Harwich Capital Panel Replaces Zoning Map with $125,000 Form-Based Code Study

HARWICH — February 19, 2026 — Harwich Capital Planning Committee swaps a $100,000 zoning map project for a $125,000 form-based zoning study and approves $350,000 for emergency harbor dredging. The committee voted 4-0 at its February 19 meeting to remove the town zoning map redo from the capital plan after Planning Board Chair Duncan Berry argued the map should wait until consultants have identified rezoning opportunities under a new form-based code — saving the $100,000 for now while authorizing $125,000 in research and code writing funded from free cash. Berry, who surveyed Falmouth, Orleans, Hyannis, and Wellfleet to build the estimate, said Harwich's use-based code dates to 1951 and leaves village centers unable to control building scale or character: "We get threatened — they could say if you don't like this, we can always put in a Dunkin Donuts." The committee also approved $350,000 for Squatucket Harbor bulkhead maintenance dredging, split equally between the waterways fund and repurposed legacy capital articles, after the original FY25 funding scheme collapsed when two old dredging articles were found to have expired.