Bourne Planning Board Approves Two Downtown Permits, Orders Peer Review of Canal Development

BOURNE — November 18, 2021 — Bourne Planning Board advances two downtown permits and orders peer review of 192-unit canal project. The board voted unanimously November 18 to approve a post facto residential conversion behind Betty Ann's ice cream shop at 225 Main Street for applicant Stephen E. White, conditioned on sewer capacity confirmation and fire safety compliance, and to allow developer James McLaughlin to subdivide his 227 Main Street property with a reduced 25-foot frontage in preparation for a rear-lot development. The evening's central debate focused on a preliminary presentation by Oxford Development Group principal Jason Pannone and attorney Jillian Morton for a proposed two-building, 192-unit mixed-use complex at two Kendall Ray Place, which board member David Carroll said calculates to one dwelling unit per 925 square feet of lot area against a special-permit maximum closer to one per 1,500 square feet, and which he said appears to site Building 2 on a lot restricted in 2017 for access and utilities only — calling it "a showstopper." The board voted unanimously to award a peer review contract to Environmental Partners LLC and to ask the Cape Cod Commission for supplementary traffic analysis, continuing the hearing to January 13, 2022. A two-year COVID-related extension was also granted unanimously for a stalled medical campus permit at 21 Canal Street.