YMCA Backers Trumpet Plan to Build Pool, Youth Facility

By IAN FEIN

Boosters for the YMCA of Martha's Vineyard last week described
to the Martha's Vineyard Commission what they say will be a
life-changing new facility for the Island, providing young families,
high school students and the entire community with a long-desired pool
and gathering place.

"The Vineyard needs a Y," said West Tisbury resident
Daniel Waters, a volunteer mentor for Island youth. "There are
family environments on this Island that are toxic in every sense of the
word. But kids will save themselves if they have a place to go. They
need a supervised, affordable facility where they can be safe and blow
off steam," he said, adding:

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"In the end this project is really not about economics.
It's about giving kids a life-saving, life-changing option."

The comments came at a public hearing Thursday evening in the
Martha's Vineyard Regional High School cafeteria, which was
attended by more than 70 people, virtually all of whom supported the
YMCA. The project calls for building a 35,000-square-foot,
green-designed recreational facility on an undeveloped five-acre
property leased from the high school behind the skate park in Oak
Bluffs. The commission is reviewing the proposal as a development of
regional impact.

YMCA board president Charles Hughes of Vineyard Haven joined other
board members and engineering professionals to present the project to
the commission.

"All of us feel the Island deserves a facility like
this," Mr. Hughes said. "We need an Islandwide community
center, where people can plan and where families can come enjoy
themselves."

The hearing lasted for two and a half hours and was continued to
mid-July. A number of key issues remain unresolved, chief among them the
wastewater disposal plan for the project. A report from state
environmental officials about whether removing native pitch pines on the
property will affect rare moths is still outstanding.

Commission members also requested more specific information
regarding a few aspects of the proposal, including steps to make the
area safe for pedestrians.

The wastewater disposal plan is still a work in progress, after a
proposal to design a shared package treatment plant for the area was
defeated by Oak Bluffs voters at their annual town meeting this spring.
At the hearing last week there was general agreement that the ideal
solution would be for the YMCA to work with other large facilities in
the area, including the high school, to jointly treat wastewater and
reduce the amount of nitrogen making its way into Lagoon Pond. But if a
shared solution cannot be reached, YMCA spokesmen said they plan to
design a standard denitrifying septic system and request a waiver from
the commission wastewater policy. Even with a denitrifying system, the
YMCA project would exceed commission loading limits for the
nitrogen-sensitive Lagoon Pond watershed by more than 250 per cent.

Some commission members balked at the notion of a waiver.

"I would love to be able to see some solutions, rather than
simply asking for a waiver," commission chairman Douglas Sederholm
told the applicants.

Parking also remains an issue. YMCA officials have worked for more
than a year with neighbors, town officials and commission staff to
create shared parking and preserve some open space, among other things.
But in a letter to the commission the Vineyard Transit Authority
suggested that the number of proposed spaces should still be drastically
reduced.

The project calls for roughly 50 YMCA parking spaces, 50
Martha's Vineyard Arena spaces, and another 150 spaces shared
between the two entities. Transit authority administrator Angela Grant
noted in a letter to the commission that the high school often has
hundreds of additional parking spaces available directly across the
street.

"In short, the number of parking spaces planned is absolutely
ridiculous," Mrs. Grant wrote.

She said fewer parking spaces would also encourage more YMCA
visitors to use public transportation. A traffic consultant hired for
the project estimated that the YMCA at its peak might generate as many
as 2,275 vehicle trips a day, which would be in addition to the roughly
15,000 vehicles that already use Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road during a
busy summer day.

There was a strong show of support from neighboring organizations,
including the skate park, high school, Martha's Vineyard Land Bank
and Martha's Vineyard Community Services. YMCA spokesmen said they
are working with some of the groups on memorandums of understanding that
would, among other things, aim to prevent big events from taking place
at multiple facilities at the same time.

"It's been a nice working relationship," said
community services board president Susan Wasserman who noted that her
organization remains concerned about drainage. "I'm going to
be sorry to see the trees go, but this is progress. We're happy to
have the Y in our neighborhood."

Other Vineyard nonprofits also spoke in favor of the project. Island
Affordable Housing Fund executive director Patrick Manning said the YMCA
complements housing initiatives on the Island, and noted that he
recently stepped down from the board of his local YMCA when he moved to
the Vineyard from the Hudson Valley in New York earlier this winter.

"As we try to keep people on the Island, it's groups
like the YMCA that are trying to make sure there's a place where
you can learn how to swim, where your kids are safe," he said.
"As a fellow nonprofit, we say ‘Way to go Y.' And we
look forward to being there at the groundbreaking this fall."

In earlier informal discussions, some commission members had
questioned whether the proposed YMCA facility fits with Island
character, or whether it represents more of a mainland-type development.
Others have expressed concern about the size, and whether the services
provided might compete with other Island organizations and businesses.

Sherman Goldstein, owner of the Mansion House Inn, Health Club and
Spa in Vineyard Haven, wrote a letter to the commission supporting a
community pool and youth center, but opposing the rest of the proposal.
He said it would pose unfair competition to his business, and suggested
that the full YMCA project goes against longstanding commission goals of
discouraging sprawl, preserving character, and protecting water quality,
among other things.

"It is without any hyperbole that the construction of a YMCA,
with a full gym, classes, ‘coffee shop,' child care rooms,
meeting facilities, several pools and hot tubs, saunas, steam room and
other facilities - all seemingly benign and beneficial - are
really a ‘Trojan Horse' gift to the Vineyard," Mr.
Goldstein wrote.

"I have no objections to a community pool," he added.
"The rest, however, is unnecessary and harmful to the
Vineyard."

YMCA officials countered that the new facility would benefit the
Vineyard economy by creating jobs, and would be a boon to the entire
wellness community by providing a new entry point for people seeking
healthy lifestyles.

Mr. Waters made a similar argument by pointing to the public
libraries and private bookstores on the Island, which work together with
a shared mission of encouraging people to read.

"As a person who goes to the gym, I seriously doubt that local
fitness centers are going to lose clients if the Vineyard finally gets
its YMCA," Mr. Waters said. "More people exercising means
more business for everybody . . . Endorphins can be
habit-forming."