Chilmark selectmen announced last Friday an agreement to buy a plot of land on Tabor House Road, which will help the board move forward with plans to build the first town-sponsored affordable housing project in Chilmark.
“This is the last piece of the puzzle,” board chairman Warren Doty said this week by telephone.
According to the agreement, reached during an executive session meeting Friday afternoon, Walter A. Jenkinson Jr., Blair Emin and Keith Emin will sell a .7 acre lot to the town for $225,000. The deal is subject to a vote on town meeting floor.
On Jan. 8, Chilmark selectmen announced a deal, also subject to approval from town voters, to purchase a lot, which abuts the Jenkinson/Emin property, for $275,000 from Beverly Gillis Jaksa. The purchase allowed selectmen to create a new entrance to the Middle Line Road affordable housing project from Tabor House Road. At the time, selectmen said they planned to pursue the possible acquisition of this second lot as well.
Together, the acquisition of the two properties will resolve concerns about sight lines and safety on the access road, raised by both the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and the town planning board while reviewing preliminary plans for the site this spring.
The deals will allow selectmen to reroute the access road and relocate the entrance to improve sight lines in the final plans for the project, which they will present to both the planning board and the commission for approval in the coming weeks.
In addition, the two lots will ensure a patch of open land between the affordable housing project and the capped town landfill. The parcels also will permit creation of a walking trail joining Holman and Middle Line roads with the road to Peaked Hill.
The planning board will host a public hearing on Feb. 11 at 4:30 p.m. in town hall to discuss the final plan for the housing project. Mr. Doty said town residents can expect a special town meeting sometime in March to vote on the acquisition of the two properties.
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