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Having architectural design oversight is a must in any Town. I have seen a few, what I call, Failures in Dennis when it comes to design. The Town of Dennis should re-energize The Design Review Panel. This Group should look at all the major projects in the town. New and Remodeling of all commercial buildings, all Town projects should have design review by this Panel.
Having a lack of architectural design oversight by a competent panel was one of the arguments I made at Town Meeting in my opposition to the Hotel Zoning District. The planning board nor ZBA are not competent to do design oversight.
Dan: Several attempts were made several ago to address the issues you are now raising. Namely, Historic Districts in various forms. All proposals were voted down time and again. Should this issue be put back on the table for debate again in light of what has happened since? About 1986 I called the Attorney General's office for advice on this very matter. Surprisingly, I received a very profound answer--ie: If the architectural review function is not covered by any board or committee, you are going to find some very strange stuff going up and everyone will ask how could this happen. My personal opinion is that we have had complete committee and board failure for quite some time. The horses have long since left the barn and probably cannot be found. The latest failure is Bass River Park. By any visual inspection this 1.5 million dollar design and construction project cannot be explained to people. I do not claim to know the answer but better enforcement of existing regulations is in order. They are there and need to be used. Starch in the shorts anyone?
Local, neighborhood design input , review & overriding decision-making power is imperative to redress/ameliorate excessive height allowance in new hotel district. "Design parity" for inter-village parity and upgrade is a powerful and politically value-laden notion, yet its time has arrived. On a Cape Cod alledged to have lost its charm and lure as a global tourist destination, isn't it somewhat apparent that design review was largely absent during Dennis' build-out? And could be justifiably allowed at this time in Dennisport? I would support a Design Review Committee, but am haunted by initials DRC (Denisport Revitalization Committee).... Clearly to me the Planning Board lacks vision to see what could put Dennisport back on the map as a tourist destination. The next chapter in what was a design charrettemust be titled tasteful (Cape Cod) architecture. And talent and compassion must occupy any review board. Foreign travel, a flair for buildability, appreciation of Cape roots should flesh out any Design Review group . A 20 minute cap on meetings and promise to minimize group linkages would make its charge easier and faster to realize. Good luck.
While I am concerned with the prospect of adding another layer of review onto an already burdensome and expensive approval process, the planning board has shown to me an unequal amount of concern between projects in different parts of town. Somehow it is possible often to add onto homes with very small setbacks in one part of town while in others, it wouldn't even be considered. The logic that there are already projects existing in that part of town so it's somehow OK to add more just simply makes the problem worse, in my view. Further, I would streamline the process by making the review panel the only one in town so we might, in the future encourage "design parity" from village to village.
I don't mean to ignore the realities of development in Dennis and clearly we don't want certain things in some places, however things are, at present, so out of whack that I, for one, have lost faith that the planning board has the inclination or ability to see that development happens in a way to protect the well being of the town as a whole, especially in light of the recent zoning changes the town meeting just approved. This would mean that such a panel would have in it's charge language that would move us in a fair direction.
For the record, I would like to see this happen not just with residential and commercial development but with environmental and watershed protection as well.
In short, I would support a Design Review Panel but how it is implemented will make all the difference.
Sincerely, Fritz Lauenstein
The Design Review Panel will have the time and motivation to review the plans in detail, devoting the proper amount of time that is needed to complete an exhaustive study. The Planning Board does not have this time available because of their other duties and work-load.