Hearings Open on Luxury Golf Club Plan; Public Packs Hall for Hours
of Testimony

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Torn down the middle, their emotions rubbed raw after two years of
bitter debate, an irascible crowd of Oak Bluffs citizens gave the
Martha's Vineyard Commission a new earful on an old subject this
week: the Down Island Golf Club plan to convert the southern woodlands
to a luxury golf and housing project.

"This plan is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
The result is still the same, and I urge you to deny it, and don't
make people go through this again," said Paul Strauss.

"In 1948 Oak Bluffs was the first town on the Island to adopt
zoning. They were very smart, our forefathers, because they knew that
developers would come and spoil it all. So you do the right
thing," said Geraldyn DeBettencourt.

"We have reached out to this developer, and I see this project
as an economic engine for the town," said Oak Bluffs selectman
Todd Rebello.

"The majority of the people in this room are against this
project, but they are in the minority," said Eric Williams.

"I guess it just boils down to the fact that many of us feel
we don't need another golf course," said John Wilbur.

The comments came during six hours of back-to-back public hearings
on the golf club plan on Wednesday night and again last night. Held in
the cafeteria of the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, the
hearings drew about 150 people each night. The crowd on the first night
was somewhat larger and also more civil. Last night frayed nerves were
evident at every turn, and the meeting was marred by personal attacks
and testy exchanges. Even the commission appeared to be infected by the
dark mood of the evening, and among the 17 members tempers flared more
than once.

The Down Island Golf Club plan has been turned down twice by the
commission in the last two years. The third plan is now under review as
a development of regional impact (DRI), and after being buffeted by
lawsuits and an array of hardball tactics, the commission is under
enormous pressure to approve the plan. Connecticut developer Corey
Kupersmith and his partner, Bolton developer Brian Lafferty, want to
build an 18-hole private golf club and 30 units of housing on 273 acres
owned by Mr. Kupersmith in the southern woodlands.

Four of the five Oak Bluffs selectmen are working so closely with
the developer that they appear to be functioning as partners.

On Wednesday the hearing began with a two-hour presentation by the
applicant. Oak Bluffs selectman Michael Dutton and special town counsel
Mark Bobrowski spoke first, describing the recent settlement agreement
signed by town officials and the developer. Ostensibly aimed at settling
a lawsuit between the town and the developer (the town in fact has
already won the central portion of the lawsuit), the agreement is in
reality an outline of the development plan.

The project calls for a private 18-hole golf course with a clubhouse
and a dormitory for employees plus 30 housing units. The housing is a
new addition to the plan. The developers plan to build 14 upscale homes
situated around the golf course and 16 units of affordable housing in
the back of the property near the Martha's Vineyard Ice Arena and
an access road for service vehicles. The main entrance to the golf club
is planned off Barnes Road. All of the housing is planned as
condominiums. Mr. Lafferty said nine of the market-priced homes will be
restricted to seasonal residences through deed restrictions. The
affordable housing is planned as rental apartments.

Mr. Kupersmith's property lies in the watershed for the Lagoon
and Sengekontacket Ponds and the property is affected by four districts
of critical planning concern (DCPCs). A complicated nitrogen mitigation
plan includes offsetting the impact on the ponds from the golf course by
tying the Island Elderly Housing Project into the golf club sewage
treatment plant. The turf management plan for the golf course is
described as organically driven.

The plan calls for a conservation package with the state and the
Martha's Vineyard Land Bank, although the state and the land bank
have not yet agreed to the deal. The state portion of the package calls
for the Department of Environmental Management to buy a small portion of
the old Webb's Camping Area and return the site to use as a family
camp ground. The original camp ground was about 80 acres; Mr. Kupersmith
is proposing a sale of about 12 acres to the state. If the conservation
package does not pan out, the settlement agreement calls for allowing
the developer to build more houses on the property.

The developers are also proposing to buy the Windfarm Golf Driving
Range off the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road and convert it to
conservation land.

Much of the information presented at the hearings this week was
rehash, but not all of it. On Wednesday Mr. Rebello floated a new idea,
urging the commission to require some kind of public play on the golf
course, using the Farm Neck Golf Club as a model.

"I agree that a private club doesn't fit the mold for
Oak Bluffs. . . . What we need is a real public benefit," Mr.
Rebello said.

"This is a big deal, a big deal," declared golf club
supporter Tim Dobel.

Last night at the outset commission member Kate Warner read a
statement, asking the developer to provide the commission with
information that illustrates in real terms the need for another private
golf club on the Vineyard. The statement drew applause.

The settlement agreement between the town and the developer was
forged almost entirely behind closed doors, and the selectmen were
singled out for sharp criticism more than once.

"I'm not for or against golf. But the selectmen have
never done a poll or come to the people in the town of Oak Bluffs and
asked us. The selectmen are not working for the people because they
haven't asked the people," said Janice Rose.

"The chairman of the board of selectmen spoke about reaching
out. They never reached out to me, they never reached out to the people
who are sitting here tonight. They reached out to the people who have
the bucks, and they did it behind closed doors," said Linda
Marinelli.

"Each time they say they represent the people of Oak Bluffs,
my views are excluded and it infuriates me. Something that is so crucial
to the town should be put to a ballot," said Renee Balter.

"Total disenfranchisement for the people of Oak Bluffs,"
said Ann Margetson.

"The board of selectmen have let us down. They have not come
to us and said, what do you want?' said Peggy Amos.

"It's unfortunate when representatives of we the people
fail … but you the Martha's Vineyard Commission stand for
we the people. And when you make your decision on this, know that we
stand behind you," said Sam Low. "It's not your job to
weigh the popular vote or swing toward it or to be intimidated by
bullies. I am concerned that you brush aside blandishments and
threats," he added.

But for the commission it was not so easy.

Richard Toole, a commission member who presides over DRI hearings,
ended the session just after 9:30 last night. Hands were still in the
air among people who wanted to speak, but a third hearing had been
scheduled for Oct. 10 and Mr. Toole began to tell the audience to return
on that date. Then Mr. Lafferty threw a quick curveball, requesting that
the hearing be closed in exchange for a promise from Mr. Kupersmith that
he would take Mr. Rebello's suggestion to heart and allow some
kind of public play on the golf course.

Mr. Lafferty said the offer was only good if the commission closed
the hearing and agreed to vote on the project by Oct. 15. "We will
agree to introduce a public golf component, if we can get this thing
approved and get it done," he said.

Commission chairman James Vercruysse took the gavel from Mr. Toole
and suspended the public hearing so the commission could discuss the
issue. After a testy discussion about schedules, there was little in the
way of consensus, and and the commission agreed to stick with Oct. 10 as
the third hearing date. Commission member Robert Zeltzer suggested that
the commission stay as long as it takes on Oct. 10 and vote on the
project, but at that point acting executive director Bill Veno stepped
in. "I think that you can only confirm when the next meeting will
be," he said.