Developers have been seeking approval for Dana’s Fields, a housing development featuring rental units and onsite job training for homeless people in Sandwich, for over two years.

Plans for an innovative housing development for the homeless on Cape Cod may have hit a big roadblock, but the masterminds behind the project are not abandoning their proposal.

Housing Assistance Corp., a regional nonprofit group based in Hyannis, has been seeking a comprehensive permit for over two years to build a development that includes 50 rental units for formerly homeless people on 48 acres in Sandwich. The proposed development also would feature onsite businesses, job training services for residents and housing units for staff.

The Sandwich Zoning Board of Appeals granted a comprehensive permit last September, but the permit was only for a 10-unit development.

Knowing that a 10-unit project is economically unfeasible, HAC almost immediately filed an appeal with the state Department of Housing and Community Development’s Housing Appeals Committee. Three subsequent hearings have taken place so far. Two other scheduled hearings have been postponed.

Livia Davis, who heads a division for homeless individuals at HAC, said the hearings were delayed as town officials and HAC try to work out a compromise. “We are working with the town to see if we can’t reach a compromise,” Davis said.

HAC wants to build a community called Dana’s Fields modeled after a poor farm in Denmark that has housed thousands of homeless men and ex-prisoners throughout its 92-year history.

Dana’s Fields would include 63 housing units, a community building, two greenhouses, stables, farmland and classrooms. Fifty housing units would be reserved for homeless men and women, three for staff members and 10 for graduate students documenting their experiences living in the community.

Residents living onsite would get training in the culinary arts and catering, building maintenance and landscaping, farming or horticulture, trail riding and information technology.

The 10 residential units approved by the town would not generate enough income to cover the debt or costs of building a project of that scale, according to Davis.

The Zoning Board issued the permit for fewer units, arguing that the targeted population that HAC intends to serve at Dana’s Fields poses a significant “public safety risk,” Davis said. Board members also questioned whether HAC had access to Victory Drive, one of the roads leading to the development.

“They weren’t sure that we had proved we had access to the site,” Davis said.

‘Safety Risk’ Cited

In an e-mail to Banker & Tradesman last week, Jo Anne Miller Buntich, Sandwich’s director of planning and development, declined to comment because the decision on the project is currently in litigation.

Originally, HAC also wanted to build an indoor sports facility as part of Dana’s Fields. But the group dropped the idea after town officials expressed concern over whether they could grant a comprehensive permit for a such a facility under Chapter 40B, the state’s so-called anti-snob zoning law.

Chapter 40B is often used by developers seeking to build housing in communities where less than 10 percent of the housing stock is affordable. In exchange for going through what’s supposed to be an expedited permitting process, developers must agree to include in their projects housing that is affordable to low- and moderate-income households.

At Dana’s Fields, the rental units, designed as single rooms, would be rented for about $600 a month. Residents would have to share bathrooms, kitchens and living spaces and work at the site. Tenants would be referred by a local shelter that offers transitional housing and other services to homeless people, and then screened and interviewed by a committee of local officials.

No alcohol or drugs would be permitted on the premises.

Davis said there was a lot of support and enthusiasm from private donors for Dana’s Fields in the early stages, but the drawn-out battle to get the project approved has made it tougher to maintain that support.

“I may have missed some opportunities to get some funding,” said Davis.

Still, Davis said she’s confident that she will be able to raise the needed funds and hopes a compromise over the project can be reached with the town this year. She declined to say specifically what HAC is willing to do to address the town’s concerns, but noted that the group is “committed to the original concept” of Dana’s Fields.

“This is a project we believe in and will keep fighting for,” said Davis.