Eastham Planning Board Tests Site Plan Review Rubric, Eyes June Debut on Live Cases

Planning Board · Meeting of February 18, 2026

Eastham Planning Board pilots a new site plan review rubric using a 2021-approved project as a test case. The full seven-member board — including Chair Michele Vion and remote members Dan Coppleman and Steven Rogers — worked through the scoring tool category by category at the February 18 meeting, with Community Development Planner Jackie O'Rourke and Director of Community Development Paul Lagg facilitating. Ratings diverged most sharply on massing, where scores ranged from exemplary to between marginal and unacceptable, illustrating the tool's value in surfacing board disagreement.

Members called for two structural tweaks — row numbering for quick reference and a "not applicable" column — before the rubric is used on live applications, possibly beginning in June. The board voted 7-0 on all three procedural items and adjourned at 6:20 p.m.; the next meeting, a public hearing on proposed zoning amendments, begins at 4 p.m. on March 18.

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Source: the Planning Board meeting of February 18, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.