Washed out, repaired, reopened and closed once more over a four-day period last week, the Vineyard Haven end of Lambert’s Cove Road will remain blocked off through the end of the year.
The Tisbury harbor master’s fire patrol boat sank at its Owen Park slip in an early October storm because a deck hatch was left unsecured, according to a loss and damage survey.
Tisbury could reap hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from short-term rental property registrations that became mandatory when the state passed its short-term rental tax last year.
Carmel Gamble glared at the chain-link fence surrounding the beachfront lot next door to her Vineyard Haven cottage. “This is not the Vineyard Haven I knew,” said Miss Gamble, a veterinary technician and self-described “clown on sabbatical” who returned to Martha’s Vineyard two years ago after five years in Hawaii. “But this ugly steel chain-link fence, I mean, what we love about the Vineyard is that it’s beautiful. That’s why people come here,” she said.
The Tisbury board of selectmen took the first step this week toward regulating activity in Vineyard Haven harbor by placing a proposal on the table to nominate the waterway as a District of Critical Planning Concern (DCPC).
If the plan moves forward, much of the harbor could be designated by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission as a resource to be protected, beginning a process of establishing development guidelines for the area.
Tisbury officials this week wrestled with whether the town should establish a district of critical planning concern (DCPC) for Vineyard Haven harbor, an area that currently has a detailed zoning plan for the shore but no controls for the water.
At a meeting Tuesday night session with the town planning board, members of the board of selectmen explained their rationale for considering a DCPC -- a Martha’s Vineyard Commission overlay planning district -- as a mechanism for regulating activities on the harbor.
In an effort to regain control of their waterfront, Tisbury selectmen voted Tuesday evening to nominate Vineyard Haven harbor as a district of critical planning concern. The nomination will be considered by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.