Orleans Select Board Approves Conservation Restriction 4-1, Launches Affordable Housing Tax Exemption

ORLEANS -- June 3, 2026, Orleans Select Board approves conservation restriction 4-1 amid parking dispute over Cedar Pond parcel. The board voted to grant the town a permanent legal interest in a 3.78-acre parcel at 32 Locust Road, acquired by the Orleans Conservation Trust following a May town meeting vote, but Select Board Member Mark Matheson cast the lone no vote, arguing the document allows up to six parking spaces rather than the two or three the trust described at an April meeting and provides no guaranteed handicapped access. Steven Brady of the Orleans Conservation Trust said the document is not a construction plan and the trust's intention "remains a couple of parking spaces," pledging to reiterate that commitment in writing; the restriction must be recorded by June 30 to satisfy a state grant deadline. Separately, the board adopted guidelines for a new affordable housing property tax exemption program, offering property owners between $1,000 and $2,000 in annual property tax relief for renting year-round to tenants earning up to 200 percent of the area median income at rents averaged between fair market and 80-percent-AMI affordable benchmarks, effective fiscal year 2027, with an annual review requirement added at Member Michael Herman's request. The board also unanimously ratified the revised Pleasant Bay watershed permit inter-municipal agreement, setting a 20-year nitrogen reduction roadmap for Orleans and its three Alliance partner towns after DEP approved the updated permit in February 2026.