Developer Vows Total Clearing of Woodlands; MVC Votes for Review

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The developer of the Down Island Golf Club went toe to toe with the
Martha's Vineyard Commission one more time last night, publicly
declaring his intention to clear-cut 270 acres in the southern woodlands
and openly challenging the commission to try and stop him.

"I'm about to show that the Martha's Vineyard
Commission has no teeth," said Brian Lafferty, the former Bolton
housing developer who is the spokesman for property owner Corey
Kupersmith.

"When we are done the property will be returned to its 1938
post-hurricane condition when there wasn't a single tree on the
site. We've decided that is the goal we have in mind," he
said.

The commission responded by voting without dissent to declare the
latest activity in the southern woodlands a development of regional
impact (DRI). Mr. Kupersmith will now be expected to file a plan for the
new uses on his property, although Mr. Lafferty made it clear that he
has no intention of doing so.

"You're never going to have a plan," he told the
commission.

He also announced that Mr. Kupersmith will shortly file a complaint
in federal district court charging conspiracy against two members of the
commission - although he did not name the members - and he
threatened to run up the legal bills against the MVC.

"Mr. Kupersmith has budgeted $1.5 million for legal bills for
the coming year, and I suspect that the Martha's Vineyard
Commission is going to have to fight us dollar for dollar," said
Mr. Lafferty, whose threats and confrontational style are now well
known.

He said Mr. Kupersmith plans to build a piggery alongside the
Featherstone Center for the Arts, and he said he also plans to build a
rifle range on his property once it is cleared.

"This is all for his personal use," Mr. Lafferty said.

The statements by Mr. Lafferty came midway through a public hearing
at the commission last night, and they brought immediate clarity to a
meeting that was marked by some confusion over procedure. There was also
a theatrical call by one Oak Bluffs selectman for a summit meeting to
negotiate a new plan for the Kupersmith property.

"I am proposing that we hold a workshop and let everyone come
and bare their soul. We all need to come to the middle," said
selectman Todd Rebello. Commission member Andrew Woodruff called on Mr.
Rebello to show some leadership. "The right group to take the lead
in resolving this issue is the board of selectmen," he said.

Mr. Kupersmith has tried three times without success to win approval
from the commission for a luxury golf course on his property, and
recently the commission also rejected a massive housing project. He is
now suing the commission on a variety of fronts.

Last night Mr. Rebello's call for a summit meeting fell flat
as Mr. Lafferty showed his muscle.

"This is Mr. Kupersmith's back yard, it just happens to
be a lot bigger than most back yards. But if he wants to paint his house
blue he can because it's his property," Mr. Lafferty said.

"Mr. Lafferty has made a very eloquent defense of personal
property rights this evening. . . . But when your back yard is 270 acres
and you are proposing removing all the trees and that can affect the
watershed and habitats and will affect the Lagoon and Sengekontacket
Ponds - then it's not a matter of painting your house blue,
it''s a matter of in real life affecting a huge piece of
property and resources and the Island as a whole," said Doug
Sederholm, a member of the commission who led the move to declare the
activity a DRI.

In separate votes the commission voted 9-0 with one abstention and
then 10-0 that the activity on the Kupersmith property is a DRI on two
counts: because clear cutting would have a regional impact and because
the property was previously the subject of a DRI.

The latest flap between the commission and Mr. Kupersmith began a
few weeks ago when the developer launched a tree-cutting project on his
land. Some cutting was done in a section of pitch pines in the
woodlands, and also clearing was done along Barnes Road. Then a six-acre
swath abutting Featherstone was clear-cut.

Mr. Lafferty wrote a letter to the state Division of Fisheries and
Wildlife reporting that Mr. Kupersmith planned to begin cutting trees to
harvest wood for his personal use, and that he intended to convert the
property to agricultural use.

A state official responded that the property is considered a
sensitive area and harbors three state listed species, including the
threatened imperial moth.

Two weeks ago the Oak Bluffs selectmen and also the Dukes County
Commission referred the tree cutting project to the commission as a DRI.

Both referrals were discretionary, a special process under
commission rules that permits projects that may not fall under the
conventional criteria to be referred to the commission for possible
review.

A hearing was required to determine whether the project qualified as
a DRI.

At the outset last night Oak Bluffs selectman and board chairman
Richard Combra said he supported the referral to the commission, but
that he doubted the tree-cutting qualified as a DRI.

Later in the meeting Mr. Sederholm returned to Mr. Combra.

"My understanding of what Mr. Lafferty is saying is that
because it's his private property he can destroy it, and then when
he comes back in front of us, there is nothing left to protect because
he has destroyed it. Is that your understanding of it also?" Mr.
Sederholm said.

"I guess one could perceive that," Mr. Combra replied.