Jenney Lane Plan Gains Approval

By MANDY LOCKE

The Jenney Lane project, a cluster of affordable homes slated for a
neighborhood behind Upper Main street, cleared another hurdle this week
with unanimous approval from the Edgartown planning board.

This is the last official step in a review process that began last
July.

It's been an exhaustive and often tense review process. But this
week, after all five planning board members signed off on the project,
not even the lingering hostility from some neighbors dampened the
developer's excitement about creating 10 homes for Islanders struggling
with the housing crisis.

"We're as excited about this project now as we were from the
beginning. It's always felt like a good idea to us," said John Abrams,
chairman of the Island Affordable Housing Committee, the nonprofit group
sponsoring the development. Mr. Abrams is also president of South
Mountain Company, the West Tisbury company which will build the homes.

The planning board decision carried a few stipulations aimed at
addressing the concerns of neighbors.

A new access drive will funnel traffic from two of the homes onto
Curtis Lane instead of Pine street. These new residents are to share an
existing driveway between two Curtis Lane properties. A crash gate
prevents the other eight homeowners from using this route. In addition,
the planning board pushed the much criticized parking lot further into
the development. Now, one of the Jenney Lane homes will front Pine
street, shielding the parking lot from the neighborhood.

It was not clear this week whether these changes will satisfy
neighbors enough to keep the project out of court. A group of neighbors
has already appealed the Martha's Vineyard Commission's November
approval of the project. Yesterday, neighbors said they had not yet
decided whether to drop the commission appeal. The group will also
discuss appealing the planning board approval.

An appeal of the planning board decision would delay the start of
construction.

"The planning board certainly addressed some of our concerns, but
both the density and the parking lot were just glossed over," said David
Wiley, a lifelong Pine street resident and one of the plaintiffs in the
appeal of the MVC decision.

"It's been long and wearing for everybody. But that's the process,"
Mr. Wiley added.

Residents in this longtime working class neighborhood mounted a
feisty protest against the Jenney Lane project last summer. Throughout
the seven months of hearings, neighbors formed a homeowners association,
hired their own traffic planner, filed petitions and sketched
alternative site plans. Exchanges during public hearings were heated and
often personal.

"I think some thought we were blue-collar people and we wouldn't
care if there was more development in the neighborhood. Boy, did they
get a surprise. We're not all blue collar now. We don't all live in
little hovels with dead cars in our yards. You have to be organized
through these hearings. We made them sit up and notice," said Jean
Andrews, a longtime resident of the neighborhood.

The Pine street and Curtis Lane neighborhood has been in flux for
several years. The traditionally working class community is losing its
foothold. These days, practically as many seasonal residents own homes
on these streets as do year-round families.

Mr. Abrams said this review process taught him not to underestimate
the effect of new development on an established neighborhood.

"One of the things I did learn is that we have to recognize what a
big thing this is for a development to come into a neighborhood that
doesn't have it. It's a good thing, but a big thing and partially
responsible for the reactions," said Mr. Abrams.

This project was expected by many to be a slam-dunk, an affordable
housing project that raised the standard for others. It made use of an
available thicket of woods surrounded by 50-year-old homes. The land was
sold for a discount by Ralph and Olivia Jenney, Upper Main street summer
residents who wanted to help the affordable housing problem. The Jenneys
are retaining their lot and two others - all of them covenanted against
further subdivision. The property is within walking distance of the
Edgartown School, the supermarket, town hall and downtown. And the
project made use of existing zoning provisions - a cluster bylaw -
instead of relying on Chapter 40B, a state law that lets developers
skirt some local zoning regulations if a quarter of the housing stock is
affordable.

The number of "smart growth" components was enough to make planners
giddy with excitement.

But neighbors complained of narrow roads already congested with
traffic. They didn't like the cluster-style development, saying the
parking lot and lack of driveways clashed with the character of the
neighborhood.

Dee Lander, a Pine street seasonal resident and plaintiff in the
lawsuit, said he felt the process was unnecessarily hostile.

"The big lesson to be learned here is that projects like this don't
need to be difficult, and they shouldn't be. However, the developer, the
commission and the planning board need to work more closely with the
neighborhood. They should listen more closely to avoid the type of
process we just witnessed," said Mr. Lander.

But these neighbors said they doubted the bad feelings would extend
to the new residents in the Jenney Lane project. In fact, Mr. Lander
said the newcomers will all be invited to join the homeowners
association.