The Sea Camps vote to purchase is overwhelming
A last-minute challenge does not erode public support
On a great fall afternoon for baseball, the Cape League’s Brewster Whitecaps ball field was filled to capacity, but the attraction was no game. The fate of the Cape Cod Sea Camps properties was on the line:
Would the town vote to spend $26 million to purchase two parcels, totaling more than 120 acres, the most significant attempt at land acquisition in recent Cape Cod history?
Whatever the outcome, it soon became clear that Brewster voters were taking this seriously. The last time there was a town meeting, 510 voters bothered to show. This time, as the meeting got underway soon after 1 pm on Sunday, September 26, Town Moderator Charlie Sumner announced that there were 1471 people approved for a blue voting card.
It probably was the biggest Brewster town meeting ever, “certainly the biggest since the 1980s,” which encompasses Sumner’s personal memory.
The meeting had been postponed a day because of Saturday’s rainout.
Early indications had shown strong support for purchase, even though the price had jumped from $20 million to $26 million after negotiations between the town and the owners, the Delahanty family, created a “friendly” deal. But in the days leading up to the meeting, a new element emerged:
Trish Kennedy, who with her husband Tom is a successful entrepreneur and Brewster resident, urged the town to turn down the purchase and allow her family to buy the property instead. The Kennedys are well known in the area (though no relation to the political Kennedys); their companies have included BackOffice, an international IT company that was sold to Goldman Sachs; SportsMoney, a financial management company for professional athletes that lists Trish Kennedy as CEO; and Zudy, co-founded by the Kennedys, a technology firm that builds creative business apps.
Kennedy promised that their purchase would create public access and opportunities while saving taxpayers a lot of money, plus ensuring that there would be no future “development” on any of the land, including affordable housing or a community center.
According to the Delahanty family, there was no alternative agreement in place and no assurance that if the town did not purchase, the family would turn to the Kennedys.
Once the ball field filled and things got rolling it took little time to end any suspense. Quick explanations of two articles to purchase the parcels separately were followed by multiple supportive comments from voters. An amendment to ensure that any future spending on something like a community center must first pass another town meeting was quickly rejected; existing language covered that, Town Administrator Peter Lombardi assured the crowd.
Town officials also assured voters that before any decisions about the property are made, a detailed master plan created by a public process would explore alternatives. The combined parcels seem large enough to include multiple uses; a public beach and parking on Cape Cod Bay, watershed protection, hiking trails, public use of existing amenities like tennis courts, a ballfield, and a swimming pool -- as well as affordable housing opportunities.
All in all, the picture was compelling, and the price tag was big but not daunting. Town estimates are that purchase would raise taxes by $125 on a property valued at $500,000; one voter noted that a town dump sticker costs more than that, and with all the great amenities this would be like joining a country club for an amazing bargain fee.
The larger of the two parcels, 66 acres with Long Pond frontage, passed first. By the time the second article came up, to buy 55 more acres that was the Sea Camp’s main property on Cape Cod Bay, the vote was so overwhelming that at first Moderator Sumner thought it was unanimous. After seeing a few blue cards in opposition, he changed that assessment and announced that the overwhelming vote far exceeded a necessary two-thirds margin.
No one spoke in favor of the Kennedy alternative; Trish Kennedy was not present.
The deal is not done: At a special election on October 5, voters must approve the purchase and debt exclusion to borrow $20 million. This time, however, a simple majority of voters rather than two-thirds is required. Those odds are more than good.
The town could then own the property by the end of the year.
“As soon as this vote is taken, I know what I’m going to do next,” said Peter Johnson early in the afternoon. Johnson is a long-time activist and stalwart on the Brewster Conservation Trust, which pledged $1.75 million to support the Long Pond parcel’s purchase:
“I’m going to start working on the October 5 vote.”
He in essence predicted success, and he was right.
NEXT: ‘BLACK CUSTARD’ ON THE WATERFRONT
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