The Cape Cod Commission is a regional planning authority and department of

Barnstable County Barnstable County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 228,996. Its shire town is Barnstable. The county consists of Cape Cod and associated islands (some adjacent islands are in Duk ...

. It was created in 1990 by an Act of the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from th ...

and confirmed by a majority of county voters. In the wake of an unprecedented growth boom in the 1980s, the Cape Cod Commission Act found that the region known as

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

(a geographic region largely co-extensive with Barnstable County) possesses unique natural, coastal, historical, cultural and other values which are threatened by uncoordinated or inappropriate uses of the region's land and other resources. The Commission was established as a regional planning and regulatory agency to prepare and implement a regional land use policy plan for all of Cape Cod, review and regulate Developments of Regional Impact, and recommend designation of certain areas as Districts of Critical Planning Concern. It is funded by the Cape Cod Environmental Protection Fund.

Commission composition

The Commission is made up of 19 members representing each of Barnstable County's 15 towns as well as the County Commissioners, minorities, Native Americans, and a governor's appointee. The members are citizen volunteers who guide a professional staff to plan for Cape Cod's future growth, provide technical assistance to towns, review and vote on major developments and act as the Commission's liaison to their communities. Commission planners and technical staff have expertise in a wide variety of areas including: landscape architecture, land use planning, economic development,

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on af ...

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

, wetland and wildlife resources, water resources, coastal resources,

waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitorin ...

, transportation planning, and computer mapping. The Commission's work is divided into three major areas: planning and community development, technical services, and regulation.

References

External links

* * . (Various documents).
Barnstable County website
* * * *{{cite news , last =King , first =Seth , title = Cape Cod, Worried About Fresh Water Supplies, Seeks to Rein In Growth , work =

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, date =1989-11-13 , url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/13/us/panel-on-cape-s-development-gains-backing.html , access-date = 2007-12-13 Government of Barnstable County, Massachusetts Land management in the United States Environment of Massachusetts