CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Bert Jackson of the Cape Cod Technology Council, Chris Duren of Homebuilders and Remodeler’s Association of Cape Cod and Anne Van Vleck of CCYP are all involved in the organization of the Smarter Cape Summit.
HYANNIS – The fifth Smarter Cape Summit is set to focus on housing. The region’s leaders in the areas of business, the environment, planning and zoning will gather to discuss solutions to the problem of a lack of affordable and medium priced housing on the Cape.
The summit is scheduled for May 6 at the Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis.
The summit is open to the public but is limited to 250 participants. Registration is available on the website smartercapecod.com.
Organizers of the conference say the summit’s discussions will work within the premise that, for those who care about the Cape’s future and are concerned about how young people on the Cape can afford to live here, solutions must be found to allow more housing.
Housing options on the Cape are limited, organizers say, because the Cape’s two-acre zoning has priced housing out of the realm of affordability for many young two-income families and current bylaws work to prevent wage-sustainable housing.
The first Smarter Cape Summit, a two-day event in 2013, focused on smarter ways to address the environment, the Cape’s economy, development, education, healthcare, transportation and government.
All sessions that first year revolved around the build-out of OpenCape, the Cape’s new open-access 300-mile fiber middle mile network.
Last year, the summit organizers focused on smarter economic development. Discussions centered on the Cape’s competitive advantages, the importance of our shellfish industry, opportunities that exist if we adopt higher density zoning, and challenges and opportunities facing us in finance, healthcare, marine technology and commercial real estate development. The group examined the retail market on the Cape, and witnessed the debut of a technology known as FRED (flexible regional economic development).
This year’s summit includes presentations on housing challenges and opportunities facing the Cape from multiple perspectives including direct results of a housing survey by the Young Professionals. Sessions build on information shared in Summit IV, regarding density, interactive in the moment (smarter) planning tools, and examples of what others have done to create wage-sustainable housing in their communities.
Summit participants will work to identify models for future housing projects on Cape Cod and will electronically vote on housing preferences.
Listen below to Bert Jackson of the Cape Cod Technology Council, Chris Duren of the Homebuilders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod and Anne Van Vleck of CCYP discuss the 2015 Smarter Cape Summit.
