BUZZARDS BAY — While local officials are trying to determine whether or not Bourne is officially a parishioner of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), the planning department is working with the Cape Cod Commission to try to fulfill the state’s multifamily housing agency mandate.
The Planning Committee has discussed the T-Directive to create more apartment buildings to stimulate the economy, the implications for zoning and the need for public comment to guide work on and construction in a densely populated area of this village.
“We are currently considered a ‘neighbouring community’, although I have trouble with that designation as ‘The T’ has not entered Plymouth for two years,” said Christopher Farrell, a member of the Planning Committee, on March 16. “Therefore our neighbor community status is in question.”
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The Transportation Authority would likely require a residential zone that would raise the area’s 12-unit-per-acre limit to 15-unit-per-acre, Farrell said.
The board has considered developing questions for a community survey on the state’s mandate, which newly elected Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a deliberation, must be completed by ‘T’ members.
Housing apartments near the Main Street station could be difficult, Bourne officials said.
However, board members agree that the area’s geographic location would make it difficult to find apartment buildings so close to the Main Street station. These include the neighboring canal, Taylors Point Marina, Village Park, Buzzards Bay Bypass and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
Board Chairman Dan Doucette said at recent meetings that the city should determine whether Bourne is an official MBTA member and not just a part of the “T’s” advisory board before its members can work on the housing mandate.
Meanwhile, Peter Meier, chief executive officer of the special committee, said the city is following “the process that was given to us by the ‘T'” to set up a residential zone. That would include working with the Cape Cod Commission to create proper zoning, he said.
“We will ensure that we comply with all elements of the mandate that has been sent to us,” said Meier.
Campbell’s advice was direct, saying more housing would remove barriers to economic development.
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The MBTA Community Building Code Act is an “essential tool” for the state to address the housing crisis.
“Compliance with the MBTA Community Zoning Act is not only mandatory, it is an essential tool for the community to address its housing crisis along with our climate and transportation goals,” Campbell said. “While the housing crisis disproportionately affects black and poor, working families, it threatens us all along with our economy and therefore requires all of us to do our part, including ensuring proper development of affordable, transport-oriented housing for our residents and families.” “
The Bourne Planning Board, Select Board, Cape Cod Commission, and Canal Region Chamber of Commerce have long advocated for the creation of housing above the first floor shops along Main Street. Overlaying the neighborhood on the village zone map might satisfy the state.
“We all favored that approach,” Meier admitted in a March 16 interview. “But it would have to include a proposed change to the Main Street Growth Stimulus Zone (GIZ). And that would have to go after a commission option for the Planning Committee and a public review to the City Assembly for voter approval.”
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Daily trains between Boston and Buzzards Bay would “add value” to Main Street’s business scene, an official said.
Meier remains optimistic about the return of commuter train service between Boston and Buzzards Bay through Middleborough, where similar trains are scheduled to run to and from New Bedford.
He says daily trains would improve Main Street’s business scene and lend itself to so-called “transit-oriented development.” That, in turn, would accommodate residents who might work in Boston but live in Bourne, he said.
Tracks between Middleborough and Buzzards Bay were upgraded. The Taylors Point trestle on the recently reconstructed Buzzards Bay-Wareham line. And the State Department of Transportation has awarded a $775,000 contract to repair the roof and repaint the old Main Street train station, which now serves as the headquarters of the Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber of Commerce.
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