At the City of Bourne's special meeting on Monday, October 20, voters will be asked to approve capital projects for the police station, middle school, waste disposal facility and transfer station, and Monument Beach Marina.
The 13-item agenda also seeks approval of a zoning bylaw amendment that would create a new downtown district for multifamily and workforce housing.
Funding for the capital projects would come from the fiscal year 2026 capital budget, Community Preservation funds or corporate funds.
The largest project request is for the Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility on MacArthur Boulevard to construct a new garage and office building with a total cost of $25.8 million. $1.9 million of the cost was approved at the May 2024 town meeting for architecture, engineering and project management.
Approval of the remaining $23.9 million would cover the design, construction, equipment and furnishing of the facility's garage, office and utility rooms. The project will be financed entirely by revenue from plant operations and will have no tax implications, said Select board member Peter Meier.
“It is great to see this project progressing and I am sure it will improve ISWM’s efficiency and operations,” Meier said in an email. He said the facility is a leader in recycling programs in the state and is a regional disposal site.
It is proposed to begin expanding the landfill in the area where the administrative offices are currently located in the next year and a half, alleviating the need for the new office, according to the city meeting voter handbook. In addition, the existing maintenance garage and repair building, built around 1970, are included in the overall project.
Designs have been completed and work on the undeveloped 12-acre site south of the existing facility is expected to begin in 2026 and be completed in 2027. The article is called a substantive article and requires a two-thirds majority.
The transfer station article is for the design and construction of the new station to be constructed at the solid waste facility using $1.1 million from the facility's retained earnings.
New roof for the police station
The city is asking voters to approve $2.5 million in capital spending to tear down the police station's existing roof and install a new one. The Select Board has filed a lawsuit seeking reimbursement of costs against both the general contractor and the architect of the existing roof. Adopting this article with a two-thirds majority would allow the city to move forward and not have to wait for the lawsuit to be resolved, the handbook states.
The city and school district will ask voters to spend $500,000 on a feasibility study and schematic designs to repair Bourne Middle School's leaky roofs. City officials say water is seeping into nearly every second-floor classroom. The work is a preliminary step to applying for a Massachusetts School Building Authority Accelerated Repair Program grant for the overall project.
The Town Meeting is also being asked for $710,000 to fund design, engineering and permitting services to modernize the Monument Beach Marina, to be funded through Community Preservation Fund open space and recreation revenue.
Changing the zoning statute for a multifamily overlay district would allow the development to comply with state zoning code Chapter 40A by operation of law rather than through a special permit, city planner Jennifer Copeland said in an Oct. 14 telephone interview. The MBTA Community Code provides for development that promotes new missing middle housing in areas served by public transit and provides people the opportunity to live, work and thrive in walkable neighborhoods that are closer to public transit.
Bourne is one of 177 communities required by the zoning law to establish zoning plans for multi-family homes. The law requires MBTA communities to legally have at least one such zoning district of appropriate size.
The Planning Board selected downtown Buzzards Bay to create the overlay district in two downtown areas. District Area 1 includes 34.4 acres on the west side of the Downtown District between Main Street and the Route 6 Bypass. District Area 2 includes 10.8 acres on the east side of the Downtown District between Main Street and the Route 6 Beltway.
The overlay districts do not border Main Street due to special permit requirements, Copeland said. Housing three or more residential units and duplexes would be permitted and a site plan review would still be required under the amended bylaw, she said. The change will reduce the parking requirement for apartment buildings from one and a half parking spaces per house to one parking space per house.
The two overlay areas will create a growth density of 16.6 units per acre within the MBTA Communities guidelines for a maximum density of 25 units per acre, Copeland said.
The town's special meeting begins at 7 p.m. on Oct. 20 in the Bourne High School auditorium. Further information on all items can be found on the city's website under City Info.
Susan Vaughn writes about transportation and other local community issues affecting Cape Cod residents and visitors. She can be reached at svaughn@capecodonline.com.