HYANNIS – The areas comprising downtown Hyannis and Route 132 were the focus of a broad conversation last night sponsored by the Cape Cod Commission.
The organization is on the heels of renewing a ten-year Growth Incentive Zone (GIZ) in those places and have already sent out large scale surveys to gather which issues, changes or preservations the community believes to be most relevant.
Land use, housing production, infrastructure, social and demographic characteristics and the overall regulatory environment were among the key topics of discussion.
Commission Executive Director Paul Niedzwiecki said most in attendance at the meeting were very concerned about residential development, transportation, and other challenges of being an urbanized area in a largely suburban and even rural region.
“We are trying to figure out how we can get sub-neighborhoods in Hyannis to be connected, how we can grow in a way which helps us deal better with some of the negative perceptions about Hyannis as they relate to socials services and crime,” he said.
Commission officials reviewed the materials they have already gathered from their research project, including a 1,200 person survey and over 47 meetings conducted in 2015 and 2016.
The survey revealed that business owners in these areas believe permitting regulations, social services, transport and housing are the largest obstacles to the local economy.
When asked what they’d like to see in a public park, the survey takers responded most favorably to walking paths, gardens, food trucks and playgrounds.
Most of those present at the meeting and those who took the survey believed that restaurants and local businesses are the best assets of Main Street.
Residents at the meeting were also widely unhappy with the state of Barnstable Road and Bearses Way, calling the areas “dirty” and an unwelcoming sight for tourists en route to downtown.
A GIZ is a designation by the Commission that aims to direct development and redevelopment into areas with existing development and adequate infrastructure, and away from sensitive resource areas.
Through designated GIZs, towns may enhance designated Economic Centers by encouraging a concentrated mix of residential and commercial uses within these locations while ensuring that all growth is properly served by adequate infrastructure.
Late last year, the Commission approved an 18-month extension of the GIZ to October 2017.
The extension will allow the community engagement project to inform the eventual application.
The research project will result in the Commission recommending a set of priorities for regulatory reforms and possible infrastructure support to advance the planning and vitality of the target areas.
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