Dennis Planning Board members want more information on family shelter

DENNIS — The Planning Board will hear more about the Housing Assistance Corporation proposal to turn the former South Dennis Healthcare facility at 1 Love Lane into a family transition shelter on May 6.

The board decided to continue the matter until that date after a Monday night meeting at Town Hall.

The housing agency wants to use the the 57,000-square-foot site to house up to 79 families, consolidating its three family shelters in Barnstable, Falmouth and Bourne.

The redevelopment of the South Dennis property is part of the agency's multi-year strategic plan to address housing insecurity across the region, according to the nonprofit. The goal is to open the new South Dennis shelter by the end of the year.

Dover Amendment

Housing Assistance Corporation wants the project to be allowed by right under a state law known as the Dover Amendment because of the educational services they plan to provide.

The Dover Amendment, initially adopted in 1950, mandates that proposed religious and educational land uses be given more favorable treatment than other proposed uses (such as residential, commercial or industrial) under local zoning ordinances and bylaws, according to the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association, an interlocal service of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

The use of zoning exemptions offered under the Dover Amendment has also been raised with a pending purchase by Riverview School, a private East Sandwich school for students with disabilities, of the 40-acre Twin Brooks Golf Course on Scudder Avenue in Hyannis.

Dennis Town Planner Paul Foley said the proposal appears to be protected from zoning restrictions under the Dover Amendment, but the town could look into "reasonable regulations."

"If it is Dover Amendment exempt use, which it likely is, we cannot restrict, we cannot say no," said Foley during the Planning Board meeting on Monday. "We can just to try to make it as good as we can and make sure we're all on the same page."

The team behind the proposal said it believes it already has approval under the Dover Amendment from the town building commissioner. Foley said town counsel's advice was that the proposal is "likely" exempt.

What is the education component?

Attorney Peter Freeman representing Housing Assistance Corporation said the shelter will focus on serving families, mostly single mothers with infants and children.

Planned educational services will be comprised of workshops, case management services, and other programs focusing on topics such as financial management, family planning, MassHealth enrollment, searching for housing, parenting, and cooking skills, said Freeman.

Participation in the programs is mandatory, said Freeman.

"The whole point is to learn life skills, to become independent so they will be able to move on from the facility to their own independent living," he said.

The average stay at Housing Assistance's existing shelters is about nine months. There is no maximum stay but it is rare to be over three years, according to the agency. The state typically places residents within 20 miles of their community or schools.

What is the shelter housing going to be like?

Rooms will have a maximum of three people unless one is a toddler. Otherwise families with four or more people will have two rooms. The rooms are 272 square feet. Most rooms have a half-bathroom and no televisions or chairs.

"It is intentional, it is by design. There is a level of security and comfort that we provide to the families but there's also a level of discomfort so people will move on," said Magnotta.

There will be communal commercial kitchens and families will have a refrigerator and microwave in their rooms. Each bedroom has a toilet and sink, but not a bath or shower. Case managers will be on site and staff will not live on the property.

The units are not eligible to be counted as part of the town's subsidized housing inventory. The inventory is a measure of low- or moderate-income housing under a state law intended to encourage affordable housing development.

Housing Assistance Corporation also plans for a small playground and possibly a ball court and picnic area.

The site also has 122 parking spots, but a traffic impact assessment found only 35 spaces will be needed for this use, according to the presentation made to the Planning Board. Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority will provide on-call service and Housing Assistance also provides its own vans at other shelters.

Reaction from Planning Board members

Planning Board member Rick Hamlin said he would be more comfortable if the team came before the board with a formal site plan review because he believes there are too many unknowns related to the project.

Freeman said that site plan reviews are not appropriate under the Dover Amendment.

Hamlin and other members also said they wanted more in-depth information about the educational services planned for the site.

"The crux of the Dover Amendment before we can even get to our purview is providing to us the educational and religious components and we have not been provided that ... that's the difficulty I find myself in — and I believe other members of my board are finding themselves in — is that before we can even get to our part of the project we haven't even seen that it's been met to our satisfaction," said board member Elizabeth Patterson.

On April 2, the Cape Cod Commission sent a letter to Dennis Building Commissioner Paul Fowler saying that because both the former nursing home and proposed shelter are residential uses, the project does not constitute a change of use that would trigger a mandatory referral as a development of regional impact.

Nursing home sold in September

One Love Lane South Dennis LLC sold the 128-bed facility known as South Dennis Healthcare to Housing Assistance Corporation for $4.3 million, according to a deed recorded with the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds on Sept. 28. South Dennis Healthcare was operated by Woburn-based Next Step Healthcare.

Magnotta has previously said the facility would not be used for migrant housing, but rather to address the housing crisis faced by Cape Cod residents.

Zane Razzaq writes about housing and real estate. Reach her at zrazzaq@capecodonline.com. Follow her on X @zanerazz.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Housing Assistance Corp. says Dennis shelter plan OK'd in town hall