Eastham Conservation Commission escalates enforcement on eroding Brownell Road bluff properties

Conservation · Meeting of March 10, 2026

Eastham Conservation Commission escalates enforcement on two structures nearing a collapsing coastal bluff and continues a major Harmes Way pile-supported rebuild application. The commission voted unanimously at its March 10 meeting to instruct staff to issue a formal enforcement order to Cliff House LLC, owners of 153 Brownell Road, requiring submission of a deconstruction and demolition plan for a dwelling that a three-member Board of Survey has already determined is unsafe due to undercutting of the coastal bluff. A second application for an emergency certification to relocate the structure had been denied administratively that same week after the commission rejected a substantially similar first request in February.

Town Counsel Hillary told the commission the owners have seven days to appeal to the state Department of Environmental Protection and noted a Board of Health nuisance order is also outstanding. Separately, a continuation hearing on the Sieger application to demolish and rebuild a year-round home on a barrier beach at 165 Harmes Way, a 2,340-square-foot pile-supported structure on 44 piles, was sent to March 24 after commissioners rejected plans to park vehicles beneath the structure and fence storage under a shed, with Chair Karen Strauss stating flatly that the commission has never permitted either practice in a coastal velocity zone.

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Source: the Conservation meeting of March 10, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.