Dispute between Cape Cod town and Massachusetts housing attorney over housing project escalates

The dispute over the construction of a homeless shelter on Cape Cod is escalating. The city's planning committee denies alleged conflicts of interest, which, according to the applicant's lawyer, have led to the “vehement opposition.”

Dennis Planning Board members Rich Hamlin and Elizabeth Patterson have said they are not legal neighbors of the property in Dennis that the regional nonprofit Housing Assistance Corp. wants to convert into a shelter for homeless families.

Her objection on Monday came after Housing Assistance attorney Robert Brennan outlined alleged conflicts of interest in a letter he submitted to the Dennis City Council last week.

The conflicts, Brennan said, stem from Hamlin and Patterson having “financial interests” in at least 11 properties in a Harwich neighborhood surrounding the Dennis property. The property is valued at about $5 million, according to city assessor records.

Housing Assistance has been trying for months to consolidate its three family shelters in Hyannis, Bourne and Falmouth into a central space in a former nursing home in South Dennis, a facility accessible only through an annex on a main road in neighboring Harwich.

Specifically, Brennan pointed to four properties where Hamlin is listed as the primary manager or owner; five where Hamlin is listed as co-manager or co-owner with Patterson's father, Robert Chamberlain, the town's moderator; and two others where Chamberlain is the primary owner.

All 11 “consist of contiguous parcels within 300 feet of HAC's property,” a result that Brennan said “clearly either represents an actual, disqualifying conflict … or at least creates the appearance of a conflict.”

“Regardless of the information being disseminated,” Hamlin said Monday, “I am not a legal neighbor of 1 Love Lane and therefore am not required to step aside for this review.”

Brennan also argued that Dennis Planning Board Chairman Paul McCormick Jr. is no longer eligible to serve the town, claiming that McCormick has been “residing” in Harwich since April, when he purchased a home in Harwich Port for $1.15 million, according to the Barnstable County Register of Deeds.

“It turns out I bought a property in Harwich,” McCormick said at the start of a meeting Monday. “It's being renovated and when it's livable, I'll move in. I'll remain a resident of Dennis. Thank you very much.”

In his letter to City Manager Elizabeth Sullivan, Brennan wrote, “Any suggestion that the City Administration and City Council were completely unaware of the conflicts of interest, the apparent disqualification of the Planning Board Chairman, and the real estate interests of city employees in Harwich is simply beyond belief.”

The actions allegedly violated state law, Brennan wrote, prompting HAC to seek the “statutory maximum of $100,000 per plaintiff” from the city in addition to damages from individuals.

In a response letter Monday, Amy E. Kwesell, Dennis's legal counsel, rejected Brennan's “baseless and outrageous allegations that the Dennis Town Council and the Town Administration should for some reason have knowledge of properties in the Town of Harwich owned by certain members of the Planning Board and the Town Moderator.”

“It is obvious that your allegations of misconduct on the part of the Select Board and city government are based purely on rumors and insinuations, and that it is nothing but negligent to include such false allegations in your letter,” she wrote.

The Housing Assistance proposal – a 53,000-square-foot facility to house up to 79 homeless families or 177 individuals, mostly single mothers and children – is facing overwhelming opposition in Dennis and Harwich.

The Cape Cod Commission – a regional body – concluded that the “family transitional housing” would have no impact on the region and, at its own discretion, rejected a referral from Dennis and Harwich.

Residents and officials questioned how lawyers and Dennis's planning commissioner concluded that the project met the criteria of the Dover Amendment – a state law that exempts agricultural, religious and educational uses from certain zoning restrictions.

Those concerns prompted Dennis's Planning Board on Monday to unanimously appeal the building commissioner's grant of a building permit to HAC late last month.

Other arguments revolved around the assumption that the center could be handed over to migrants – an idea that provoked strong reactions from Brennan.

“HAC's use of the property to serve Cape Cod residents and the concerns or objections regarding a broken immigration system are two separate and distinct matters,” the attorney wrote to the Dennis Planning Board on Monday.

The correspondence between Brennan and city officials included copies to the Attorney General's Office, which told the Herald on Tuesday that it was monitoring developments but was not officially involved in the project.

“Your false accusations are obviously intended only to inflame the situation and put the entire city in a bad light. They will not be tolerated by the city,” Kwesell wrote to Brennan.