Commission Begins Its Review of Middle Line Housing Plan

By IAN FEIN

Chilmark selectmen told members of the Martha's Vineyard
Commission last week about their desire to provide town residents with
affordable homes in the Middle Line Road housing project.

"This has been a dream of ours for quite a few years,"
said selectman and board chairman Warren Doty. "And it is starting
to look like a dream that is about to come true."

The remarks came last Thursday at a public hearing held by the
commission, which is reviewing the town-sponsored, 12-unit housing
subdivision as a development of regional impact (DRI). The evening
featured a one-hour presentation from selectmen and project officials,
followed by two hours of public testimony. About 40 people attended the
hearing, held at the Chilmark Community Center, including a number of
town residents who are on a waiting list for affordable homesites.

Some tension was evident. On one side were town selectmen, project
officials and housing advocates, who urged the commission to approve the
project as quickly as possible, citing the desperate need for affordable
housing in a town with the highest average property values in the
commonwealth. On the other side were project neighbors, town planning
board members and commission officials, who raised concerns about
certain sticking points in the proposal that they would like to see
addressed.

The project calls for six homesite lots and three duplex rental
buildings on roughly 20 acres of town-owned land off Tabor House Road.
Located behind the town landfill, the property is bisected by an ancient
way and surrounded by mostly undeveloped land.

Commission member James Athearn of Edgartown said the project goes
against smart-growth planning principals, which call for new housing
developments to be built closer to existing town centers. He asked
selectmen on Thursday why they chose the Middle Line site.

"Why this location, down a long dirt road in the woods, in one
of the last wild areas of Chilmark?" Mr. Athearn asked. "Why
only one place with 12 units, instead of a few smaller ones spread
across town?"

Selectmen replied that the Middle Line property was the only
available parcel, and explained that the town's previous efforts
to award youth lots to residents elsewhere in town have largely stalled
as the pace of private subdivisions has slowed.

Dukes County Regional Housing Authority executive director David
Vigneault said the town project will mark an important addition to
housing efforts Islandwide, and he warned commission members not to get
caught up in wishing for a better site.

"You spoke earlier about smart growth, and that's an
important approach. But another approach is anywhere we can," Mr.
Vigneault said. "The other approach, that isn't an option,
is not to."

Planning board members and project neighbors pointed out that the
town also owns 22 acres on Peaked Hill, across Tabor House Road, which
already has electrical lines and wells. The town has sufficient access
to those parcels, but has yet to gain the necessary 40-foot right of way
to the Middle Line Road property.

Project neighbor Diane Emin said her family first raised the
question about access more than three years ago, and added that she did
not understand why town selectmen had yet to resolve the issue.
"It feels like we're the lone voice crying in the wilderness
here," Mrs. Emin said.

To help streamline the regulatory process, the Chilmark planning
board is continuing to review the project on the town level during the
commission public hearings. The board planned to hold a second public
hearing on the project this week, but postponed the meeting because two
of its seven members were absent.

At the behest of the commission, planning board chairman Richard
Osnoss on Thursday outlined some of the concerns that the town board had
with the project - including impacts to neighbors, adequate
access, and possible wastewater pollution. Underscoring some of the
tension at the meeting, Mr. Osnoss was approached by selectmen and other
planning board members during a short break at the hearing, and later
spoke again to clarify his earlier statements.

"If I came across as being against this project, that's
wrong. The planning board and I are for this project to move
ahead," Mr. Osnoss said.

Chilmark Chocolates co-owner Mary Beth Grady said that although many
town officials and residents had volunteered a lot of time on the
project, it was important that neighbors and planning board members be
allowed to speak openly about concerns.

"They're part of this community, and I think their
voices are really important for us to hear," she said. "[Mr.
Osnoss] should not be made to feel that he shouldn't have spoken
so honestly."

A number of town residents waiting for affordable housing also spoke
at the hearing, including Dardenella Slavin. Zelda Gamson, a founding
member of the Chilmark housing committee, urged commission members not
to forget about the people who need the housing most.

"I very much appreciate the seriousness with which you are
taking this project," she said. "But I'm telling you,
the message that comes across to me is not a great sense of
urgency."

Selectman Frank Fenner agreed.

"I suppose if we're guilty of anything it's that
we're really trying to push this as fast as we can because our
need for affordable housing is real and it's now," Mr.
Fenner said. "The commission says it is for affordable housing.
Now it's time for you folks to show your support and approve this
plan."

The public hearing will continue on May 31. Procedural questions
remain regarding potential wastewater impacts. Because of cost, town
selectmen do not want to install denitrifying septic systems on the
project. But without those systems, the 12 housing units on 21 acres do
not meet commission wastewater guidelines for protecting the Tisbury
Great Pond watershed. To resolve the issue, project officials want the
commission to include in its nitrogen loading calculations some 48 acres
of abutting private land on which the town holds a conservation
restriction.

Commission chairman Ernest (Douglas) Sederholm, a Chilmark resident,
questioned the appropriateness of the tactic.

"I think it would be unfair to end tonight without commenting
that the inclusion of that property raises in my view a very serious
substantive issue," Mr. Sederholm said. "That property is
not part of this project. It is only being included because the rest of
your plan doesn't comply with our water quality policy."

Selectmen discussed the possibility of putting on a future town
meeting warrant a spending request that would cover some of the costs of
alternative septic systems or energy efficiency measures for the
project.

Timothy Lasker, a member of the Chilmark planning board and housing
committee, suggested that selectmen should not be shy about asking town
taxpayers to cover such costs.

"We're talking about a town that per capita is probably
the wealthiest town in the commonwealth. This is a town that built a
school for $4 million without a single dollar from the state, and
recently built a beautiful new library. And the fact is, my taxes
aren't really that high," Mr. Lasker said.

"If we need to do this the right way - with a warrant
article - then that's what we should do," he
continued. "I totally, totally appreciate the fact that this
project has taken five or six years already. But the fact is, it should
be done right. And I believe it's going to take more than what the
town has put forth to this point."