The Cape Cod Commission was created in 1990 by an Act of the Massachusetts General Court and confirmed by a majority of Barnstable County voters.

In the wake of an unprecedented growth boom in the 1980s, the Cape Cod Commission Act found that the region known as Cape Cod (Barnstable County) possesses unique natural, coastal, historical, cultural and other values which are threatened by uncoordinated or inappropriate uses of the region's land and other resources.

The Commission was established as a regional planning and regulatory agency to prepare and implement a regional land use policy plan for all of Cape Cod, review and regulate Developments of Regional Impact, and recommend designation of certain areas as Districts of Critical Planning Concern.

The Commission is a department of Barnstable County and is funded by the Cape Cod Environmental Protection Fund.