools to tackle the unique housing needs many seasonal communities face. 

While many neighboring communities voted to accept the seasonal community designation shortly after the Affordable Homes Act passed, Brewster officials decided to hold off until regulations were fully implemented. 

According to the commonwealth’s website, final seasonal communities regulations were filed with the Secretary of State's office on Feb. 4 and took effect on Feb. 27. 

Once a community is officially designated as seasonal, it can use the tools provided in the legislation to aid in developing needed housing. The tools include zoning, housing production tools and occupancy tools. At a finance committee meeting earlier this month, Town Manager Peter Lombardi said the towns can pick and choose which tools they implement.  

Towns can create year-round occupancy restrictions, have the ability to create housing reserved for year-round residents rather than seasonal use, use fair housing-compliant preferences for essential workers and create housing specifically for artists and cultural workers. 

Designated communities can also create a year-round housing trust fund, use state grant programs specifically for seasonal communities, conduct state-supported housing-needs assessments, allow housing on undersized lots, allow tiny homes, zoning flexibility and expand the residential property tax exemption for owner-occupied homes. 

Once accepted, the designation comes with an initial state grant, about $175,000 per community in the current state budget. Funds could be used for housing planning, infrastructure or projects like converting buildings to housing or replacing cesspools.

Conversations at the finance committee meeting reflected questions regarding the residential tax exemption. The designation would allow the town to impose a residential property tax exemption up to 50 percent instead of the 35 percent allowed in non-seasonal communities, but the decision would be made further down the line, officials said. Lombardi said the earliest possible fiscal year to implement a residential tax exemption would be 2029.

The biggest takeaway from conversations among the select board and finance committee was that the designation is a flexible tool and not a mandate. 

The article, if accepted, will not need a ballot vote. It will be on the warrant of the May 4 annual meeting. The select board and finance committee both voted unanimously to recommend it.