Commission Subcommittee Says Benefits of Marriott Outweigh Detriments for Falmouth

CCB MEDIA PHOTO The Cape Cod Commission subcommittee reviewing the Springhill by Marriott project discusses the project's benefits and detriments. Ernie Virgilio of Mashpee, at head of table, chairs the subcommittee. John D. Harris, Richard Roy, Jack McCormack and Mary Pat Flynn are voting members of the subcommittee. Charles McCaffrey, at far right, is a non-voting member.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
The Cape Cod Commission subcommittee reviewing the Springhill by Marriott project discusses the project’s benefits and detriments. Ernie Virgilio of Mashpee, at head of table, chairs the subcommittee. John D. Harris, Richard Roy, Jack McCormack and Mary Pat Flynn are voting members of the subcommittee. Charles McCaffrey, at far right, is a non-voting member. Cape Cod Commission Planner Sarah Korjeff is at left in the foreground.

BARNSTABLE – In a split vote, a Cape Cod Commission subcommittee gave its approval to a controversial project to construct a 110-room, three-story Springhill Suites Marriott Hotel on the east end of Main Street in Falmouth last night.

After the vote, neighbors attending the meeting said they were very disappointed that the commission vote did not reflect the many comments in opposition to the project from Falmouth residents.

Harriet Dugan, whose home and real estate business are located next to the proposed site for the hotel, said, “It will cause major traffic problems in Falmouth. I’m next door. I have trouble getting out now. I think it’s a complete detriment to the town of Falmouth. It will not bring business into the town. Right now, if this traffic tie-up holds our tourism, they’ll go elsewhere. I feel very strongly about that.”

The dissenting opinion in the 2 to 1 vote came from Mary (Pat) Flynn, a Falmouth selectman who serves on the commission because of her role as a county commissioner. She is the only voting member of the subcommittee from the town of Falmouth.

Falmouth’s representative on the Cape Cod Commission, Charles McCaffrey, serves as a non-voting member of the subcommittee because Falmouth Selectmen appointed him to the commission after the subcommittee was formed.

The vote directs the Cape Cod Commission staff to craft a positive decision about the project that will be voted on next week at a subcommittee meeting on August 6.

Then the project goes to the full Cape Cod Commission for review. The full commission, which includes representatives from each of the Cape’s 15 towns plus several additional representatives, will hear the subcommittee’s majority opinion but also the dissenting opinion from Flynn.

In several public hearings about the project over the past two months dozens of Falmouth residents spoke in opposition to the hotel citing issues with traffic, the impact to a nearby neighborhood, and the design of the building.

Flynn listed those issues in her objections to the project, as well as concerns about the number of trees that would be taken down as part of the project.

But she was outvoted by two other members of the subcommittee, Jack McCormack Jr. of Yarmouth and Richard Roy of Dennis.

Both men said that the issues brought up by residents opposed to the project, including traffic, are the purview of local boards who will review the project.

The Cape Cod Commission is reviewing the project as a development of regional impact. But the agency’s review is limited to the issues of heritage preservation and community character.

John D. Harris, who serves on the Cape Cod Commission as the member representing minorities, abstained from the vote.

Ernie Vigilio from Mashpee, who chairs the subcommittee, did not vote, since the vote was not a tie.

The subcommittee’s vote on whether the Marriott project’s benefits outweigh its detriments came after a three-hour discussion about the project held at the Strategic Information Office in the Barnstable County Complex in Barnstable Village.

The Cape Cod Commission staff will craft a written decision seeking to reflect the vote. The subcommittee is scheduled to vote on that document, which will be its final report for the full commission, at its final meeting at 3 p.m. on August 6.

The full Cape Cod Commission’s next meeting is scheduled for August 20.

By LAURA M. RECKFORD, CapeCod.com NewsCenter

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