Harwich town meeting on May 6: budget increase, money for repairs at Monomoy Middle School

About $2.5 million in repairs for Monomoy Middle School, a bylaw to help protect and preserve trees, and money to fund a housing project at the old fire station are some of the measures Harwich town meeting voters will consider next week.

The items are among the 53 articles on the docket.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 6 at Harwich Community Center, 100 Oak St. The 66-page warrant is available on the Harwich town website.

Budget increase could garner attention

Select Board member Jeffrey Handler said he believes Article 4 — the overall budget — will get plenty of attention. Voters will be asked to approve the $45,732,309 spending package, which represents about an 8.3% increase over last fiscal year, said Handler.

Handler said the increase is due to what he calls "non-negotiables" such as health care insurance, contract extensions and school budget increases in areas such as transportation.

"I'm hopeful that it will pass because both Fin Comm and the Select Board are on the same page," said Handler.

He said town officials, including the town administrator, finance director, fellow Select Board members, and department heads have worked hard to craft the budget and "keep our taxes where they are."

Housing project at former fire station

Article 32 will have voters considering whether to set aside $400,000 from the Community Preservation Act fund to provide money to the Harwich Fire Association to create workforce housing units at the former fire station at 203 Bank St.

The second floor will be rehabilitated for the construction of three one-bedroom affordable-rate rental housing units.

Renovation project at Monomoy Middle School

Harwich is also seeking $2.5 million to renovate and reconstruct the exterior siding of Monomoy Regional Middle School.

"It was demonstrated to us very clearly at one of our Select Board meetings by way of narrative and pictures that the siding of this building is in extreme disrepair and in order to protect the good bones of the building and essentially to ensure that the building will last a long time to come that the outside will need an awful lot of work," said Handler.

The borrowing authorized depends on the passage of the related ballot question, which voters will decide during the annual town election on May 21.

Chatham's select board will also ask for $2.5 million for the project during its town meeting.

Bylaw to preserve trees

In a petitioned article, voters will consider a tree preservation bylaw that encourages the preservation and protection of trees on residential, commercial, and industrial lots during building activities, according to the warrant.

The article would require submitting an application and plan to the Planning Department before any building that identifies trees that qualify as "protected trees" within the lot perimeter setback area of the lot.

The petitioned article would not prohibit any property owner from removing any tree from their property. But if a protected tree is proposed to be removed, it would require either payment into a tree bylaw revenue account or replacement of the protected tree with a "suitable species," according to the warrant.

Resident Patrick Otton is the petitioner behind the article. He has also submitted three other articles. One of his articles will seek to affirm support for a public swimming pool at Harwich Community Center.

"The article just asks a question: 'Would you like to have a pool?'" said Otton. "It's not a complicated question ... we can figure out all the other details later, but let's first ask the question."

Another one of Otton's articles will ban the use of fertilizers aside from commercial agricultural and residential use of organic fertilizers and another will reduce toxic pesticide use in and around public and private properties.

"The theme is health. Your health, my health, animal health, nature's health ... it's really keeping Cape Cod healthy and as we like Cape Cod," said Otton. "Our ponds, our woodlands, the seashore, everything is in such decline due to human activity ... our human actions are impacting the place we live, I'm advocating we take care of it."

What is a town meeting?

A town meeting is a gathering of a town’s eligible voters and the legislative body for towns in Massachusetts

Of the 15 Cape Cod towns, 13 have “open town meetings,” meaning all voters who live in that town may vote on all matters. Falmouth has a “representative town meeting,” where all voters elect town meeting members who then vote on all town meeting matters. The town of Barnstable is governed by an elected Town Council rather than by a town meeting.

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: Harwich town meeting: tree bylaw, repairs at Monomoy Middle School