The Edgartown planning board heard sharp opposition to a proposed building project at the site of an old home on Beach street and saw a conceptual plan for a 36-lot residential development off Meetinghouse Way at their meeting Tuesday evening.
In a continued public hearing, the board heard revised plans for demolition and reconstruction of the home at 2 Beach street. The application for a special permit was filed by Beach Street Property, a corporation managed by Alexander Marx, a longtime Edgartown summer resident.
The new owners, who bought the property two years ago, want to demolish a 1,926-square-foot home that was built around 1890 and replace it with a new 2,064-square-foot home. A special permit is required because the project is on a lot that predates zoning laws and does not comply with current zoning regulations. Beach street is a short side street situated off Dunham Road that leads to a small sandy patch on the Edgartown harbor.
The Martha's Vineyard Commission last year reviewed the plan as a development of regional impact because of the age of the original home, and approved the demolition.
On Tuesday Geoghan Coogan, a Vineyard Haven attorney representing the owner, said architects have revised plans to modify the building height and clarify parking in response to concerns expressed by the planning board abou scale.
“Clearly, in our opinion the architecture and the size fits with all the other buildings,” Mr. Coogan said. “The building itself is very similar to the direct abutters.”
But abutters are objecting to the plan and on Tuesday night planning board members cited a lack of communication between the property owner and the neighbors.
Some wrote letters to the planning board.
“The whole process has been very discouraging and not representative of anything neighborly,” wrote neighbors Kim and Barret Naylor.
The planning board is concerned about the size of the planned building project on a corner lot of less than one-tenth of an acre.
“This is certainly the most non-conforming structure I’ve ever dealt with in my seven years on the board,” said Robert Sparks, speaking of the current house. “It’s a tiny, tiny, tiny lot, even by the standards of a downtown property. This board doesn’t make properties more non-conforming.”
The planning board continued the hearing, after Mr. Coogan requested more time to discuss further revisions to the building plans.
Also Tuesday the board heard information about a proposed housing development on a 55-acre parcel at 139 Meetinghouse Way. The developer is Gerry Jackson. Engineer Douglas Hoehn told the board plans are still preliminary. He presented a conceptual sketch that showed 36 building lots, with an outdoor common area and a community garden.
He said the developers have had preliminary discussions with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission staff. They plan to do a traffic study and an evaluation of the habitat even though the land is not protected under the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species program, according to Mr. Hoehn.
The property falls within the watershed of the Edgartown Great Pond.
“This project only works if we get tied to town sewer,” Mr. Hoehn said, adding that restrictions on the number of septic systems regulators would allow would make likely scuttle the plans.
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