Main Street Project Takes Shape in Tisbury

By JOSHUA SABATINI

Tisbury's department of public works voted last week to have
residents decide at town meeting next April the fate of seven components
of the Main Street Project.

The project - a joint effort of the department of Public Works
and the Tisbury Business Association - would take advantage of the
opportunity for infrastructure improvements created when roads are dug
up for sewer lines.

Construction of a new sewer system will begin no earlier than next
fall. In the interim, DPW will schedule informational meetings about the
project and listen to community input.

Vineyard Haven architect Jamie Weisman, of Terrain Associates, was
contracted by DPW in September to develop the initial plans. Since then,
he has read numerous letters of suggestion and met with both community
members and groups such as the Tisbury Historical Society and harbor
management committee.

Mr. Weisman has developed plans that he expects will enjoy
widespread support. Over time, some ideas - such as changing Main
street parking to the water side - have been discarded, while
others have been put on hold. What began as 19 theoretical projects has
since been reduced to seven.

Mr. Weisman sat down with the Gazette recently to discuss the
projects.

"We not only identified the myriad of things that would be
good for Vineyard Haven," Mr. Weisman said, "but we have
really narrowed down, through the DPW, what projects seem most pertinent
to bring before the town in the spring for one of three things: funding,
to provide design development fees or to pursue granting
opportunities."

Last week, DPW divided the proposed items into four categories
- improvement of Main street sidewalks, reconfiguration of the
Union street parking lot, A&P parking lot and Cromwell Lane/Memorial
Park walkway.

Each of these four projects will be proposed to the town in April as
a line item broken into components with discrete costs. DPW director
Fred LaPiana said the proposal for Main street, for example, will
include separate expenses for lighting and landscaping.

The DPW also will ask voters to approve fees to develop the designs
of both a quay to be built at the end of the Beach Road extension
- which would be a memorial for late selectman Edmund Coogan
- and a visitor center, to be located on the current site of the
public restrooms in the A&P parking lot.

Mr. Weisman said the latter proposal is for a new three-story
building with bathrooms and visitor information on the first floor. An
elevator and stairs would provide access to second and third floors
housing a visitor center, in which historic photographs and other items
could be displayed. The building would be topped by a widow's
walk.

Such a facility would complete what Mr. Weisman called a town square
on the existing lot.

"This becomes a place that has a lot of importance to the
town. It creates a public center," he said.

Mr. Weisman's plan would reconfigure the A&P lot to create
four rows of parking that flank a 30-foot-wide esplanade leading to the
proposed visitor center and on to Main street.

DPW's final proposal will ask for permission to seek grant
options for a walkway to run along the 2,000-foot cement sea wall on the
harbor side. A section of such a walkway would feature both ramps and
stairs leading down to the water's sand floor.

The walkway would extend under the drawbridge to connect to the
Lagoon Pond side, where Mr. Weisman proposes to place a flush brick
platform with stairs and two ramps leading into the water, along with an
area for sitting. Mr. Weisman views the walkway as a wonderful
handicap-accessible area along the water. Such access, he said, is
unprecedented on the Island.

One key component of the project is what Mr. Weisman calls tactile
crosswalks.

"When you drive over them," he said, "you become
conscious of the fact. You can hear it or feel the vibrations."

Mr. Weisman said this type of crosswalk could be made with brick or
cobblestone and could be either flush with the road or slightly raised.

The specific materials for each project have yet to be decided, but
Mr. Weisman said they will be brick, cobblestone, blue stone, granite,
concrete and asphalt.

"We are using the locally available and typical palette of
materials to do this work," he said. "We are not going to
use materials that are not a part of this Island.

"We have heard over and over again from different
people," he added, "that one of the things that gives
Vineyard Haven its own character is that it remains true to the fact
that New England structures - not only buildings, but patterns of
development - have not been defined and locked in stone in one
particular time, but tend to change, grow and evolve.

"There is not an exact sameness to everything," Mr.
Weisman said. "We may choose to not paint the town with a
particular pattern of materials, but we may use this palette for the
reality of differentiation."

On Union street, the proposal is to line the south side with 28
diagonal parking spaces, and then to rearrange the parking lot by
closing off the entrance nearest MV Strictly Bikes and adding eight
additional parking spots, for a total of 41. A sidewalk would be built
along the north side, and the steep steps on the corner of Union and
Main will be changed.

Mr. Weisman would like the Steamship Authority to remove the chamber
of commerce shack currently on the beach in order to create an open
area. This is an example, he said, of how the project seeks to combine
harmoniously the public structures with the private.

"All these projects require cooperation between abutters and
the public place," Mr. Weisman said. "Those adjacent to the
work are going to benefit."

The Main street proposal would keep the basic layout the same, but
narrow the roadway in certain areas and add landscaping.

"Basically what we are doing is taking parts of the street
where vehicles do not drive and making them pedestrian areas,"
said Mr. Weisman.

In this spirit, the entrance to Main street will be narrowed. In
general, the sidewalk on the west side, away from the water, will remain
the same width except in front of Brickman's and the west corner
of Spring street (at Main), where it will be widened. Sidewalks on the
water side will be widened to a minimum of six feet and run up to Owen
Park. There is enough room to do so while keeping the street as wide as
28 feet.

Other aesthetic improvements could come with the removal of the
telephone poles. Mr. LaPiana said he is looking into the possibility of
putting the electrical wires underground.

The plan for Cromwell Lane would create a walkway that extends
across State Road and terminates at Memorial Park. The portion of the
walkway that runs between the post office and the fire station would be
three feet.

"Many good ideas have come out of this effort," said Mr.
LaPiana. "We are looking at these because they are necessarily
tied to the sewer project."

Mr. LaPiana said he expects that the bulk of the money for the
project will have to come from the town and not from grants, but could
not yet estimate a total cost.

On Dec. 4, the Tisbury board of selectmen heard a brief presentation
regarding the project. Members did not comment at length, but selectman
Tristan Israel noted that none of the $6.4 million allocated for the
sewer project can be used for the "beautification" of the
town.

Mr. Israel added that he nevertheless supported many of the ideas.
"We need to dream and we need to realize some of our
dreams," he said.

The selectmen asked to meet with DPW and plan to hold a public
hearing on the project.

"People in town should get all their suggestions, positive or
negative, to Mr. Weisman and attend the public meetings," said
Jeff Kristal, president of the business association. "I hope
people will be positive and be open. These are some really wonderful
ideas and I hope everyone will embrace the project."