Riverview School, a private East Sandwich school for students with disabilities, is under contract to purchase the 40-acre Twin Brooks Golf Course on Scudder Avenue in Hyannis.
The purchase stops a proposed plan to build an apartment complex on the land.
Head of School Stewart Miller said Riverview School had searched for land for almost two years. The independent, coeducational boarding/day school serves students aged 11 to 21 with various learning challenges, such as autism, Down syndrome, and intellectual disabilities.
Buying the property will allow the school to expand its offerings to students beyond 22 years old, said Miller.
"We really change the whole trajectory of lives here, and the friendships that the students form, and belonging to this community is really life-changing," he said. "We want to make sure that we can extend our programming beyond that kind of arbitrary age cut-off."
Twin Brooks apartment complex not moving forward
Meanwhile, plans to turn the golf course into a 312-unit apartment complex are now dead.
An aerial view looks southeast across Twin Brooks Golf Course toward Hyannis Harbor. Developers have dropped plans to build a 312-unit apartment complex proposed for the 40-acre course. Riverview School, which serves people with learning disabilities, will buy the property.
The decision to terminate the agreement for real estate developer Quarterra Multifamily Communities to buy the property was mutual, said Chuck Carey of Carey Commercial, who represented the sellers. Carey named "NIMBY neighbor opposition" as the reason, using the acronym for "not in my backyard."
"No point in calling it otherwise," said Carey. "It was a totally disingenuous outcry based on the fact that some of those people have a house in the area and just enjoy the fact that they have a free grassy backyard golf course."
Twin Brooks Golf Course in Hyannis is owned by TFG Hyannis Hospitality LLC, according to the assessor's office.
Quarterra wanted to build 13 three-story apartment buildings within walking distance of Main Street, with 13% of the apartments set aside for affordable housing.
The Cape Cod Commission had signed off on the plan. But the project, known as Emblem Hyannis, drew heavy opposition from local residents, including the group Save Twin Brooks, which wanted to preserve the site and lodged a legal challenge in Barnstable Superior Court along with several other plaintiffs.
Jane Carlson, of Centerville and West Hyannisport, holds a sign outside Barnstable Town Hall on July 20, 2023, protesting plans to build a 312-unit housing project on 40 acres at Twin Brooks Golf Course. Faced with steady opposition from neighbors, the developer has dropped their plans.
Dan Lee, Quarterra northeast division president, could not be reached for comment.
No concrete plans yet for Riverview
Riverview School "can only begin to dream at this point," said Miller, adding that no fully formed comprehensive programs have been prepared yet.
"We are pleased and heartened that this property now appears to be going to a long-standing Cape institution that has many of the same values that we have," said John Ale, a retired lawyer and Save Twin Brooks volunteer.
Save Twin Brooks now looks forward to collaborating with the new owner to continue efforts to preserve the site and restore the degraded estuary, said Ale.
The school has begun land planning work to determine how the property can best be used to further its expanded mission, said Miller, and has reached out to Save Twin Brooks, Barnstable Land Trust, and town officials to understand their hopes and concerns for the parcel.
The school received its largest philanthropic donation from an anonymous donor that will allow it to purchase the land.
Both Carey and Miller said they could not divulge the price at this time. The property is set to close on March 13, said Miller, at which point they'd be free to discuss those details.
More on Riverview School
Founded in 1957, Riverview has an East Sandwich campus on Route 6A that contains a cafe and a thrift store as public-facing businesses where students can work and interact with the community, as well as a couple of dormitories off the proper campus. All combined, it totals about 20 acres, said Miller.
"We love our campus in East Sandwich and we have absolutely no plans to do anything different there. We've just reached the point where we cannot further develop it," said Miller.
The school has about 200 students and employs about 225 adults. It has three programs: middle school, high school, and GROW (Getting Ready for the Outside World). About 60% of the students are from Massachusetts.
Carey called the new agreement with Riverview a "wonderful solution" and noted that the Dover Amendment exempts educational uses from certain zoning restrictions.
The Dover Amendment, originally adopted in 1950, mandates that proposed religious and educational land uses be given more favorable treatment than other proposed uses (such as residential, commercial, or industrial) under local zoning ordinances and by-laws, according to the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association, an interlocal service of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
"It's still a benefit to the town," said Carey.
Zane Razzaq writes about housing and real estate. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @zanerazz.
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