APPEAL OF TOWN OF WELLFLEET ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS JULY 7 2008 DECISION

Date: July 25, 2008

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ANNOUNCES APPEAL OF JULY 7, 2008 DECISION OF THE TOWN OF WELLFLEET ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

Cape Cod National Seashore Superintendent George Price announced that on July 23, 2008, the United States Attorney’s Office filed an appeal to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Land Court concerning the July 7, 2008 decision of the Town of Wellfleet Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to approve a building permit to Blasch del Mar LLC for the construction of a single-family residence in the National Seashore Park District at 1440 Chequessett Neck Road in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The building permit allows demolition of an existing residence and construction of a new structure three times the size of the prior structure in a sensitive resource area and viewshed within Cape Cod National Seashore without review by the ZBA.

In the appeal, the United States requests that state Land Court rule on the authority of the ZBA to approve the building permit issued to Blasch del Mar, annul the permit, and enjoin all construction of the residence that is the subject of the permit. It further requests that the court remand the matter to the Town of Wellfleet for further proceedings, which would entail a Special Permit review process by the Zoning Board of Appeals on the intensification and increased volume proposed on a non-conforming property.

Cape Cod National Seashore has pledged to work with the Town of Wellfleet Selectmen and Planning Board on zoning by-law improvements, which have been under discussion since late winter 2008. Many people in the community are expressing that they view retaining community character and protecting the environment as important to them, also.