A neighbor’s legal challenge over parking at a planned Oak Bluffs inn failed in the state Land Court last month, leaving the approvals of the project intact. 

Judge Robert B. Foster ruled that the Oak Bluffs planning board was within its rights to grant the Four Sisters Inn on Narragansett avenue a special permit, despite claims from a neighbor that it didn’t have enough parking spaces and the one it did have wasn’t large enough. 

Neighbors had raised concerns about the lack of parking on Narragansett avenue, a largely residential street, during the permitting process. 

Town planning officials previously said that if the case had fallen in favor of neighbor Rita Bartolomeu, it could have wide-ranging effects on Oak Bluffs parking, where many businesses don’t have their own dedicated parking spots. 

Ms. Bartolomeu filed the lawsuit in May 2023, arguing that the planning board shouldn’t have given her next-door neighbors Harry and Elizabeth Marshall a permit to build the four-bedroom bed and breakfast. Ms. Bartolomeu claimed that the project should have been required to have five of its own off-street parking spots. 

“Instead of proposing to construct an ‘inn’ that meets off-street zoning requirements, the Marshalls’ proposed project attempts to maximize the size of the structure on the property to the detriment of other amenities that would serve the community, such as off-street parking,” Ms. Bartolomeu’s attorney wrote in her complaint.

But Judge Foster in his Jan. 21 ruling determined that the board can, under its bylaws, waive parking requirements, and the board properly applied the regulations.

The court also upheld the town’s pay in lieu of parking program, which allows businesses to pay an annual fee if they can’t meet certain parking requirements. Ms. Bartolomeu claimed it was an illegal tax. 

Ms. Bartolomeu’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. 

The Four Sisters Inn was initially approved by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission in January 2023. The commission imposed several conditions, including requirements for the inn owners to encourage guests to not bring cars, provide bus passes to guests and direct all deliveries to the nearby Waban avenue. 

Those conditions were also adopted by the town planning board.

If the case had gone in Ms. Bartolomeu’s favor, it could have been the death of the Four Sisters Inn project due to changes approved at town meeting. Last year voters changed the zoning on Narragansett avenue from commercial business to residential, meaning the project wouldn’t have been allowed under the new regulations.

“I think it was the right result,” Marilyn Vukota said of the judge’s decision. “It was a little tricky…If the Marshalls were not successful, they could not retry and apply again.”