HomeMy WebLinkAboutCulture Heritage & Design + Facilities Chapters_Goals & StrategiesBarnstable Local Comprehensive Plan
Draft Culture, Heritage & Design Chapter and Facilities Chapter
Goals & Strategies
Please submit comments to the Local Comprehensive Planning Committee by email at
BarnstableLCP@town.barnstable.ma.us or drop off hard copies to the Planning and
Development office located at Town Hall: 367 Main Street, Hyannis 02601, Planning &
Development office (3rd floor).
Heritage Preservation (1/6)
Policy: Protect key historic and cultural features of Barnstable’s landscape
and built environment.
Strategies:
• Pursue education of and outreach to owners of National or State Register of Historic
Places properties, as well as contractors and realtors, about the benefits and responsibilities
of these designations.
• Leverage façade improvement and other district level programs to assist owners in
maintaining and adapting historic structures.
• Provide education and support for property owners, contractors and realtors on
restoration methods, resources, materials and design standards for historic properties.
• Expand historic inventories and educational materials to include homes, landscape features
and other cultural elements that may have been missed in previous historic preservation
efforts – including those associated with Native American, African American and Cape
Verdean communities.
• Pursue Certified Local Government (CLG) designation for the Barnstable Historical
Commission, opening up access to additional funding and technical assistance.
Heritage Preservation (2/6)
Policy: Assess and expand existing national, state, and local historic districts
and recommend appropriate additions and expansions.
Strategies:
• Consider additional Local Historic District, MGL Chapter 40C designations, including:
Pond Village, Marstons Mills Village, Santuit, especially along Route 28, Cotuit Village
Center, Wianno, Osterville Village, Centerville Village Center, Craigville, Hyannis Port,
Yarmouth Campgrounds.
• Assess additional properties for National Register nomination, including the Burgess
House and the Cape Cod Airfield.
Heritage Preservation (3/6)
Policy: Ensure that all archaeological sites are protected.
Strategies:
• Continue updating the town wide archaeological inventory and assessment process to
identify important sites.
• Adopt development review standards to provide for professional evaluation and
preservation of archeological resources before site disturbance and construction.
Heritage Preservation (4/6)
Policy: Obtain additional funding to preserve and restore historic structures,
landscapes, and sites.
Strategies:
• Convene partnership of the Barnstable Historical Commission (BHC), Local Historic
District Committees, village historical societies and civic associations to work together to
identify capital and programmatic requirements and prioritize funding goals.
• Work collaboratively with the Historic Commission, committees and societies,
Community Preservation Committee, Town staff and elected officials to map out the use of
available local funds and access available state and federal grants.
Heritage Preservation (5/6)
Policy: Broaden Representation and Engagement in Historic Preservation.
Strategies:
• Reach out to underrepresented populations to participate in town boards, committees
and preservation initiatives, and make it easier for people to participate on their own terms
through hybrid meeting formats and asynchronous collaboration.
• Involve younger generations, especially teens, in historic preservation through hands-on
education and training, living history initiatives, collaboration with youth organizations, and
engagement through arts, food and entertainment.
Heritage Preservation (6/6)
Policy: Preserve and maintain Barnstable’s scenic resources.
Strategies:
• Ensure that Barnstable’s vistas and viewsheds, both landward and seaward are protected
and preserved to retain their community character defining and value enhancing functions.
• Expand on the 2009 Barnstable Landscape Assessment with specific strategies to preserve
the town’s most significant natural and cultural landscapes.
Design & Community Character (1/3)
Policy: Revitalize commercial districts while celebrating Barnstable’s historic
character and development patterns.
Strategies:
• Foster redevelopment that creates livable, walkable mixed-use neighborhoods designed at a
human scale and with an understanding of historic architecture and urban form.
• Pursue a visioning process leading to a master plan, zoning revisions and design standards
customized to the character of each of the seven villages and other commercial nodes.
Policy: Ensure that Barnstable’s roadways provide an attractive setting that
enhances all areas of town – rural, residential, and commercial.
Strategies:
• Create and implement consistent signage standards, including public wayfinding and other
signage consistent with Barnstable’s image and visual branding.
• Pursue roadside beautification, including landscape maintenance, mitigation of invasive
species, planting and pruning of public shade trees, and design of utilities.
• Improve streetscape character, especially in key gateways, with design standards for
landscaping, paving, signage, lighting, tree planting, furnishings, and other elements.
Design & Community Character (2/3)
Policy: Adapt to climate change and sea level rise while protecting historic
resources and visual character.
Strategies:
• Assess vulnerability of properties and/or neighborhoods in historic, scenic, or culturally
significant areas.
• Provide education and outreach on historically-appropriate tools and techniques for
adapting to sea level rise, extreme storms and other changing conditions.
• Establish regulations and design standards for threatened properties, including retrofitting
structures in place, building elevation and relocation/retreat.
• Provide education and outreach on how saving historic resources helps mitigate climate
change by eliminating unnecessary construction material waste and avoiding the creation of
carbon emissions from new construction.
Design & Community Character (3/3)
Arts & Culture (1/3)
Policy: Build out the physical and programmatic Infrastructure of the Arts &
Culture Economy.
Strategies:
• Enhance and expand the cultural district and work with partners to plan for long-term
program funding and facilities maintenance needs.
• Pursue safety and connectivity improvements, including improving paths to parking lots,
and enhanced lighting, signage and general aesthetics.
• Facilitate private development of arts and culture related spaces, including artist
residences, studios, classrooms, galleries, related retail, performances space and public
assembly space.
• Work with local creative, cultural and economic development entities to identify funding,
planning and development resources necessary to pursue shared marketing and support for
the creative economy.
Arts & Culture (2/3)
Policy: Promote year-round visitation.
Strategies:
• Further develop the brand strategy to enhance the image of Barnstable as a place where arts
& culture are thriving.
• Collaborate with cultural partners to expand programming, marketing and outreach to
generate year-round interest and increase visitation throughout the town’s seven villages.
• Collaborate with cultural partners to assess the feasibility of a year-round convention and
performing arts venue.
Arts & Culture (3/3)
Policy: Enhance Place-Based Arts & Culture
Strategies:
• Use the arts to educate and inform on complex local and regional issues, including water
quality, climate resiliency, housing, transit, language isolation and food insecurity.
• Collaborate with cultural partners to support art that reflects local history, landscapes and
culture.
• Collaborate with local farms and farmers to create art, music and events that celebrate
local food and agricultural landscapes.
• Collaborate with boating, fishing, environmental and other members of the Blue Economy
community to promote art, music and events that celebrate Barnstable’s connection to the
water.
Public Facilities and Services (1/5)
Policy: Provide well-maintained public facilities and services that serve
the current and future social, economic, cultural, safety, traffic, and
communication needs of the community; that are equitably distributed; and
are provided with minimal environmental impact.
Strategies:
• When allocating resources to meet capital needs, the Town will consider major
maintenance of existing facilities, revenue from the disposition of existing facilities and the
provision of new or expanded facilities.
• The Town will ensure that those facilities and services necessary to support development
and redevelopment will be adequate to serve the development at the time the development
is available for occupancy or use, without decreasing levels of service adopted by this plan.
• Funding of major capital facilities will typically rely on long-term financing and not on
current revenues. The term of the financing should generally be no longer than the useful
life of the facility.
• The Town may apply various alternative funding mechanisms in the development of capital
improvements identified in the Capital Facilities Section to optimize use of limited Town
resources. Such mechanisms include joint ventures with the private sector, grants, or other
means.
Public Facilities and Services (2/5)
Strategies:
• The Town will support and encourage the joint planning, siting, development and use of
public facilities and services with other governmental or community organizations in areas
of mutual concern and benefit in order to maximize efficiency, reduce costs, and minimize
impacts on the environment.
• Services provided through enterprise accounts including, but not limited, to Water
Pollution Control, Solid Waste Division, Sandy Neck, Barnstable Municipal Airport,
Fairgrounds and Hyannis Golf Courses and Town Marinas will be paid primarily by users,
except in unusual circumstances where the public benefit may justify the use of general
funds. When facility improvements provide benefits primarily to a limited group of users
the costs will generally be paid by the benefited parties through Local Improvement
Districts (LIDs) or other means.
Public Facilities and Services (3/5)
Policy: Provide high quality public safety services for the residents of
Barnstable through cost effective maintenance and upgrades of facilities and
equipment.
Strategies:
• Maintain and purchase vehicles and equipment as necessary to meet applicable standards.
• Upgrade and maintain emergency communication equipment.
• Consider the impact of new development presenting extraordinary impacts on Barnstable’s
public safety services during project review and mitigate those impacts to the extent feasible.
Public Facilities and Services (4/5)
Policy: Provide educational facilities to meet the present and future needs of
Barnstable residents.
Strategies:
• Continue to work with the school department to plan for and fund facility maintenance
and upgrade of school properties.
• Because of the scarcity of developable land and the cyclical nature of population trends, the
Town should identify and secure or retain land for future school facility expansion.
• Ensure that buildout projections and residential development approvals are communicated
to the affected public school district in a timely manner so they can plan effectively for
future needs.
Public Facilities and Services (5/5)
Policy: Continue existing operations at the Barnstable Municipal Airport.
Strategies:
• Enhance coordination between the Airport Commission’s master planning activities and
the Town’s Planning and Development Department.
• Actively explore integration of multi-modal transportation services with airport services.
• Implement goals established within the Airport Master Plan.