Planning Board accepts affordable-housing restriction for Forward Phase 2 pending Town Council confirmation

The Town of Dennis Planning Board voted to accept an affordable-housing restriction for Forward Phase 2, an eight-unit expansion at 131 Holcomb Rock Road, but recorded acceptance is contingent on Town Council confirmation and the restriction being in a form acceptable to the board and the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.

Planning Department staff described Forward Phase 2 as a second phase of housing for people with autism and said Phase 1 was built and occupied. Staff told the board the restriction was one of the project conditions and recommended the restriction be recorded at the registry of deeds and that the certificate of occupancy not be issued until it is recorded.

Planning Department staff said the restriction language was “pretty in-depth” and that town council members had also received the document; staff asked the board to vote that the restriction form was acceptable pending town council confirmation. The board moved, seconded and confirmed the acceptance by voice vote.

The vote does not finalize the restriction’s recording or the project’s certificate of occupancy; staff said the certificate of occupancy will not be issued until the restriction is recorded with the registry of deeds and that the Town Council will also need to confirm the form. The board signaled support for the project and for continued monitoring to ensure the affordability condition is enforced.

The board’s action was presented as fulfilling a prior condition of approval; staff said the project team (care of David Crispin of BSC Group) had followed the board’s conditions for the phase. The matter will be subject to Town Council confirmation before the restriction is finalized.