Juli Vanderhoop runs the Orange Peel Bakery, her home business in Aquinnah, and is a busy single mom. And last week she took her place in as the newest member of the Aquinnah board of selectman.
The Aquinnah selectmen heard a distinct plea from their up-Island
neighbors this week to formally appeal the recent superior court
decision that found the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) cannot be
sued because of sovereign immunity.
Aquinnah Selectmen Will Seek Bylaw to Regulate Energy Use
By IAN FEIN
With the energy demands of large homes a growing concern across the
Island, Aquinnah selectmen this week unanimously endorsed a regulation
that would require new homes over a certain size to include renewable
energy sources such as solar panels or wind turbines.
"This is an important measure," selectman James Newman
said at the regular board meeting on Tuesday, after proposing the energy
requirement. "And I think that this community should be a leader
on the issue."
The town of Aquinnah, known for being progressive in planning, this week moved a step closer to adopting a townwide energy conservation district.
Town selectmen on Wednesday submitted a nomination to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to designate Aquinnah as an energy district of critical planning concern (DCPC). The nomination was filed by Camille Rose, chairman of the selectmen.
Aquinnah has opened its heart and its parking spots to derby fishermen.
The Aquinnah selectmen on Friday voted at a hastily called special meeting to open resident-only parking lots to derby fisherman for the duration of the derby after learning that contestants have been avoiding Aquinnah fishing spots for several years because they feared tickets or tows.
As meteorologists yesterday charted a storm creeping inexorably toward the East Coast, in Aquinnah a race was on to get someone behind the wheel of the town snow plow.
Though the retirement of highway surveyor Forest Alley is apparently imminent, town coordinator Jeff Burgoyne said yesterday Mr. Forest will be manning the plow this weekend.
“He is ready, willing and able,” he said.
Yet selectman Jim Newman said that a new hire is waiting in the wings.
Aquinnah selectmen this week raced to prepare language for a new bylaw aimed at regulating wind turbines that is due for review by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission early next month and for voters at the annual town meeting on May 13.
A public hearing is scheduled before the town planning board on May 5; the commission will hold its own public hearing on May 8.
The draft bylaw is aimed at creating regulations for a townwide energy district of critical planning concern (DCPC) which went into effect last December.
In a move which acknowledges almost a year of bureaucratic missteps, Aquinnah selectmen have announced their plan to scrap an energy district of critical planning concern, created to help push through a pioneering bylaw on wind turbines.
But those involved have voiced a determination not to give up on an initiative praised as much for its concept as it was damned for its presentation during multiple appearances on the town meeting floor over the past year.
Bureaucratic black holes, poor communication and a lack of tact that borders on comedic are to blame for a series of recent misunderstandings between the Aquinnah town government and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).
The first fiasco began in late July when building inspector Jerry Wiener sent a letter tribal chairman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais citing the tribe for violating town zoning laws and the state building code on three building projects.
