Wellfleet Board of Health
Minutes of Meeting of March 19, 2003
Town Hall Hearing Room
Present: David Breen, Chair; Betty Kimball, Zel Levin; Emily Beebe, Health Agent
Excused: Lezli Rowell
Chair Breen convened the meeting at 5:30 p.m., stating that the purpose of this meeting was to allow the Board to consider its recommendations on Annual Town Meeting Warrant Articles 32, 33, 34, 45, 46, and 47. (These are the numbers of the articles on the Draft Warrant; this numbering may be changed.) He requested that Health Agent Beebe review these for the Board; Elaine LaChappelle and Helen Miranda Wilson of the Housing Authority were also present to answer questions.
Ms. Beebe explained that Articles 32, 33, and 34 had been drafted by the Board of Selectmen and submitted to Town Counsel for analysis; each article requested purchase of a specific parcel of town-owned land for the Housing Authority to use for low and moderate-income housing. Articles 45, 46, and 47, petitioned by the Housing Authority, requested the same three parcels of land for the same purpose; therefore, the Board needed to consider two articles for each parcel.
The articles follow:
Article 32: Gull Pond Road, Assessor's Map 8, Lot 39, 2.27 acres. This BOS article contains 7 conditions to which the Housing Authority would be subject.
Article 33: Old County Road and Cahoon Hollow Road, Assessor's Map 23, Lot 602, 5 acres. The BOS article contains 8 conditions; Condition 6 differs from those in Article 32 in that it prohibits "landscaping activity that would be detrimental to the quality and quantity of the ground water." Ms. Beebe stated that the Zone 1 of a potential water supply site (Boy Scout Camp) comes right up to the property line.
Article 34: Cole's Neck Road, Assessor's Map 7, Lot 24, 7.95 acres. The BOS article contains the same 7 conditions as #32. Ms. Beebe noted that this parcel is a shaving off the site from the transfer station property.
Articles 45, 46, and 47: These three Housing Authority articles address the same pieces of property as the above-mentioned three; however, the completion time frames in these articles are not as tightly conditioned.
Health Agent Beebe explained that the conditions imposed upon the Housing Authority in the BOS articles were the result of reaction to Housing Authority projects which had remained under way for quite a while because of title problems, unclear utility easements, etc. while buyers waited to build on the lots. She added that not every unbuilt property is a favorable site choice for affordable housing and that a better process for making such choices is currently being worked upon.
Elaine LaChappelle spoke on behalf of the Housing Authority's articles, noting that in the past the HA has received land with clouded titles from the Town. She added that other problems such as acquiring land for water, objection from neighbors (Old County Road project), bad titles and small lots (Old Wharf Road) are further reasons why various projects have taken time to complete.
Asked by the Health Agent if the HA could speak to the difference in language between the two sets of articles, LaChappelle stated that the description of land is the same and the differences lie in the time frames in the conditions.
Helen Wilson emphasized that both sets have a 10-year time frame for completion. She added that the HA has now created a set of criteria for procedures. Wilson saw the interior scheduling of the BOS articles as too confining, with the possibility of the project schedule being thrown off by a "wild card." Adding that the HA proposal provides a realistic window for work, she stated that if a deadline of the BOS conditions was missed, the Housing Authority would have to come back to the Select Board, which might not at that time be positively inclined toward the project.
To Zel Levin's question about the BOH's role in this instance, the Health Agent replied that these articles needed to have BOH recommendation and that if the Board saw any issues that impacted upon health regulations, these needed to be stated. She suggested that the Board should review the articles and decide on recommendation.
Betty Kimball and David Breen both felt the need to study the articles, which they had just received that day. Levin asked if it would simplify the whole thing to ask if the BOH should approve provided that there is no future concern for health problems.
Health Agent Beebe informed the Board that it could also "reserve recommendation to town meeting." She stated her recommendations: concerning Cole's Neck, she thought it a poor idea to develop around the landfill; she felt the Gull Pond site was capable of development; and, in the case of Old County/Cahoon Hollow Roads, she disagreed with the idea of developing anything near a public wellhead, an opinion she had already stated to Steve Durkee of the Housing Authority. Beebe noted that the landfill area is the only town area that has been set aside to landfill and solid waste and should not be encroached upon; since the Seashore Park will never give up land, this is the only resource area for this purpose that the Town possesses and it should not be carved up for
housing.
Helen Wilson disagreed, stating that Cole's Neck landfill area is too close to a wetland (Herring River watershed) and that she was amazed that this area had been approved by DEP for solid waste. She added that Lot 24 has already been included in the Cole's Neck water regulations. In regard to the Old County/Cahoon Hollow Road lot, she noted that the new senior center site abuts Zone 2 for the wells in the Boy Scout Camp, that the Cahoon Hollow lot is downstream, and that Housing Authority had put conditions into Article 46 against landscaping.
Betty Kimball, paralleling the lateness of receiving information for this discussion with the similar situation of the Open Space Committee's project of last year, stated that she would prefer to reserve recommendation on the articles until she could study them. Beebe suggested that if the BOH reserved recommendation, it should then develop a screening criteria to make assessment of these properties as appropriate for housing and appropriate for affordable housing.
Ms. Kimball moved and Zel Levin seconded that the Board of Health reserve recommendation on the 6 warrant articles (32, 33, 34, 45, 46, and 47) and discuss assessment criteria at the April 9, 2003 meeting. After discussion (including an answer from Wilson to a reservation submitted from the absent Lezli Rowell), the vote was called; the motion passed, 3-0.
Warrant Article on Stockpiling Potassium Iodide: The Health Agent explained the importance of the town's possessing a supply of potassium iodide in the case of nuclear disaster, explaining that the federal government would supply potassium iodide to the town but that the town must vote to accept it. Betty Kimball commented that this was an important community health measure which other communities had adopted. David Breen moved and Kimball seconded that the Board of Health recommend the warrant article on potassium iodide stockpiling; the motion passed unanimously, 3-0. Ms. Beebe added that a plan for distribution, along with a better and updated civil defense plan, will need to be formulated. The civil defense committee, now
known as the Wellfleet Emergency Management Team, is working to get itself organized; this is necessary if the town is to be able to take advantage of funding offered by Homeland Security and FEMA.
Request to Postpone Opening 7-Day Week at Landfill: The Health Agent has received a request from DPW Director Mark Vincent to be allowed to postpone the opening of the 7-day week at the landfill because of the Easter closure. (Generally, this opening would take place on the 3rd weekend in April, but Easter is late this year.) Zel Levin moved that the BOH approve Vincent's request to open the landfill for 7-day week on April 27 rather than April 20; Breen seconded. The motion passed unanimously, 3-0.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:25 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
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Frances J. Castillo, Assistant to the Committee Secretary
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