Newsroom

Collaboration, regional planning, bold and new thinking: strategies to address the region’s housing affordability and availability issues took center stage during OneCape 2023.

Over the years, the OneCape Summit has provided a venue for transformational water quality discussions. This year was no different, as plenary and breakout sessions on both days highlighted continued efforts to protect and preserve Cape Cod's freshwater and coastal resources.   

This Regulatory Update provides a status on projects currently under review by the Cape Cod Commission. Visit www. capecodcommission.

An effort to collect comprehensive data on our region's ponds is underway. The Cape Cod Regional Pond Monitoring Program, developed and implemented in collaboration with the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, will collect data from 50 representative Cape Cod ponds every month, seven months per year, for three years, with the hopes of identifying funding to sustain the program into the future.  

To guide the implementation of strategies and actions and to support municipal climate planning and action, the Commission has developed a Local Climate Action Toolkit.  This toolkit provides information on specific actions municipalities can take to decrease local contributions to, and limit the effects of, climate change. The toolkit also provides important resources and context to support municipalities in prioritizing planning and implementation efforts.  

Plans for road work projects region-wide are moving forward, now that the Cape Cod Metropolitan Planning Organization has approved the 2024-2028 Cape Cod Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). This annual process lays out road work projects across the region for the next five years.  

The third cohort of the Cape Cod Climate Ambassador Program concluded on May 9, 2023, with students presenting climate projects to their peers. The Cape Cod Commission created the Climate Ambassador Program in 2021 to educate, engage, and empower young people on Cape Cod to work together to combat climate change.

As climate change continues to bring about more frequent and severe flooding, communities in flood-prone areas face increasing challenges adapting to these changes. On Cape Cod, where communities are particularly vulnerable, work to develop innovative solutions to mitigate the impacts of flooding is underway.   

Stormwater runoff, development, erosion, invasive species, and septic system discharge impact the health of Cape Cod's 890 ponds. Across the region, management strategies of different types and scales are being implemented to improve water quality and overall pond health.  

The Cape Cod Commission is about to begin a study of parking and circulation in downtown Chatham as part of the 2024 Unified Planning Work Program. The study will identify existing parking trends and aim to better understand motorist and non-motorist circulation in the downtown area.