Development Agreement Bylaw Considered

     The Bourne Planning Board last night looked at three issues that could have a long-term impact on development in town, including the concept of adopting a Development Agreement Bylaw.
     John Lipman of Lipman Development Strategies, former deputy director of the Cape Cod Commission, came before the board and proposed the town adopt such a bylaw.
     Mr. Lipman said that many states allow planners to negotiate agreements with the developers of major projects, ones that might provide relief from zoning requirements in some areas in exchange for concessions in others. Massachusetts law, however, does not generally allow for such agreements.
     Since Bourne has a Cape Cod Commission-certified Local Comprehensive Plan, however, it can enter into such agreements under the aegis of the Cape Cod Commission Act if it adopts a Development Agreement Bylaw.
     In explaining how such an agreement might work, Bourne Planning Board Chairman Christopher J. Farrell said a Main Street developer might ask for, for example, a 100,000-square-foot building but be told that he had to contribute to the construction of a wastewater treatment plant.
     Town Planner Coreen V. Moore said she would have a model bylaw available for discussion at the board’s August 28 meeting.
     Ms. Moore also told board members that Ted Brovitz of Stantec, the consulting firm hired by Bourne Financial Development Corporation, would be re-writing the proposed Downtown Zoning District Bylaw, the regulation that will provide the legal underpinning for the revitalization of Buzzards Bay.
     Board members heard that Stantec was the only company to send back a proposal in response to the town’s request for qualifications for a consultant to perform that task.
     Mr. Brovitz wrote the original draft, Ms. Moore said, and should be able to present proposed revisions that incorporate suggestions made by planning board consultant Philip B. Herr to the board on August 28.
     She said that in order for the bylaw to be included on the warrant for the October Town Meeting, the board could hold a public hearing on the final version of the bylaw on September 11 and submit the final version to the town by September 12.
     Ms. Moore also raised a third issue, providing board members with several maps of the town, including a proposed Bourne land use vision map for discussion purposes. She provided the maps as part of another attempt to come to an agreement on the map of the town that will eventually be included in the commission’s updated Regional Policy Plan.
     A full discussion of the land use map is also scheduled for August 28.
     The board also granted special permits for a 4,100-square-foot addition to Squeteague Harbor Marine at 1374 Route 28A; a gas station and convenience store with a drive-through at 80 Cranberry Highway, South Sagamore; and a drive-through for a Mary Lou’s Coffee at the Sorenti Brothers Texaco Station at 1 Canal Street, North Sagamore.