03-05-2025
Housing, drinking water at issue with Truro zoning of 70 acres. 'We know it's a crisis.'
Truro will now be among the Cape Cod towns to try out electronic voting at town meeting with an affirmative vote Saturday to spend $20,000 to rent equipment next year.
As one town meeting voter joked aloud Saturday, the town needed electronic voting — after one lengthy vote recount around 2 p.m. on whether to accept the state's new seasonal community designation. Voters approved the designation.
Town Moderator Paul Wisotzky called for another hand count for new zoning sought for 70 acres of town land that may, in part, be used for housing and water conservation and storage. Voters approved the overlay zoning district with 154 in favor and 127 opposed.
Wisotzky called for a third hand count on a nonbinding resolution to cap costs and design requirements on a planned public works building, which failed on a 117-100 vote.
The Cape's smallest and most rural town — with high real estate prices — held its six-hour town meeting in a tent outside Truro Central School, with 423 voters attending. At 10 a.m. Wisotzky encouraged voters to 'embrace the freedom to raise our voices.'
The spending requests that brought voters to the microphone included a proposal to spend $40,000 on a consultant to handle the town's public records requests. The spending request passed but drew comments that the task should be handled within the town's operating budget. One speaker attempted to bring up the status of his own public records request but was not allowed. Acting Town Administrator Kelly Clark said the number of requests has risen since 2021, and that the complexity of fulfilling the requests is increasing.
Voters also approved spending $175,000 in Community Preservation Act money to create a natural burial cemetery adjacent to New South Cemetery for green burials, with the land remaining as it is rather than with lined-up headstones, and level and mowed grounds. The demand for green burials has increased, a Truro Cemetery Commission member said.
The omnibus operating budget of $27.7 million for fiscal 2026, starting July 1, passed easily.
Big ticket requests for voters totaling $9 million, which also need approval at the May 13 town election, passed with little opposition as well: $3.2 million to contain and monitor per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS), so-called "forever chemicals," found in the soil and groundwater on Town Hall Hill; $200,000 for Pond Road stormwater infrastructure in North Truro; $250,000 for additional costs of HVAC and roof repairs at Truro Central School and $5 million for solar electric facilities on town property.
The seasonal community designation has already passed at town meetings in Provincetown and Wellfleet. The designation is part of the Affordable Homes Act, signed into law in 2024, and intended to recognize communities that experience substantial variation in seasonal employment and create tools to address the unique housing needs, according to the state.
Some voters in Truro opposed the designation because they said the state law is unclear, and they encouraged town meeting to wait for the state to clarify the language.
Proponents, though, had in mind how long it took to break ground for another housing project, known as the Cloverleaf. 'This is a tool,' Select Board Vice-Chair Robert Weinstein said in favor of the measure. It took 12 years to get a shovel in the ground for the town-sponsored Cloverleaf affordable housing, he said. He urged voters to accept the designation.
Truro Housing Authority Chair Elizabeth Gallo said the designation would allow Truro to 'thrive' where middle-income families have found themselves with no housing to buy because of high real estate prices and income limits that keep them out of affordable housing.
Truro Housing Authority Vice-Chair Mara Glatzel said the majority of the town's homes are seasonal, and the school population has dropped. It's clear the town has a problem, Glatzel said. 'We're already a seasonal community.'
Near the end of the meeting voters agreed to change the zoning of the town-owned parcel off Route 6, as part of the town's development planning for housing, according to proponents. The change, for what is known as the Walsh property, provides for multiple types of housing in addition to those permitted in the existing residential district, and permits small lot sizes and requires development of affordable housing and housing for individuals who earn beyond the limits of affordable housing, according to the warrant.
After about 45 minutes of discussion, and at least 15 speakers, voters approved the zoning amendment.
At least one voter warned that the zoning change could lead to "Walsh City."
'We know it's a crisis. We need this,' said voter Kenneth Oxtoby. Oxtoby said he has two adult children who cannot afford live in Truro.
Voter Anne Greenbaum, in support of the zoning change, emphasized the need to protect underground drinking water sources. 'We do housing. We do water.'
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Truro joins other Cape towns: electronic voting at town meeting
