West Tisbury is now the first town on the Island to enact regulations around short-term rentals, though other towns have also started to consider the best way to handle the controversial properties.
Oak Bluffs voters rejected the controversial light industrial mixed use proposal, Edgartown residents decided to postpone a proposed party bylaw indefinitely, and after a long discussion West Tisbury passed regulations on short-term rentals.
Democracy at the ground level — in a grammar school gym, a town hall and a performing arts center — arrives today when a trio of town meetings opens the political season on the Vineyard.
Short-term rental restrictions, a change in town energy policy and $1.8 million in library renovations all top the warrant for West Tisbury annual town meeting next week.
Among the items voters will consider at the Oak Bluffs town meeting are paying for upgrades to the town’s wastewater and harbor infrastructure, and business-friendly zoning amendments.
Efforts to ease the Island’s housing crunch, funding for repairs to South Beach and potential borrowing to shore up aging septic pipes will all be put before Edgartown voters at town meeting next week.