A controversial plan for a new hotel in Oak Bluffs faces an uncertain future after a town historic committee refused to give it its blessing last month.
On Oct. 13, the Copeland plan review committee voted 3-1 that the proposed Ocean View Hotel was not appropriate for the district. The three-story, 26-room, Victorian-style hotel, backed by Boston-based developer Charles Hajjar, is designed to pay homage to the original Ocean View that burned down in 1965.
The decision comes amid a years-long approval process and after months of Copeland committee meetings, where neighbors of the site largely expressed opposition to the project.
In a statement to the Gazette, Mr. Hajjar said he was “disappointed” by the committee’s decision that deemed his hotel inappropriate for the area.
“We believe the hotel fits the district, we are reviewing our options, and we remain committed to bringing a historic hotel back to this site,” he wrote.
After the Ocean View Restaurant, owned by Mr. Hajjar and his father Charles (Chuck) Hajjar on the same lot, burned down in March 2022, several plans for a new structure were floated before the current Victorian hotel plan went before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission in 2025. The commission narrowly approved the project in January, with 57 conditions designed to minimize impact on the surrounding neighborhood.
For many abutters, the issue comes down to the sheer size of the building. Neighbors of the lot say the hotel would disrupt their quality of life by towering over their homes and blocking their views of the ocean.
“Size and bulk of the building is the elephant in the entire issue for the neighborhood,” abutter John Kotsopoulos said at the Oct. 13 meeting. “The patios, the balconies, the fences, these are only distractions to the big issue, which is the size and bulk of this building.”
Cass Luskin, attorney for Mr. Hajjar, said the plan was adapted to incorporate neighbors’ feedback, including dropping a public restaurant, trying to minimize light pollution and changing the position of the hotel to minimize the extent to which it would block the view of the harbor. He argued that the project as presented met all of the requirements imposed by the Copeland committee, including height, setback and visual requirements.
He pointed out that the Ocean View lot is grandfathered into Oak Bluffs zoning as a commercial lot despite being surrounded by a residential neighborhood.
“We’ve gone through quite a few versions of this in order to try and accommodate and minimize the impact that [the Ocean View] is going to have on the folks who already live there,” Mr. Luskin said at the meeting. “But at the end of the day, it is a B1 [commercial] lot that was zoned by the town of Oak Bluffs…. There’s a court case about it affirming it.”
“That tension … [is] not a reason for the plans to be changed, altered, diminished,” he added.
Scott Slarsky, the only member of the Copeland committee to vote in favor of the plan, argued that the project is in line with the architectural style of the neighborhood and Copeland’s own guidelines. He also said that the building could actually enhance the viewscape from several areas of the neighborhood.
“For all sections of the Copeland plan review district guidelines, from my experience as an architect of buildings and active overlaid districts in communities of historical significance, I find the proposed Ocean View house to be appropriate and a welcome addition [to the neighborhood],” he said.
Committee chair Gail Barmakian disagreed. She said she does not see it as architecturally cohesive with the character of the neighborhood and “radically alters and disrupts” the viewscape.
“I think because of the size, it stands out and overpowers the neighborhood,” she said.
Committee member Shelley Christiansen echoed Ms. Barmakian in not finding the project appropriate, a decision that came down in part to character.
“The concept, I think, is beautiful,” committee member Shelley Christiansen added. “That said, I have tremendous problems with the massing of this building and its impact on the character of the community.”
The Copeland district planning committee’s jurisdiction is outlined in the Oak Bluffs zoning bylaws. The bylaw says that Copeland’s blessing is necessary in order to pull other permits for a project but that the building commissioner can override Copeland’s authority in specific cases, such as if adhering to Copeland’s rules would create economic hardship for a homeowner.
The bylaw lists a maximum building height and turn-of-the-century Victorian architectural standards to which applicants must adhere, all in the name of enhancing “the physical character of the landscape.”
But the concept of “character,” outside of the bylaw’s specific benchmarks for an appropriate project, is somewhat of a gray area.
“Character, if you will, is somewhat subjective,” Ms. Christiansen said in an interview. “But just based on our knowledge of the district and our experience looking [at] and living in the district, as several of us do, we have our own sense of appropriateness.”
In an interview, Oak Bluffs building commissioner Adam Petkus said that because of the lot’s commercial zoning, the Ocean View project does not need to go before the zoning board of appeals or planning board at this time. In other words, the Copeland committee’s approval was the last stop before Mr. Petkus would be ready to hand over a building permit to Mr. Hajjar.
When asked if the plan would need to go back through the Copeland committee again before he would issue a permit, he suggested a path forward has yet to be determined. He said it’s rare for Copeland to not deem a project appropriate.
“Every situation and every application is unique in its own way, and Copeland does not historically see applications for new development,” he said.
Mr. Petkus said the next step is working with Mr. Hajjar and his team to figure out how to proceed.
“Going right back to the zoning bylaw, we have to use that as the north star,” Mr. Petkus said. “So I’m hoping that just like [with] any application, that the town and the applicant can work together to come up with a beneficial solution.”