The Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors is taking its show on the road later this month to showcase its work with area environmental groups.

The association’s work with organizations such as the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod, which has been going on since the late 1990s, was selected as one of the top local association programs in the country by the National Association of Realtors. Officials from the CCIAR have since been called on to conduct a presentation about the initiative at a nationwide Realtor conference scheduled for later this month in Chicago.

CCIAR CEO Henry J. DiGiacomo said the leadership at his association was thrilled when they heard the news, and he and others are now busy preparing for the conference.

“The National Association of Realtors surveyed all 1,800 local and state associations looking for their best and brightest ideas,” DiGiacomo said. “Three of the best programs are selected, and they put together a panel of those three ideas and each local association has to do a presentation.

“This was quite an honor,” he said. “NAR thought our program was one of the three best and brightest. Usually they only bring in the most cutting-edge speakers to their conferences.”

DiGiacomo and association Treasurer and recently named Realtor of the Year Amy Greene of Surette Realty in West Dennis will host a presentation on the Cape’s “Smart Growth Bright Idea” at the NAR 2001 Realtor Odyssey leadership summit Aug. 24-26.

The conference is held annually by NAR and is aimed at providing education, ideas and guidance for the incoming leadership of the local and state associations.

“When you do good things for our association, you don’t often think others will notice your work,” Greene said. “This recognition will really help to put Cape Cod on the map.”

“Our idea was for Realtors to embrace environmental groups and work together on local smart growth initiatives,” DiGiacomo said. The move proved to be a successful one for the Cape Cod region.

“Cape Cod is an environmentally sensitive area,” DiGiacomo said, “and just a few years ago, Realtors had an adversarial relationship with a lot of the area’s environmental groups.”

The conflict escalated in 1996, he said, when groups including the APCC put together legislation to establish a land bank for the Cape. Realtors supported the idea of preserving land but opposed the funding mechanism proposed at the time – a property transfer tax. After heated public debate, the non-binding referendum was approved by about 55 percent of the voters, with 45 percent opposing it.

One year later when the land bank was put to a binding vote, after a heavy marketing effort made by Realtors, the referendum was defeated by the same 55 percent to 45 percent margin. “Despite our legislative victory at the polls, the press tainted our victory, painting Realtors as anti-environmentalists and anti-Cape Cod.

It was not a winning situation. The Realtors really received a black eye,” DiGiacomo said.

To combat that, the CCIAR began meeting with the APCC to come up with a compromise. “Instead of focusing on our differences, we wanted to see what areas we agreed on, and find a harmonious agreement we could both live with,” DiGiacomo said.

In 1998 the land bank issue was raised again, only this time it was supported by both environmentalists and Realtors and called for funding through a 3 percent broad-based property tax instead of a land transfer tax. Cape voters approved that proposal at the polls.

“We began working in harmony with the environmental groups, and at first at lot of Realtors had trouble with that,” Greene said. “But they realized we needed to get a land bank passed and we needed those groups behind us with their support.”

“After we got the land bank passed, we began to form strategic alliances and partnerships,” DiGiacomo said. “We joined the APCC, and they are considering becoming an affiliate member of the [CCIAR].”

‘Consensus Building’
The association in the past two years has worked to protect open space at the Massachusetts Military Reservation on the Cape, and CCIAR officials met recently with the APCC to start a dialogue on smart growth initiatives. “We equate this progress as one small step for Cape Cod and one giant step for smart growth initiatives,” DiGiacomo said.

“It’s important to build these alliances,” Greene said. “That’s something you definitely want to do in order to protect the environment in a sensible way that’s fair for everybody.”

“Two-and-a-half years ago we were in complete opposition,” DiGiacomo said. “The environmentalists were against any growth, and the Realtors were for 100 percent growth. Now we’re working in the middle of the road to find what type of growth is most beneficial to the community and the people. It sounds like such a simple, logical flow of events, but we’re really unique throughout the country.

“We’ve been able to accomplish so much more through consensus building instead of focusing on narrow issues,” he added.

The idea of working more closely with environmental groups is something that could be replicated at the local association level nationwide, DiGiacomo said. “No matter where you are, you need to have a smart growth plan. You don’t want rampant growth, but you also don’t want no growth.”

DiGiacomo cautioned that the specific solution that worked for the Cape Cod region may not work in all areas of the United States, but said that all associations could learn from the experiences on the Cape.

“What’s good for Boston or good for Cape Cod is probably not the same as what’s good for Salt Lake City or Idaho or New Mexico,” he said. “You can’t have one template that you can apply everywhere, but you can have an action plan to open communications with environmental groups and build up a trust.”