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Planning Projects and Studies

As of July 21, 2010

 

Depending on available funding (usually county, state, or federal grants), the Cape Cod Commission's planning staff pursues land use planning and other regional studies. Some recent ones include:

• West Chatham Village Center: Visualization and Land Use Planning Project - To complement the ongoing planning efforts to make traffic improvements in the West Chatham Area, the Chatham Board of Selectmen has given direction to initiate land use planning activities with the Cape Cod Commission for areas outside of the road layout in West Chatham. The proposed scope of this project will include a phased approach and close coordination / interaction with the ongoing traffic engineering project focused on Main Street/Route 28 improvements to the George Ryder Road and Barnhill Road intersections and the interconnecting corridor. Phase I of this project will begin with a public design charette on July 29 (7:00 pm at the Chatham Community Center), where the community will be asked to engage in visioning activities that will later inform design considerations for the corridor. This information gathering will identify the specific limits of the study area, in coordination with traffic alternatives under consideration and planned sewer infrastructure.

• Route 6A Corridor Management Plan Update - In 1995, the Cape Cod Commission (CCC) issued the Route 6A Corridor Management Plan (CMP) through a grant provided by the Massachusetts Interim Scenic Byways program. The main purpose of the plan was to focus on resource protection along the corridor while addressing traffic and safety needs. A secondary purpose was to inform the Massachusetts Highway Department (now Massachusetts Department of Transportation, MassDOT) policy on management of scenic roads and to assist in the development of the state's Scenic Byways program. In 2009, the Commission embarked on an update of the plan to continue the mission of the original plan, using current data. The final plan is now available (29.5 MB PDF file).

• Natural Hazards Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan for Barnstable County - In 2004 Barnstable County adopted a regional hazard mitigation plan developed by the Cape Cod Commission in cooperation with many other local and regional agencies. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved the plan later that year, and the Commission continues to work on the mitigation planning, outreach, and education activities outlined in the plan, as funds allow and in coordination with the Barnstable County Regional Emergency Planning Committee organized by the county's Department of Health and Environment. The regional plan and nine FEMA-approved local plans are required to be recertified by March 2010.

  The DRAFT 2010 Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan for Barnstable County was available for public comment in February 2010. The plan is 5-year update to the 2004 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan required by FEMA under the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 for the region to be eligible for hazard mitigation grant funds.

• Emergency Preparedness Handbook: A Guide to Natural Disasters - In 2004 the Cape Cod Commission published and distributed the Cape Cod Emergency Preparedness Handbook (32 pages) to help prepare residents and visitors for hurricanes, floods, winter storms, tornadoes, heat waves, wildfires, and more. The publication, funded through a grant from the now-defunct federal "Project Impact" program, was developed collaboratively as a public service of the Cape Cod Chapter of the American Red Cross, Barnstable County's AmeriCorps Cape Cod program, the Barnstable County Fire Chief's Association, the Barnstable County Sheriff's Office, the Cape Cod Animal Emergency Coalition, the Cape & Islands Emergency Medical Services System, the Cotuit-Osterville-Marstons Mills Fire Department, the Cotuit Fire Department, and the Harwich Fire Department. The handbook is now in its third edition, most recently updated in Fall 2007.

• Joint Land Use Study - In 2004, the Cape Cod Commission began work with planners and advisers in the four Upper Cape towns (Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee, and Sandwich) and the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR) on a study of growth and development pressures and their effects on military operations in the towns that surround the MMR. Funded by the US Department of Defense, the study was completed late in 2005. The final report includes recommendations that focus on conflicts with existing residential development, affordable housing projects, potential residential development, and wireless communications and other tall structures. The report's Executive Summary is also available.

• Land-based Wind Energy Suitability Study - The Cape Cod Commission and the Cape Light Compact received a grant in 2004 from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to assist communities on Cape Cod in planning for land-based distributed-generation facilities, specifically land-based wind turbine development. The two agencies completed the project in 2005, which resulted in (1) a "suitability map" to identify areas suitable for locating distributed wind-energy facilities in Barnstable County; (2) an assessment of distributed wind-energy technologies to establish their scale, application, and potential impacts; and (3) development of a model bylaw to provide a framework for towns in creating local regulations to accommodate uses of this kind.

• Sustainability Indicators Project - The Cape Cod Commission assisted the Cape Cod Sustainability Indicators Council, a group of volunteer community leaders from various sectors and regions of Cape Cod, in producing a list of indicators about trends in specific environmental, social, and economic issues in Barnstable County.

• 2005 Residents Survey - In 2005 the Cape Cod Commission began the fourth update to the Cape Cod Regional Policy Plan (RPP). The Commission conducted this survey of Cape Cod residents to gather public opinion on growth and land use regulation in a scientifically valid way that would inform the RPP update.

Other Commission departments also produce plans and reports. Check the Affordable Housing, Economic Development, Transportation, and Water Resources department sites for links to those plans and studies.