MVC Election Wins Approval

State House Compromise Clears Path for Special Vote in May on a
Petition in Oak Bluffs to Secede from Commission

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

After a week of back-room politics on Beacon Hill that left one Cape
and Islands legislator openly fuming at what he called "outside
muscle," a petition by the town of Oak Bluffs to withdraw from the
Martha's Vineyard Commission is now set to come before voters at a
special election in the middle of May.

The election will be held on May 13.

"This is a good compromise and it will give ample time for
people on both sides of the issue to weigh what's in front of
them," said Todd Rebello, chairman of the Oak Bluffs selectmen.
Mr. Rebello said yesterday that the selectmen will shift gears and not
move to put the withdrawal question on the annual town election ballot
on April 10.

At their regular meeting on Tuesday, selectmen voted to put the
question on the annual town ballot even though the legislature had not
yet acted on the bill.

"I have polled the rest of the board and we are going to pull
that," Mr. Rebello said.

In an executive session held late yesterday afternoon, the Joint
Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture approved the home rule
petition bill. The bill is expected to be approved in informal session
by the House and Senate and signed by Gov. Mitt Romney next week.

"By next week this is going to become law, so the community is
going to have to come to grips with this," said Cape and Islands
Sen. Robert O'Leary. Mr. O'Leary made no secret of his
irritation at the events in the State House this week that included
heavy pressure on key legislators from a lobbyist hired by Down Island
Golf Club developer Corey Kupersmith.

The movement of a small local bill with lightning speed raised a few
eyebrows on Beacon Hill, where attention is now focused almost
exclusively on Governor Romney's austere budget and massive plan
to restructure state government.

"This is only the second bill to come out of the legislature
this year, and for a home rule petition at the level of obscurity that
this bill has, that is incredible," Mr. O'Leary said.
"This has all the earmarks of outside muscle; this is special
interest legislation that is being pushed by a developer with deep
pockets."

In a blunt statement of protest about the bill yesterday, Sen.
Pamela Resor of Worcester and Middlesex, who is co-chairman of the
natural resources committee, reserved her right to vote.

At a hearing held on the bill last week in Boston, Ms. Resor
underscored the importance of regional planning agencies. "In my
district, sometimes communities talk about seceding from the
commonwealth when they are unhappy about things. But if every community
withdrew from a regional agency every time it was unhappy with some vote
that was taken, we would have a real problem," she said.

Cape and Islands Rep. Eric T. Turkington, who is also a member of
the natural resources committee, helped to broker the compromise this
week that resulted in the May 13 special election.

The bill dates to last year when a record turnout of voters in Oak
Bluffs agreed to take the first step toward withdrawing from the
27-year-old regional planning agency.

The backdrop for the bill is Mr. Kupersmith's controversial
Down Island Golf Club development project in the southern woodlands
section of Oak Bluffs. The golf club project has been rejected by the
commission three times in the last two years as a development of
regional impact (DRI).

Last year Mr. Kupersmith had threatened to build a massive Chapter
40B affordable housing project if the golf course project was not
approved, and at the time of the town meeting vote many townspeople were
angered at the prospect of a ruinous housing project in the southern
woodlands.

The political climate changed later when the MVC won a landmark
court decision granting the regional planning agency full power of
review over 40B housing projects.

A hearing on the bill held in the Oak Bluffs fire station in early
September drew a large crowd of Vineyard residents - and most of
them spoke out strongly in support of the commission. But the bill never
completed its rounds before the legislature adjourned for the year in
August, and in January Mr. Turkington filed a new version of the bill.

A second vote by the town in the form of a ballot question is
required for the bill to become law; language in the new bill required
that the vote take place at an annual town meeting.

With just five weeks left until the annual town meeting, Mr.
Kupersmith and his supporters moved to put the bill on a fast track last
week in order to make the March 6 deadline for the annual town ballot.

Four of the five Oak Bluffs selectmen, including Mr. Rebello, are
open boosters for the golf club project.

Mr. Rebello said yesterday that it is not unusual to see a developer
lobby for his own interests. "You would expect any developer to
have a lobbyist. I think he [Mr. Kupersmith] has had people working his
side of the aisle for a long time," Mr. Rebello said. The chairman
of the selectmen said he too had been involved in lobbying for quick
passage of the bill.

"I took it upon myself to advocate for the people of Oak
Bluffs. I've been very fortunate to have a long history of
traveling to the state house with my father, and he left me the legacy
of a lot of open doors up there. I was very involved with everything
that was going on and I had met with the speaker [House Speaker Thomas
Finneran]," Mr. Rebello said.

"Maybe I am just the extreme optimist, but I do believe
closure will be brought to this issue in May. I have tried to reach out
for compromise in the past and I still believe there is room for
compromise between now and May 13. I am still looking for economic
development for the town of Oak Bluffs, and the state budget cuts more
than ever will force us to look at those options," he said.

He concluded: "Whatever the vote is on May 13, I am going to
fully respect the direction given to me by the voters."

By late this week a group of town residents had formed a committee
to oppose the ballot question.

Named Keep OB in the MVC, the group includes an array of Oak Bluffs
residents, many of them longtime opponents of the golf course project.

It is understood that Mr. Kupersmith is preparing to launch a slick
propaganda campaign to push for withdrawal from the commission, a
campaign that is expected to include radio and television advertising.

One member of Keep OB in the MVC said this week that the central
issue is about more than just a golf course.

"This is a group of people who love Martha's Vineyard
more than any place else and has chosen to be here and live here and is
incredibly concerned that the Martha's Vineyard Commission is the
only tool we have to protect the Vineyard against runaway
development," said Kerry Scott, a member of the group.

That's what's driving this and this is a time to start
the conversation about what is next for this Island," she said.

Ms. Scott said contributions to Keep OB in the MVC may be sent to
P.O. Box 1167, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557.