Scott Van Voorhis

Donald Trump doesn’t have a monopoly on alternative facts; nor was he the first to use them. Just ask anyone familiar with the NIMBY objections thrown out by homeowners when asked to consider plans for new affordable condominiums and apartments in their suburbs, towns and neighborhoods.

A case in point is the downright nasty reaction by some Falmouth residents to plans for a new, mostly market-rate rental development called Brick Kiln Place. Clad in cedar shingles, 10 ranch-style duplexes containing 20 units are slated to be built off Brick Kiln Road between two subdivisions of single-family homes.

Five of the units would be rented out at below market rates to those making 80 percent of the area median income – or $63,000 – as a member of the town’s zoning board of appeals noted helpfully at a recent hearing on the project.

The new apartments are deliberated designed to have a Cape Cod look and fit in with the surround homes. Better yet, the two developers building the project actually live in the neighborhood themselves. Given the desperate need for new housing on the Cape – which has a growing homeless population – and across the state, it sounds like an ideal project, one that would be welcomed with open arms.

But the small crowd of homeowners and residents who showed up at a recent zoning board of appeals hearing on the project were having none of it, with their objections and sour skepticism captured in full glory by reporter Brittany Feldott of The Falmouth Enterprise.

One man from the neighboring subdivision asked whether the new project would ban pit bulls and conduct credit checks on prospective tenants. Another wanted a smoking ban, hoping it would discourage people with drug and alcohol issues from moving in.

“We have good family people in there,” he said.

A daycare owner asked whether the development would be for Section 8 housing, the federal housing voucher program for the poor. She also argued the development’s cul-de-sac could wind up being used as drop-off point for drug dealers.

“I’ve got children in my house. I’ve got to keep eyes on all windows while I’m watching my kids, so it’s a concern of mine,” the woman said.

All through it, zoning board members – and the project’s consultant – patiently tried to explain the facts about the new rental development.

However, after the Section 8 comment, zoning board member Kimberly Bielan apparently had had enough.

“Personally, I think it is a little offensive to say, ‘Is this Section 8 housing? Do we have to keep our eye out the window?’” she said. “These people are people who deserve housing. They’re hardworking. A lot of people are teachers. … They’re no different than the other people who would buy property next to your house.”

This was apparently news to the crowd at the hearing, who didn’t take to being talked to that way

“A few individuals in the audience huffed and gasped in reaction to her statements,” according to the paper’s account of the hearing.

“Facts,” as John Adams noted, “are stubborn things.”

Undeterred, one resident rolled out what he clearly thought was the trump card.

“I think this is more about capitalism than it is about altruism,” the man said.

Shocker! Yes, that’s right, we live – gasp – in a capitalist country. Who knew?

To be fair, some residents argued the neighborhood has had drug issues – though you would think school teachers, cops and other middle-class folks for whom the new Brick Kiln Place apartments are designed might actually help with that.

Neighbors also pointed to what they say are problems at a Section 8 housing complex in town, though it is nearly mile and half away.

The really troubling thing, though, is that nasty tenor of the neighbors objections at the Falmouth hearing are far from an anomaly. Rather, they are repeated all the time in town and city halls across the state whenever new affordable housing – especially rental – is proposed.

Anyone who thinks Massachusetts is a particularly enlightened state should go to some of these hearings. Kudos to The Falmouth Enterprise for capturing it all – every local media outlet should be doing the same.

It is not a pretty picture, but it’s the way things are right now.