Eastham Board of Health Approves Four Variances at April Meeting

EASTHAM -- April 30, 2026, Eastham Board of Health approves four property variances and opens public hearing on sweeping draft regulation revisions. The board voted unanimously on all four items at its April 30 meeting, including a continued hearing for 735 Massasoit Road where nitrogen readings in an innovative and alternative septic system dropped from 64 parts per million to below 10 between February and March, leading members to approve the proposed addition with a condition of quarterly effluent sampling for two years. At 75 Nauset Light Beach Road, the board granted a variance to John Ross McDonald and his wife Barbara, allowing a cottage second-floor addition without an upgraded septic system on the grounds that the street is among the first slated for municipal sewer service, with approval conditioned on annual inspections and expiring April 30, 2031. A third approval covered an after-the-fact well relocation at 315 Nauset Light Beach Road Rear, where a major storm had eroded roughly 18 feet of coastal bank and forced an emergency move before the board could act. Under other business, one member raised a citizens' petition urging Select Board support for state House Bill 1405 and Senate Bill 860, a Massachusetts Medicare-for-all measure that backers say would save Eastham an estimated $2.2 million annually; the board was not prepared to take a position and left the matter for town meeting.