The fight over a proposed homeless shelter on Cape Cod continues to escalate, with a town’s Planning Board denying alleged conflicts of interest that the applicant’s attorney believes have driven “vehement opposition.”
Dennis Planning Board members Rich Hamlin and Elizabeth Patterson have said they are not legal abutters to the Dennis property that regional nonprofit Housing Assistance Corp. intends to turn into a shelter for homeless families.
Their refute on Monday came after Housing Assistance’s attorney Robert Brennan outlined alleged conflicts of interest in a letter he filed with Dennis’ town administrator last week.
The conflicts, Brennan said, stem from Hamlin and Patterson having “financial interests” in at least 11 properties in a Harwich neighborhood surrounding the Dennis property, assessed at roughly $5 million, according to town assessor records.
Housing Assistance, for months, has looked to morph its three family shelters in Hyannis, Bourne and Falmouth, into one central space at a former nursing home in South Dennis, a facility that can only be accessed via an extension off a main road in neighboring Harwich.
Specifically, Brennan pointed to four properties Hamlin is listed as the main trustee or owner of; five Hamlin is listed as co-trustee or co-owner with Patterson’s father, Robert Chamberlain, the town’s moderator; and two others that Chamberlain is the main holder of.
All 11 “comprise contiguous parcels as close as 300 feet from HAC’s property,” a finding that Brennan says “clearly constitutes either an actual disqualifying conflict … or, at an absolute minimum, creates the appearance of a conflict.”
“Despite what information is being spread,” Hamlin said on Monday, “I am not a legal abutter to 1 Love Lane therefore I am not required to step down for this review.”
Brennan also argued Dennis Planning Board Chairman Paul McCormick, Jr., is no longer eligible to serve the town, claiming McCormick “has resided” in Harwich since April when he purchased a Harwich Port home for $1.15 million. The attorney cited the Barnstable Registry of Deeds.
“It has come up that I have purchased a property in Harwich,” McCormick said at the beginning of a meeting Monday. “It is undergoing renovations, and when it is livable I will be moving to it. I remain a Dennis resident. Thank you very much.”
In his letter to Town Administrator Elizabeth Sullivan, Brennan wrote “Any suggestion that Town Administration and Select Board … were entirely unaware of the conflicts of interest, apparent disqualification of the Planning Board Chair, and the Harwich property interest of town employees simply strains credulity,”
The actions allegedly violated state law, Brennan wrote, prompting HAC to seek the “statutory maximum of $100,000 per claimant against the Town in addition to damages from individuals.”
In a response letter on Monday, Dennis’ legal counsel Amy E. Kwesell called out Brennan’s “baseless and outrageous allegations that the Town of Dennis Select Board and Town Administration somehow are required to know about real estate in the town of Harwich owned by certain Planning Board members and the Town Moderator.”
“It is apparent that your allegations of bad behavior on the part of the Select Board and Town Administration are based purely on rumor and innuendo and inserting such false allegations in your letter is nothing but careless,” she wrote.
Housing Assistance’s proposal – a 57,000-square-foot facility housing up to 79 homeless families, or 177 individuals, mostly single mothers and children – has been met with stifling opposition in Dennis and Harwich.
The Cape Cod Commission – a regional board – found the “family transitional shelter” would have no regional impact and denied a discretionary referral from Dennis and Harwich.
Residents and officials have questioned how attorneys and Dennis’ building commissioner have determined the project fits the criteria of the Dover Amendment — a state statute that exempts agricultural, religious, and educational uses from certain zoning restrictions.
Those concerns triggered the Dennis Planning Board to vote unanimously on Monday to appeal the building commissioner’s issuance of a building permit to HAC late last month.
Other arguments have also centered around a belief that the center could be turned over to migrants, a notion that has prompted fierce backlash from Brennan.
“HAC’s use of the Property to serve Cape Codders and concerns or objections to a broken immigration system are two separate and distinct issues,” the attorney wrote to the Dennis Planning Board on Monday.
Correspondences between Brennan and town officials have included copies to the Attorney General’s Office, which told the Herald on Tuesday that while it is monitoring developments, it is not officially involved in the project.
“Clearly your false accusations are only meant to inflame the situation and paint the entire Town in a bad light and will not be tolerated by the Town,” Kwesell wrote to Brennan.
