HomeMy Public PortalAboutSelect Board -- 2021-03-30 Minutes i
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MINUTES OF THE SELECT BOARD EXECUTIVE SESSION MINUTES
DATE : March 30, 2021
TIME : 9 : 00 AM
PLACE . Remote Teleconference
ALL PARTICIPANTS ARE PARTICIPATING REMOTELY : Chair Chaffee, Selectperson Whitney, Selectperson
Chatelain , Selectperson Bingham , Selectperson deRuyter, Town Administrator Peter Lombardi, Assistant
Town Administrator Donna Kalinick, Mark Reenstierna
Call to Order & Declaration of a Quorum, Meeting Participation Statement and Recording Statement
Chair Chaffee called the meeting to order at 9 : 00 am , conducted a roll call vote of attendance, declared a
quorum present, and read the meeting participation and recording statements .
Matters Not Reasonably Anticipated by the Chair : None
Executive Session • To consider the purchase , exchange, lease or value of real property if the chair declares
that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on negotiating position of the public body.
Chair Chaffee stated that the Select Board will not be returning to open session today . Selectperson Bingham
moved to enter executive session at 9 : 01am . Selectperson Whitney second . A roll call vote was taken .
Selectperson deRuyter- yes, Selectperson Bingham - yes, Selectperson Whitney- yes, Selectperson Chatelain -
yes, Chair Chaffee -yes . The Board vote was 5-Yes, 0- No . The Select Board entered executive session .
All members present recited the following statement " No other person is present or able to hear the
discussion at this remote location . "
The draft appraisal reports have been completed and copies have been provided in draft form to the Board .
A copy of an offer letter from KP Law has also been provided to discuss next steps . Mr . Lombardi confirmed
that the appraisal documents are confidential and will remain so up until the Town finalized a purchase and
sales agreement on either property .
Mr. Reenstierna reviewed the Cape Cod Bay parcel first, noting the difficulty with the appraisal was that he
was unable to walk the property . He had to utilize Linnell Landing Beach and Spruce Hill Conservation , he
also went down Boonie Doone Cartway and came at it from the Bay side . Mr . Reenstierna never got into any
of the buildings so not sure what type of shape they are in other than what the assessor' s office indicate .
Mr . Reenstierna did state that the highest and best use of the property is not for continued use as a camp .
The following information was provided :
• The property has 57 . 7 acres of land on the Bay with good topography and there is nothing preventing
it from being developed . There are several development possibilities for this parcel .
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• The Cape Cod Commission has purview over anything that happens on this property in the end , if it
were to be developed or subdivided in any way .
• Brewster Historical District on front 500 ft
• Shoreline conservancy district on the back
• Located in the RM ( residential medium ) zone which allows development of 60, 000 sq ft with 150 ft of
frontage
o RM zone requires 60, 000 sq ft of land area for a single-family residential lot with 150ft road
frontage .
o If you have 57 . 7 acres, that is 2 . 5 million sq ft of land . 2 . 5 million/ 60, 000 provides a gross
number of 41 potential lots by land area .
o More important limiting factor is the road frontage, parcel has 1 , 110 ft of road frontage,
which divided by 150ft is 7 . 4 lots ( rounded down ) .
o This allows for 7 approvals not required ( ANR ) lots on the property .
Mr . Reenstierna ' s charge is to appraise the fair market value of the property based on the highest and best
use, which is the legally permissible , financially feasible, and physically possible uses . This is based on the
legal zoning and what is allowed by right . The property was not looked at under Special permit use, because
Mr . Reenstierna does not know in fact the Town ' s habit of approving special permits . The property was not
looked at under a cluster subdivision since this would require a special permit . Mr . Reenstierna noted that
this goes for the Long Pond parcel as well , the property has to be looked at as to what is allowed under
zoning . Mr . Reenstierna commented that while other uses may be allowed under zoning regulations, they
would not be appropriate as nothing else would return anything higher than single family developments in
terms of financial feasibility .
In Mr . Reenstierna' s process he ran through several scenarios of possible development on a standard 60, 000
sq ft lot, nothing returned a substantial amount of money to a developer as it becomes very speculative,
costly and the time frame to sellout all the lots is extensive . Noting that there would only be a handful of
waterfront lots, the rest would be $ 400, 000 -$ 500, 000 at best .
When reviewing the comparable sales, Mr . Reenstierna noted that they are limited , only two decent sales in
Barnstable County . One of them is 178 Bonnie Doone Cartway which is 9 . 5 acres right next door to the camp,
it does not have frontage on 6A, but it does on the Bay . This parcel has a number of structures that are in
rough shape, the asking price is $ 5 , 495 , 000 and is under agreement . Mr . Reenstierna spoke to the broker
who would not say what the under-agreement price is, Mr . Reenstierna believes it is close to the asking
price . It was noted that there are several contingences to work through and the anticipated closing is in
June . Mr . Reenstierna noted that this property due to its size does not fall under the Cape Cod Commission
purview and would not be subject to the criteria of the Cape Cod Commission and the Development of
Regional Impact ( DRI ) . Noting that the $ 580, 000 per acre price that 178 Bonnie Doone Cartway would
indicate is the absolute ceiling, more like twice the ceiling due to the Cape Cod Commission criteria .
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Town Of Brewster
Office of:
oFEioEa'eR.r,
2198 Main Street
9 Select Board
Brewster, MA 026314898 Town Administrator
ON Phone : ( 508 ) 896 - 3701
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The other comparable property that was considered was a sale in Cotuit for 11 acres that sold in May 2019
for over $ 5M on Cotuit Bay . This sale would indicate a value of $428, 000 per acre, but again it is under 30
acres so not impacted by Cape Cod Commission criteria . This however did provide Mr . Reenstierna with an
idea of what a lot is worth on Cape Cod Bay, or on the Ocean on Cape Cod .
Mr . Reenstierna noted that for the 7 possible lots on the Bay parcel, they could sell for about $ 3M each , for
unimproved/vacant lots, he predicts that it would take two years to sell all 7 lots and there would be an
additional $ 1 . 5M in costs including legal and approval , a variety of Cape Cod Commission offsites and
litigations, totaling a gross sell out of the development would be $ 15 . 2M , discount at 10% for the two years
of value of $ 12, 930, 000 or about $ 225, 000 an acre . Mr . Reenstierna stated that he was unable to get specific
information from the Cape Cod Commission about what would be required on this property . Adding that the
$ 13M valuation for the property is a fair price without knowing the actual expenses that the Commission
would impose . After discussion it was determined that Mr. Reenstierna would need to review the numbers
provided in the report to account for all 7 of the ANR lots as the final valuation of $ 13M does not add up to
the $ 3M per lot that was presented . The additional costs and sellout time will also be re- evaluated . Mr .
Reenstierna will provide the Select Board updated figures this afternoon .
Mr . Reenstierna explained that the 5 % rate of appreciation is based on what he has seen in terms of land
sales over the last 4 - 5 years, not necessarily attributed to single family houses, but for both housing and land
sales . The 5 % has been reliable over the years . Also noting that the costs are based on cryptic discussions
with developers on what it would take to do a Cape Cod Commission approved development ( costs of legal ,
offsite , litigation ) and based on the DRI criteria . The demolition of the existing buildings on the property
would be one of the expenses in terms of the sellout .
Selectperson Chatelain questioned the requirement of DRI to retain 75 % for open space . Mr . Reenstierna
noted that any development is going to require that 75 % of the site be retained as open space, a developer
could work with the Cape Cod Commission to establish where the open space would be located and how to
configure the lots so that buyers can access the water or be considered ocean front .
The Board discussed a hypothetical subdivision of 30 units and the process that would need to take place to
include the 75 % of open space, and what the Cape Cod Commission would allow for development of the
property . This would have to be completed in coordination with what the Town would allow under zoning
regulations .
The topic of 40B was examined , Ms . Kalinick stated that the Cape Cod Commission only has an advisory role
in a 40B process and that based on the value of the property a 40B wouldn ' t be economically feasible .
Adding that the Commission doesn ' t have authority over a comprehensive permit process, they only have a
technical assistance role typically related to traffic patterns . Mr . Lombardi added that the Commission sits in
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the same position as a local board on 4013s, they are there for technical review . He also noted that in the DRI
statute it supersedes 40B, 40B sits on top of all of it .
Mr . Reenstierna asked how close the Town is to Safe Harbor? Ms . Kalinick responded that we are currently at
5 . 5 %, we probably in the next year will go into Safe Harbor, could be 12 - 18 months, this is based right now
on a property that is under development . Safe Harbor only lasts for a year, we are not close to reaching the
10% 0
Selectperson Chatelain asked what the State wastewater program constraints would be on the Bay parcel
regarding the number of bedrooms allowed ? There was no answer to this question at this time, Mr.
Lombardi will raise the question to the Board of Health Director hypothetically . Selectperson Chatelain
commented that he is aware of subdivisions that are in the 1749 per unit acre range that are running in the
$ 550, 000-$ 750, 000 market value per unit . A big developer, not local, could do well with this parcel and still
build affordable units that would be comparable by building more modest units then what he thinks is
provided in the proposal .
Ms . Kalinick stated that under a 40B, anything over 90 bedrooms requires an onsite wastewater treatment
system , this could be upwards of $ 2M to put a system in at the Bay parcel location . Mr . Reenstierna added
that this would then maximize the number of lots possible, at least 30 lots or dwelling units once the
developer gets through the process, the $ 2M costs could be absorbed in the sellout of this magnitude . Ms .
Kalinick noted a recent 40B project in Eastham that was completed by Pennrose, which was their first big
project on Cape Cod , this was completed on municipal land , and they did place a wastewater treatment
system . Ms . Kalinick will provide Mr. Reenstierna with more details .
The 5 % appreciation percentage was reviewed , while this is a good industry standard , the Board would like
to see Mr . Reenstierna take into account the current market conditions and recent data on the Cape . It is
important to remember that the real estate market in the past 6 months has been influenced by the
pandemic and doesn ' t accurately represent what has occurred over the last 5 years . Based on the discussion
the Board agreed that Mr . Reenstierna ' s assumptions are accurate . There are not many parcels of this size ron
the Cape , the Cape Cod Commission was created so that those that do exist are looked at more closely, the
potential of properties is speculative, and the value is astronomical .
Mr . Reenstierna the reviewed the Long Pond parcel , noting that he had better access to this parcel . An
interesting property that is representative of old Cape Cod , Besse Cartway is a classic ancient way with a
large, clear pond . The same type of analysis was completed on this parcel . The following information was
provided :
• Located in the RM ( residential medium ) and RR ( residential rural )
o RR zone requires 100, 000sq ft of land , covers about 17 acres down by the pond .
o RM zone located at the front of the property is about 53 acres .
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Town of Brewster office of;
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• Also located in a Natural Resources Protection District ( NRPD ) of about 31 acres, this impacts the
developable potential of the property . Requires that whatever you are able to develop , you divide by
three and reduce by that amount .
• Potential for 29 lots on the 70 acres, taking into consideration the zoning, how long of a road one
could build into the property and what the NRPD could do .
• More likely only 28 lots, after taking into consideration wetlands and other issues prior to Cape Cod
Commission intervention/assumption .
Mr . Reenstierna values the property at about $ 3 . 5 million on a 28dot subdivision . The highest and best use of
the property, like the Bay parcel would be an ANR subdivision , again 75 % would need to be put aside for
open space . If a developer can make $ 3 . 5 million with a shorter sellout period , it has far less risk for the
developer . Mr . Reenstierna stated that under an ANR subdivision 5 lots would be possible as the frontage
requires about 765 sq ft and zoning requires 150sq ft .
Mr . Reenstierna provided that towards the end of his process he was able to speak with Mark Robinson and
gathered data on the Robinson parcel acquisition . This helped to solidify what a developer would look at as a
possible subdivision analysis, the Robinson parcel showed a cluster subdivision ( with special permit ) , not
something Mr. Reenstierna was looking at for market value for the property .
The Board discussed the report that Mr . Reenstierna has provided . Chair Chaffee will share photos of the
Bay parcel that she took during a tour, this should help with the condition of some of the buildings on the
property .
Regarding the Bonnie Doone property both Selectperson Chatelain and Selectperson deRuyter had
information that they received through contacts of theirs . It was stated that there was not a 5 in front of the
pending sale, there are permit contingency ( would not be surprised if these were based upon 3 dwellings, as
a family compound and not 3 lots ) and it is a private buyer, not a developer . Mr . Reenstierna appreciated the
information and stated that this presents an absolute ceiling, the difference being that Bonnie Doone is not
under Cape Cod Commission purview and the property is limited by Bonnie Doone Cartway ,
Selectperson Chatelain commented that in regard to the ANR subdivision , he is curious if the analysis takes
into account the limited frontage on the waterways . Noting that recent sales of waterfront properties are
around $ 3M with hundreds of feet of waterfront . Mr . Reenstierna noted that the $ 3M is the average price in
the sellout of a unit, adding it is hard to imagine that the parcel is not configurable that each lot has bay
frontage and each house view potential .
The Board thanked Mr . Reenstierna for his reports, noting that they will be waiting for the adjustments, and
he left the meeting at 9 : 54 am .
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Town of Brewster
Office Of:
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Brewster, MA 02631 - 1898
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The Board continued their discussion regarding the report that was received . At this point, it is looking like
the new valuation will be coming in at around $ 22M . The Board agreed that since the report is not finalized
and they don ' t have the critical data points, it may not make sense for Mr . Lombardi to attend his meeting
on Thursday with Jim Fleet . The Board needs the updated appraisal report, then some time individually and
collectively to go through them . Discussion ensued about when the Board should meet next to keep the
process going . Mr . Lombardi noted that prior entering into Executive Session , the guests name would have
appeared in the taping of the meeting, the Board may have tipped their hand to the fact that an appraisal is
being conducted , and people may be able to guess what the appraisals are of.
Mr . Lombardi noted that if we are going to go in with a strong offer, which we are inclined to do on both
parcels, one of the first questions he expects is how we determined the value and what was the
methodology . We need to be comfortable and feel confident in the data we have to support the offer
amount . Adding that the Board needs to determine how low is the starting offer, what is a reasonable
number that will not offend the other side of the table and have them walk away . Chair Chaffee commented
that the specter of eminent domain is something they may be aware of, the Board agrees .
The general feeling from all Board members is that they are uncomfortable with both reports that have been
provided . Mr . Reenstierna didn ' t seem as familiar with the Bay parcel as the Board would have liked and the
$ 3M per developable lot under an ANR is not what they had in mind . If the Board allows themselves to be
directed by a report that is not reflective of fair market value, then they are doing a disservice to the
community . All agree that the key to a successful negotiation and transfer of these parcels is starting the
negotiation off in a reasonable place in both the Town ' s perspective and the sellers .
Selectperson deRuyter added information that he had gathered through speaking with both Jeff Cusack the
listing agent on Bonnie Doone Cartway and Howard Hayes a realtor in Brewster and lower cape for 40 +
years . In Mr . Hayes opinion that 7 ANR lots on the Sea Camps property would command $ 3M if the lot had
expansive Bay views, however on the soccer field on the portion near 6A would command not even $ 1M per
parcel . Lots on this parcel that are developed for single family homes are worth about $ 1 . 5M . Mr. deRuyter
expressed that we need to have the most confidence and knowledge of the supporting documentation to
craft the offer, if we don ' t know it and believe it in, we shouldn 't move forward yet .
Selectperson Chatelain added that he thinks the appraisals lack a little creativity and still has two big
regulatory questions, the maximum bedrooms per acre for 40B and exactly the nature of the 75 % open
space constraint . Adding he is less concerned about the Long Pond parcel as he believes we have a good
argument for $ 3M because of the sale next door.
The Board discussed how to proceed , especially since they are not confident in the draft proposals . There are
concerns that there was not information regarding the Cape Cod Commission and 40B possibility, as this
scenario should have been evaluated as part of the analysis . It seems that a lot more work need to be done
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Town of Brewster office of:
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' 0 � ElUEA909.r; Select Board
2198 Main Street
``3 Town Administrator
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on the draft report to be able to get to a point that the Board has numbers that are supported and confident
for negotiations .
There is no fault being pointed at Mr . Reenstierna as these are very unique parcels, members of the Board
suggested that they contact a local realtor and possibly a developer to help Mr . Reenstierna with the draft
reports . These are high stake negotiations in a major acquisition that at some point may need to go to Town
Meeting asking for $ 20M just for acquisitions let alone improvements on these properties . If the Town
needs to go through the taking process, clear data to support their position and defensible appraisals will be
needed . The Board decided that they need to provide help to Mr. Reenstierna to get the analysis where they
need them to be . Mr. Lombardi shared that he though Mark Robinson would be appropriate given his
expertise and previous work on land acquisitions in Town .
The Board requested that Mr . Lombardi speak with Mr . Reenstierna and request that he work with Mark
Robinson to re-evaluate the appraisal process . Mr . Lombardi noted that Mr . Reenstierna has done a fair
amount of appraisal work for KP Law with an extensive work history with the State, reservoir acquisitions ,
noting that the Cape is different and a lot more complex than some of his previous work . Mr . Lombardi will
provide Mr . Reenstierna with our concerns and questions about the draft reports and the areas that we want
to be focused on and provide more information and analysis, we will also provide people to speak with to
help with the work .
The Board also agreed with Selectperson deRuyter' s suggestion of contacting Howard Hayes, someone from
the private sector and knowledge in the market that can help see things from another angel and can help to
refine the appraisal documents . Selectperson deRuyter can share broadly with Mr . Hayes where the Board
stands and that we are seeking his expertise to help inform the appraisal process to make sure we are
protecting the best interest of Town . Selectperson deRuyter will contact Mr . Hayes, who all members
believe has full appreciation of meeting in executive session and the nature of this process, to make the
initial introduction to Mr. Lombardi , who will seek out a contract for a nominal fee .
To recap on the next steps .
• Mr . Lombardi will contact Mark Robinson once the Board receives the updated Bay parcel appraisal
report, will relay the general sentiment discussed today . Will let him know we are looking into loop
in a local developer ( if not Mr . Hayes then will ask for recommendations )
• Mr . Lombardi will also ask Mr . Robinson if he has any other suggestions of people that might have
valuable input regarding either parcel .
• Mr . Lombardi will contact Mr . Reenstierna ( after confirmation if Mr. Hayes will be a part of the
process ) let him know the overall feedback of the Board and the direction we are looking to go in
terms of connecting Mark Robinson and Howard Hayes with real local knowledge to help inform his
work .
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Mr . Lombardi did note that the original scope of work that was completed by Mr . Robinson had the vision
that this process was a collaborative approach recognizing the complicated regulatory scheme that applies to
both properties . Adding that Mr. Reenstierna made it clear that he recognized early in the process that this
would need to be a collaborative approach to get to the valuation of these properties .
The Board agreed that the meeting with Jim Fleet should be pushed back by two weeks .
Adjournment
Selectperson Bingham moved to adjourn at 10 : 36am . Selectperson Whitney second . A roll call vote was
taken . Selectperson deRuyter-yes, Selectperson Bingham -yes, Selectperson Whitney-yes, Selectperson
Chatelain -yes, Chair Chaffee -yes . The Board vote was 5 -Yes, 0 - No .
Respectfully submitted ,
Erika Mawn , Executive Assistant
Approved : 10 / 19 / 2022 Signed :
Date Kari Hoffmann, Clerk of the Select Board
Date Released : 2/27/2023
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