Selectmen to review the town's Master Plan

Aug 27, 2019

Selectmen decided to review the Wareham’s Master Plan and present the updated version on the last September Board of Selectmen meeting. 

“We will do our final reviews and have any discussion that we need about anything we want to change and send it off to the Planning Board,” said Selectman Patrick Tropeano.

Typically a town's 88-page document is revised every 10 years. For the past few years, the town officials have held public workshops to lay out the plan with the Wareham residents. The newly drafted plan was created with input from Wareham residents and the help of the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD), which is based in Taunton and helps with community planning in 27 cities and towns. SRPEDD assists towns to understand their goals and priorities and create a master plan that corresponds with those goals.

The plan addresses a community’s goals for land use, housing, climate change, economic development, services and facilities, transportation, open space and recreation, and natural and cultural resources. Having a master plan in place means town officials can work from a shared vision for the community and makes the town eligible for certain state grants.

Goals highlighted include improving transportation, supporting water-dependent activities and development in Onset Village and Wareham Center. 

Economic development goals listed include improving the town government’s interactions with Wareham’s existing businesses and institutions and strategies to count the mobile homes in town as affordable housing. By reaching a 10 percent affordable housing threshold in town, as defined by the state, the town would have control over large affordable housing projects. Under state law, local zoning laws are relaxed for such projects in cities and towns that are below that 10 percent threshold.

“The Master Plan talks about the directions of the town and how you’d like to see it develop. It sets a lot of goals, not just structurally but things that lead to financial solvency and everything else,” said Tropeano. “This is a document that is put together as a result of what people are looking for, where the people want to see the town go.”

To view the master plan, visit www.srpedd.org/Wareham-Master-Plan.