Town of Harwich
November 24, 2006 For More Information Contact:
Susan Leven, Town Planner
508.430.7511
Ted Nelson, EHCA
508.240.3333
Carole Ridley, Business Roundtable
508.430.2563
Phil Dascombe, Cape Cod Commission
508.362.3828
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Upcoming Workshops Give Citizens Opportunity to Refine
East Harwich Village Center Scenarios
Two workshops are scheduled to provide citizens with additional opportunities to provide input on land use and infrastructure plans to guide future development in the East Harwich Village Center. The workshops, scheduled for Thursday, December 7th and Thursday, January 18th, will both be held at 6:30 pm in the Multi-Purpose Room in the Harwich Community Center located at 100 Oak Street. In order to facilitate participation around the holidays, citizens are welcome to attend either session or both.
The workshops are part of a series of public forums designed to involve Harwich residents, and area businesses and property owners in the development of a preferred land use and infrastructure scenario to guide future growth in the broad area surrounding the intersection of Routes 39 and 137—which is becoming known as the East Harwich Village Center.
More than 100 people attended a forum on October 12th where planners presented a series of alternative land use scenarios and asked for feedback from participants. The alternative scenarios showed different ways to organize commercial, residential and mixed-use buildings into a traditional or modern village center. Community feedback from the October forum was used to narrow the alternatives to a single “preferred” alternative that will be the subject of the workshops.
At the December and January workshops, design consultant Ken Buckland of the Cecil Group will present an initial preferred land use and infrastructure alternative and facilitate community discussion. Community input at the workshops will be used to refine the scenario and lay the groundwork for new zoning and other implementation measures to be developed as a subsequent phase of the initiative.
The East Harwich Village Center Initiative is a collaborative effort of the Town of Harwich , the East Harwich Community Association (EHCA), Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC),
Cape Cod Business Roundtable and Cape Cod Commission. The planning initiative was launched to address growth issues and the future of the East Harwich “village center” area, one of the fastest growing areas on the Lower Cape. Earlier this year the Town of Harwich was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Cape Cod Economic Development Council’s Regional Economic Development Pilot Project (REDPP), and $10,000 in Local Comprehensive Plan Implementation Funds administered by the Cape Cod Commission, to study the area and come up with a preferred land use scenario. Additional funding is being sought from the REDPP for phase 2 of the project.
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