The Brewster, Mass., property is proposing a plan to build temporary workforce housing consisting of seven modular homes and a common dining, laundry, and recreation area. About 240 of the property’s summer employees are students from foreign countries working on temporary visas.
Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club in Brewster, Mass., has proposed construction of temporary workforce housing consisting of seven modular homes and a common dining, laundry and recreation area on property, the Hyannis, Mass., Cape Cod Times reported.
The dormitory-style homes would accommodate 84 people in prefabricated buildings, which would have pitched roofs and vinyl siding. The homes would be placed on pilings rather than a foundation so they could be removed when the need for the temporary housing ended, the Times reported.
Ocean Edge, which bills itself as the Cape’s largest resort, was built on 429 acres around a former private mansion and includes a conference center, guest rooms and villas, a golf course, tennis courts, restaurants and spa, pools and a private beach. The resort plans to put some of the company’s 300 seasonal workers in the dorm units, the Times reported.
C&RB featured the property in its November 2005 cover story.
Throughout the Cape, business owners have bought properties to address the need for seasonal housing for employees. But the model of providing a large compound or dormitory has not yet been used on the Cape, said Wendy Northcross, chief executive director of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce.
In a survey this year, most business owners said they believed they could attract talented employees if housing was available and affordable, Northcross said.
“There is nothing like this that we know about,” said General Manager Robert Newman.
Ocean Edge staff came across the concept while working with high-end modular homes manufactured by KBS Homes. “We thought this would be a great product for our summer team members,” Newman said.
The modular homes would be comfortable, but, more important, they would be close to the Ocean Edge properties so employees had a convenient and safe way to get back and forth from work. The compound would have seven 66-by-15.6-foot residential buildings. The buildings would be situated in an oval around a common building where the workers would have a dining room, recreation area and laundry facility, the Times reported.
The project would be on an 8-acre wooded lot owned by Ocean Edge, according to the plan submitted to the Brewster Planning Department. The seven one-story units would contain 42 bedrooms with bunk beds in each room. There would be a bathroom for every six people, the Times reported.
About 240 of Ocean Edge’s summer employees are students from foreign countries working on temporary visas, Newman said. Another 40 are adults from foreign countries, and most do not have cars, but rely on bicycles. Traveling on narrow and busy Route 6A can be extremely dangerous for the cyclists, Town Planner Ryan Bennett said. The plans include a large bike rack, the Times reported.
“Public safety has responded well to this,” Bennett said, because it would keep the temporary workers off the roads. But the neighbors have not been as keen, the Times reported.
“They’ll devastate my woods,” said Tom Suffriti, who lives along eight acres of woods that back up to the Ocean Edge property. The woods would be affected by the plan. Suffriti called the dormitory housing “bizarre.”
A hearing on July 26 before the Planning Board will begin the process for Ocean Edge to get a special permit, Bennett said.
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