The Martha’s Vineyard Commission will soon decide the fate of a proposed 31-acre subdivision on Pine Hill Road in West Tisbury.
Last week, the commission closed a public hearing on a plan by Joe El-Deiry and John Keene to divide 31 acres of former farmland into five residential lots of varying sizes.
The proposal includes constructing two houses on each of the three larger parcels, and one on each of the smaller lots.
Commissioners won’t cast a final vote on the development until after West Tisbury’s annual town meeting on April 14. An article on the warrant asks voters to designate Pine Hill Road as a special way, affording it special protections against development.
If the town backs the designation, Mr. El-Deiry can apply for a special permit to use the road.
Since the public hearing opened in March, the agency’s review of the development has attracted little public participation. The project was referred to the commission due to scope and habitat considerations.
Most of the discussion at the commission has centered around wastewater and habitat issues.
The Natural Heritage and Endangered Species program, the state agency that protects wildlife, has given “informal, preliminary approval” for development within the habitat area as long as it does not disturb an area larger than five acres, according to the applicant.
The property is located in the Tisbury Great Pond watershed, which is overloaded with nitrogen, a water pollutant.
The largest lots will be limited to homes with six bedrooms apiece, unless an experimental unit called a biobarrier wins approval from the state department of environmental protection. The biobarrier, which is designed to remove even more nitrogen than a standard denitrification unit, would enable developers to increase the number of bedrooms to 10.
In other business on Thursday, the commission voted to allow renovations at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital without a formal public hearing review process.
The hospital plans to open a walk-in clinic in the former emergency department, a 3,620-square-foot space that has stood empty since a hospital expansion in 2010.
Hospital attorney Sean E. Murphy said the new clinic will absorb much of the emergency room traffic.
“Not only does it relieve stress off the emergency room but it’s also far more cost effective for Islanders,” he said.
Commissioners unanimously rejected a public hearing on the changes.
The commission also heard a brief report from a subcommittee in charge of finding the next executive director for the regional planning agency. This week, the MVC will interview four finalists for the position of executive director.
The candidates, who were chosen from an original pool of 33, are Deborah Melino-Wender, director of development for the town of Dartmouth; Peter Temple, executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Donors Collaborative; Adam Turner, town planner for Colchester, Conn.; and Bradford Washburn, assistant director of the state Office of Coastal Zone Management. Resumes for each of the candidates are posted at www.mvcommission.org.
Interviews start Wednesday at 5 p.m. at the commission building at 33 New York avenue, Oak Bluffs. Three candidates will appear on Wednesday for one hour and 15-minute interviews. On Thursday, the MVC will interview the final applicant at 6 p.m. before deliberating. A final decision is also scheduled for Thursday evening.
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