Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

The following letter was sent to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

When our mother found 108 Center street in 1980 it reminded her of where she grew up, a quintessential New England village in rural Rhode Island. She loved what everyone on Center and Spring streets loves: that the streets are lively with children going to and from school, that everything you could possibly need, (the A&P, Mad Martha’s, the movies, Bunch of Grapes, Leslie’s, Brickman’s, and the library) is within walking distance, and that just three blocks away from Main street, a country quiet descends each evening as sunny skies give way to million-star nights.

“Martha’s Vineyard possesses unique natural, historical, ecological, scientific, cultural and other values . . . These values are being threatened and may be irreversibly damaged by uncoordinated or inappropriate uses of the land.”

The legislation that formed the MVC acknowledges these qualities our mom and our neighbors hold so dear, and notes their fragility if left unprotected. And fortunately, protections are in place in the form of good zoning, planning, and enforcement. Zoning laws dictate lot coverage, nature of occupancy, and more. Unfortunately, in the case of 97 Spring street, those protections have been pushed aside; building permits were issued for too much lot coverage without a hearing, no one questioned a “single-family” house with multiple kitchens and laundry facilities. And even as the MVC publishes a report on the scarcity of single-family housing for year-round residents, a transient-use dorm is approved where a single-family house once was. We hope that the MVC, which has worked so hard to preserve the best of Martha’s Vineyard, will put 97 Spring street back within the bounds of an R10 lot and continue to work for the preservation of neighborhoods and open spaces so that generations to come find a home here.

The aspects that drew our mom to Center street are fostered and preserved by good zoning, planning, and enforcement. Our mom has dementia and is too frail to attend the meeting, but it is our duty to make sure her voice is heard, just as it is the duty of the MVC to represent the interests of the people and the place over the interests of uncoordinated, inappropriate, and illegal development.

Thank you for your time, your work, and your service to our community,

Niamh, Deirdre, Conor, and MacDara Bohan

Vineyard Haven