Commission Delays Vote on Oyster Bar

Land Use Subcommittee Recommends Against Oak Bluffs Eatery
Expansion, Leaving Full Commission in Doubt

By IAN FEIN

The Martha's Vineyard Commission last Thursday unanimously
approved a downtown Edgartown subdivision and a members-only tennis and
racquetball club off State Road in West Tisbury.

But a final vote on the proposed demolition and expansion of a
Circuit avenue restaurant in Oak Bluffs was delayed a few weeks at the
request of the applicants, who now want to modify their plan after a key
commission subcommittee last Monday recommended that the full board deny
the proposal.

All three projects have been under review by the commission as
developments of regional impact.

Size, intensity of use and a lack of parking were the primary
reasons cited by commission members who voted 5-1 at a subcommittee
meeting on June 18 to recommend denying the Oyster Bar and Grill
expansion. The proposed three-story, 12,000-square-foot structure would
have replaced an existing one-story building that dates to the late 19th
century.

The negative recommendation for the project surprised other
commission members, who noted at Thursday's meeting that the
proposed vertical expansion with upstairs apartments in the downtown
business district represents the type of development that the commission
encourages in its policies and plans.

One week earlier, the commission approved a town-sponsored
affordable housing subdivision in the woods of Chilmark that violates
the same smart-growth planning principles.

Smart growth is a land use planning theory that concentrates
development in compact, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly centers and
discourages suburban sprawl.

Commission member James Athearn of Edgartown, who cast the lone vote
of dissent on the Chilmark subdivision, was visibly frustrated with his
colleagues on Thursday.

"In my opinion, this plan doesn't need much
changing," Mr. Athearn said of the Oyster Bar proposal. "The
negative comments that came up at the [subcommittee] meeting the other
night really floored me."

Oyster Bar co-owner Michael Gillespie on Thursday indicated that he
will probably rework the plan by further scaling back a proposed
second-floor function hall, which garnered opposition from neighbors in
the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association at two lengthy
public hearings held by the commission this spring. The modified
proposal will now return to a third public hearing at the commission
later this summer.

"We think we can modify this in a way that might make
everybody happier," Mr. Gillespie told commission members last
week. "It might be a better solution for ourselves and the
neighborhood."

Both projects approved by the commission Thursday also were located
within the central business districts of their respective towns.

The West Tisbury proposal calls for an outdoor tennis court and a
3,000-square-foot building that would house an indoor racquetball court,
pro shop and two offices. The club would be located on one of two
abutting lots, totaling a little over an acre, owned by applicant James
Ferry.

Commission members approved the project on Thursday after noting
that the commercial parcel could have been developed with a more
intensive, traffic-generating use, and that the recreational facility
will provide a healthy outlet for Island residents. The commission also
included a condition of approval requiring additional landscaping to
better screen the club from neighbors.

The downtown Edgartown subdivision posed a procedurally difficult
project for some commission members to review.

The proposal calls for redrawing two odd-shaped lots totalling
roughly three-quarters of an acre into seven separate parcels. But the
applicant - who is trying to sell the property and is using the
subdivision as a marketing tool - is not proposing any actual
development at this time.

"In essence what we have before you is an application to do
nothing," said Boston attorney Kevin Kerr, who is representing
property owner Timothy O'Connell.

Home of the former Shiretown Inn, the property runs along the
western side of Simpson's Lane between North Water and North
Summer streets.

The proposal triggered commission review as a subdivision of
commercially zoned land. Over the course of two weeks, commission
members struggled to approve the plan in a way that did not
unintentionally allow intensive future use. A separate group of
Edgartown investors, led by Gerret Conover Jr. and Thomas Leclair, has
been considering buying three of the seven lots for use as a downtown
parking lot and staging area for the Chappaquiddick ferry.

Ultimately, commission approval of the subdivision allowed for
redevelopment similar to past use - which included more than 40
bedrooms spread between the inn and separate homes, as well as a
4,500-square-foot bar or restaurant - but required that any use
beyond that require a return to the regional planning agency for further
review.

The unanimous decision also granted an after-the-fact approval for
the demolition of the Hideaway Pub, Ciao Bella Restaurant, and a long
carriage house building on the property. Although the town historic
district commission permitted the demolition in March, Martha's
Vineyard Commission rules show that the proposed work should have been
referred to the regional body prior to the buildings coming down.

Also key to the commission approval last week was an offer from the
applicants regarding contributions to affordable housing, which emerged
as a possible sticking point for the subdivision. In order to comply
with commission housing policies, the applicants agreed to pay the
donation required for commercial development, but also allowed that any
future residential project on the land must abide by commission
guidelines regarding the creation of affordable units as well.

"I guess you guys can have your cake and eat it too,"
Mr. O'Connell said of the applicants' housing offer.