Communities on Cape Cod have begun encouraging housing

Communities on Cape Cod have begun encouraging housing above stores as a way of revitalizing their town centers. Frederick Melo reported Feb. 8 in the Cape Cod Times that the Town of Bourne has issued three permits for housing above retail establishments since the municipality’s zoning was revised three years ago. In Buzzards Bay, three developers have used a “village mixed-use development” bylaw to redevelop apartments above storefronts on Main Street. The Town of Barnstable recently approved a dozen units above a Main Street Hyannis restaurant. A proposed bylaw in the Town of Dennis would require developers to build one unit of housing for every 2,500 to 7,500 square feet of new commercial space in Dennisport. “It doesn’t have to be a second-floor housing unit, but we’re trying to encourage top-of-the-shop,” explained Dennis Town Planner Daniel Fortier. The Cape Cod Business Roundtable is advocating housing above retail as part of a strategy of more intensive development in town and village centers — offset by a reduction in density away from the centers. Dan Wolf of the Business Roundtable wrote in the Cape Cod Times Jan. 12 that in many central locations, “height can help recapture the historic character and architectural detail of an area,” reward investors by permitting more intensive use of land, and “attract a more vibrant mix of uses.”