HYANNIS – Hyannis’s major economic areas – Downtown and Route 132 – will be the focus of an intensive look at how both areas and the residential areas that surround and connect them function.
Land use, housing production, infrastructure, social and demographic characteristics and the overall regulatory environment are among the issues to be reviewed.
Reauthorization of the Downtown Hyannis Growth Incentive Zone, or GIZ, was the impetus for the planning project.
Expanding to include the regionally important commercial area provides an opportunity to look at Hyannis more holistically and comprehensively.
A GIZ is a designation by the Commission that aims to direct development and redevelopment into areas with existing development and adequate infrastructure, and away from sensitive resource areas.
Through designated GIZs, towns may enhance designated Economic Centers by encouraging a concentrated mix of residential and commercial uses within these locations while ensuring that all growth is properly served by adequate infrastructure.
Late last year, the Commission approved an 18-month extension of the GIZ to October 2017.
The extension will allow the community engagement project to inform the eventual application.
The outcomes from the project will be an application for renewal of the Downtown Hyannis Growth Incentive Zone and set of recommendations for regulatory reforms and possible infrastructure support to advance the planning and vitality of the Route 132 area.
Commission staff has already met with a majority of Barnstable Town Councilors, the Hyannis Main Street Business Improvement District board of directors.
Meetings with the remaining town councilors are being scheduled.
Meetings were also held with the management of the four major retail plazas on Route 132.
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