HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Comment from Thoman in OppositionJune 10, 2026
Dear Chairman Dewey and Members of the Zoning Board of Appeals,
I am writing to express substantial concerns for my friends and fellow
Barnstable residents who live, work and attend schools in the area of 460
West Main Street, Hyannis.
Soon after the formal announcement in January that Housing Assistance
Corporation, aka “HAC” would move its emergency homeless shelter
from 77 Winter Street to 460 West Main, area residents began asking
questions about the impact the shelter would have on their
neighborhood. Several discussions appeared on Nextdoor.com and
Facebook, where apparent agents of HAC routinely attacked concerned
residents, who were met with disinformation, threats, insults and
personal attacks. These same individuals have launched private
investigations on the more vocal opponents of the shelter. Not once did
an official representative of HAC offer to clarify or assist with any direct
reasoned response to the community. As you will see from all the letters
and public comment, many questions remain.
I’d like to know why HAC did not disclose in its grant application that it
is using three million dollars in federal ARPA money to fund the shelter
as a religious use (Corporal Work of Mercy), and not secular social
services delivered by a religious organization.
Are you able to tell me why the Building Inspector is deemed more
qualified than our town attorney to render an opinion on this abuse of the
Dover Amendment, a Massachusetts law from the 1950s that’s been
stretched so thin in this matter that it defies a basic reasonableness
standard?
Can you explain why the current shelter on Winter Street, after all these
years, remains in non-compliance with the Americans with Disabilities
Act?
Several generations of my family have supported the missions of the
Catholic church, and I raised my own child with those same values. I
support the work of St. Joseph’s House. However the legal argument in
favor of the West Main Street location for the shelter appears
significantly flawed. I am not an attorney, but neither is the Building
Commissioner. I therefore ask that you vote in favor of the appellants in
this matter, and send HAC back to the drawing board.
Taryn A. Thoman
Marstons Mills