The Oak Bluffs planning board (OBPB) made a strong statement to Oak Bluffs selectmen on Thursday night, Nov. 10, voting unanimously 5-0 to end all participation in public outreach and planning for a new town hall. Along with that action, the board also declined to appoint one of its members to the town hall building committee.
The vote comes almost a year after selectmen voted unanimously to charge the OBPB with a public outreach campaign for a new town hall. At Thursday’s meeting, board members, in particular chairman Brian Packish, voiced considerable frustration, saying they felt the OBPB had been marginalized by the board of selectmen over the past year, and that there was a lack of due process and transparency.
“We’ve bent over backwards to facilitate process; the selectmen are not willing to embrace process,” Mr. Packish said. “I feel confident we’ve stated our position for the need for public transparency, public engagement, and respect for the taxpayer in the discussion, and I feel confident that to date that hasn’t happened … A new town hall would be really great for us; the question is, Is this the right time? Do the townspeople have other priorities in front of that? And unfortunately, we have current leadership that’s not willing to stop and ask those questions.”
Mr. Packish said the process thus far had been marked by “endless amounts of paperwork, endless amounts of lack of respect for this board and for the people of our town.”
Mr. Packish cited a joint meeting with the OBPB and selectmen on Oct. 27 as an example of the disrespect shown the OBPB. The stated purpose of the meeting was to agree on the formation of a town hall building committee, and take a fresh look at town hall plans, done by Keenan and Kenny Ltd. of Falmouth, and presented and approved at town meeting in April 2014. However, the architects showed up at the Oct. 27 meeting without the plans for the building, and a discussion between the two boards brought no agreement.
“My take is that there is a massive disconnect between [the OBPB and selectmen],” OBPB member Jeremiah McCarthy said. “I’d like us to come to a solution, but I don’t see a roadmap for that. The planning board is pushing for public outreach and a process and transparency, and the board of selectmen is pushing for a [building] committee. I would like to see us make an attempt to clearly outline for the board of selectmen what steps we’d like to take. I think that would be helpful.”
“I understand the desire of the board of selectmen to establish a building committee, but I think that’s premature,” OBPB member Bo Fehl said. “I don’t think we have to sell the town on the location, the need, the number of rooms right now. I think we need to sell the town on what it’s going to take out of their pockets and let them vote whether they want to go ahead with this or not. That’s all we’re looking for. Once we have approval, we can form a building committee and move ahead.”
“I’m very keen on advocating for the planning process, and I believe it’s something our town has done a horrible job at,” OBPB member Ewell Hopkins said. “Planning to me is a clean piece of paper and an open mind with all possibilities, not the advancement of a preconceived notion. I do not have any problem with the [selectmen] deciding they want to move forward with due diligence on a new town hall. I do not want that to be perceived as our endorsement that proper planning has taken place. The select board can say, ‘Thank you for the planning you’ve done, we’ll take it from here.’ That’s fine, we’ll see it at site plan review.”
The vote comes almost a year after selectmen unanimously voted to engage the OBPB to head up a public outreach and information campaign, in the hopes of getting a vote for a new town hall on April’s town meeting warrant.
“From Dec. 9 [when] this was turned over to the planning board to plan, short of our survey and our many many attempts at planning, no planning has occurred,” Mr. Packish said. “It’s been demonstrated clearly that there is no respect for planning, and that starts at the top with our board of selectmen, and that’s where we are. The board of selectmen can still choose to say, ‘Thank you very much, we appreciate your concerns, and we’ll make a go at it.’ And to me that will just solidify every comment that’s been made here tonight, that there is no respect for planning.”
Mr. Packish reiterated Mr. Hopkins’ point that the plan would still have to come before the OBPB for site plan review.
“None of this means we are for or against building a town hall. We haven’t been able to have that conversation,” Mr. Packish said. “It’ll move forward however it’ll move forward, but at this point it’s off of our plate.”
After the vote, Steve Auerbach, member of the Finance and Advisory Committee (FinCom) challenged the stance of the OBPB. “You’ve been complaining about the process over and over again. You wanted a survey, a survey was taken, and it showed clearly the major opinion was in favor of either renovating or rebuilding town hall. Then you wanted to have a survey of town buildings to determine what our priorities should be. [Building inspector] Mark Barbadoro made it quite clear that town hall was in the worst shape. I don’t understand what other process steps you require. That feels like process to me.”
Mr. Auerbach disagreed with Mr. Fehl that it was too soon to create a building committee: “How can there be a vote at town meeting to go ahead or not unless there’s some kind of concrete plan in place?”
Mr. Packish said the public-opinion survey was also an example of how he feels the OBPB has been disregarded over the past year. “We completed the survey, and I went to the board of selectmen and asked to be placed on the agenda to present the survey, and I was told ‘No,’” he said.
“I want to see concrete steps that are part of the planning process that have not been done,” Mr. Auerbach said.
“I’m disappointed,” selectman Walter Vail told The Times on Friday. Mr. Vail attended Thursday’s meeting, but did not speak. “If they choose not to work with us as we go forward, fine. I’m not seeing a willingness by them to let us do our job. We gave them a lot of running room in December. They did the survey; it took six months. The building survey was done in September. [Mr. Packish] had no plan how to proceed, or a timetable, from there. They wait until it’s time to do something, and then react and say they were disrespected. I don’t like the way they approach things. It’s not businesslike. It’s not in keeping with an elected board that could be working with us.
“It’s too bad. They’re welcome to have a seat on the building committee if they want it. We’ll hold one open for them.”
At the 2014 annual town meeting, voters overwhelmingly approved a new $8.3 million fire station and a new $6.4 million town hall. But at the ballot box a few weeks later, the new fire station passed by a scant six votes, and the new town hall was crushed.
The architects told selectmen last December that the estimated cost of the town hall project had gone up roughly $200,000.
Of the $239,000 appropriated in 2013 for a study and plans for a new town hall, $171,000 had been spent as of January of this year.
Residential lot approved B-1
A more civil discussion prevailed in a public hearing on a proposed zoning amendment that would allow 3 Uncas Avenue, currently zoned a residential lot, to be zoned commercial.
“It’s on Circuit Avenue, it abuts the Barn, Bowl and Bistro property, and is completely surrounded by B-1 properties,” Robert Sawyer, the owner of the lot, told the OBPB. Mr. Sawyer partnered with architect and developer Sam Dunn in the Barn, Bowl and Bistro (BBB). “There is a very old house in a rather bad state of disrepair. It makes no sense to invest in residential, and logically, it should be zoned commercial.”
Kim Nye, owner of A Gallery at 8 Uncas Avenue, across the street from the lot, spoke in favor of the change. “I’ve been in my location for almost 20 years,” she said. “I’m happy to see this end of Circuit Avenue be more conducive to business.”
Byron Barnett, homeowner at 12 Hiawatha Avenue, and abutter to the BBB, was opposed to the zoning change. “Everything that abuts the bowling alley is residential. This is changing the character of the neighborhood, in our opinion,” he said.
Hiawatha Avenue resident Peggy Barmore urged the OBPB to consider a “vision” for the area that included public safety and parking issues that have been caused by the BBB.
“We have more parking than any business in town, and we have not had one police complaint since we opened,” Mr. Sawyer said.
Mr. Sawyer said he did not have a definitive plan for the lot at present.
However, he said the abutters would be part of the decision process.
“I will commit to you right now that before we do anything, we will have a meeting or two with you and brainstorm uses,” he said to Mr. Barnett and Ms. Barmore. “We’d be happy to make you part of the process. I’m sure we can come to a meeting of the minds.”
The OBPB voted 4-1 in favor of the amendment. Ewell Hopkins cast the dissenting vote over concerns of “unforeseen impacts” of an unspecified commercial use.
The amendment must be approved by a two-thirds vote at town meeting in April.
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