Dennis Veterans Home Plans Almost Complete

PHOTO COURTESY: Town of Dennis. Rendering of planned home for veterans

DENNIS – Plans to build a home on town-owned land along Route 134 in Dennis for homeless veterans took another step forward this week.

Design plans are nearly completed for the five-bedroom, two-story structure, and the plans will likely go before the Dennis Board of Selectmen in late July or early August.

With the design plans almost complete, a cost estimate and materials list is the next step, as Dennis Town Planner Dan Fortier aims to make the home a community project, by approaching local organizations for donations of materials and labor.

“Once we’ve got the design and know exactly what we need for materials, it’ll be easier for people to step up and say they can help us out,” said Fortier.

The town has developed the plans with and once completed will lease the home to the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center. The center, who currently assists more than 300 veterans, will oversee the veterans and also provide training, education, and counseling.

“This would not be a change in their model, but a direction that a lot of veteran organizations are going in to try and serve the needs of their veterans,” Fortier said.

While hoping the home could be constructed by winter, Fortier says a realistic expectation is that the home will be completed by the spring of 2017.