Harwich Real Estate Committee Reorganizes, Sets July Meeting to Reprioritize Land Acquisitions

HARWICH — June 26, 2026 — Harwich Real Estate and Open Space Committee reorganizes and charts land preservation strategy with new town administrator. The committee unanimously re-elected Dave Callahan as chair, Kathy Green as vice chair, and Carol Porter as clerk at its June 26 regular session, then spent the bulk of the meeting briefing Town Administrator Jay McRale — in his role roughly five months — on the town's long-running owners-unknown parcel program, backed by a $500,000 town meeting appropriation under Article 39. Michael Locke, executive director of the Harwich Conservation Trust, attended and noted that Harwich's newly approved Open Space and Recreation Plan now qualifies the town for state land grants reimbursing 50 percent of a property's appraised value or purchase price, whichever is less. McRale confirmed a grant writer is on staff and said he would explore whether a MassDEP water conservation grant — which he said program administrators told him "nobody applies for" — could be used to acquire a priority parcel directly upgradient from the town's public water supply wells near Thompson's Field. The committee set its next meeting for July 17, with an updated priority-parcel list for McRale and a discussion with Tax Collector Crystal Legendre on the agenda.