Out of shared concern for the protection of our community's water resources, the joint Boards of the Brewster Ponds Coalition (BPC) and the Brewster Conservation Trust (BCT) voted to approve a resolution, sent to the Select Board on September 28, 2024, which:

• Advocates for a town-wide feasibility study to identify the best locations in Brewster for attainable and affordable housing, and
• Resolves that the BPC and BCT will only support the development of affordable housing on the Long Pond property if the wastewater management plan for the development is expanded to result in a substantial net improvement of water quality in the Long Pond, Herring River, and Zone II watersheds. 

Click here to see the final draft of the resolution sent to the Select Board. 

BPC President Susan Bridges and BCT President Charlie Sumner attended the Sea Camps Property Advisory Commission meeting on September 30, 2024, during which this resolution was mentioned. You can read more here about the comments made in this article written in The Cape Cod Chronicle.

Prior to the resolution, the BPC Board of Directors sent a letter to the Select Board on August 14, 2024, outlining its concerns regarding the plan to build 40+ units of affordable housing on the Long Pond Sea Camps property. The main points of that letter (available here) are:

• The BPC continues to support the acquisition of the Sea Camps properties, particularly the Long Pond property, to help protect water quality in the Long Pond, Herring River, and Zone II watersheds.
• Now that the plan includes 40+ affordable housing units on 10 acres of the property, the BPC Board reminds the Select Board that the final plan included assurances that wastewater treatment planned for the affordable housing would be expanded to result in a substantial net improvement of water quality in the above-mentioned watersheds.
• A request to be kept informed of the details regarding the wastewater management plan and implementation. 

The BCT and BPC are currently developing a communications plan to educate Brewster residents about our concerns. In the meantime, we hope you will join us in support of a town-wide feasibility study to identify the best locations for housing and in closely monitoring proposed plans for managing wastewater related to development of affordable housing on the Long Pond property.