General overrides, school repairs and new bylaw language will all be decided at the West Tisbury annual town meeting next week.

Town meeting takes place Tuesday, April 8 at the West Tisbury School, beginning at 6 p.m. There will also be a special town meeting at 5:55 p.m. to vote on classifying West Tisbury as a seasonal community designation.

Childcare will be available at the school from 5:45 to 9 p.m. To register, email wt_mail@clamsnet.org or call 508-693-3366.

The quorum is set at 137 people. Caroline Flanders steps into the role of moderator this year.

The warrant includes 64 articles and a proposed budget of $27,892,230.69, an increase of approximately 7.6 per cent from last year.

The town will also ask residents to approve a Proposition 2 1/2 general override of $1.6 million dollars and two debt exclusions relating to the West Tisbury School and the town’s share of the Up-Island Regional School District.

The general override arose from various spending increases within the town, including new positions and line items.

The town will ask residents to approve a Proposition 2 1/2 general override of $1.6 million dollars relating to the West Tisbury School. — Ray Ewing

“The town itself definitely owns parts of this increase,” town administrator Jennifer Rand said at a select board meeting in February. “We have new positions and we’ve expanded a little bit ourselves.”

New positions include a facilities manager, fire protection officer and local inspector.

If approved, the general override will have an effect on taxes, according to town assessor MacGregor Anderson.  

“The proposed override for the upcoming meeting would have cost the owner of a median home almost exactly $500 in FY25,” he said. “That cost is unlikely to change much for the upcoming fiscal year 2026.”

The median single family home value in fiscal year 2025 was $1,448,000.

The Up-Island Regional School District is asking the town for $200,000 for capital expenses, which mainly consist of HVAC repairs at the West Tisbury School and taking down the bell tower at the Chilmark School, according to Up-Island Regional School committee vice chair Alex Salop.

“[It’s] a combo of the need to improve our heating and AC in certain areas along with installation of mini splits to accomplish the goal,” he said.

The town is also asking voters to fund a $700,000 feasibility study for a proposed renovation of the West Tisbury School.

According to school business administrator Mark Friedman, the need for the feasibility study originated from a study done in 2022 that focused on energy efficiency. After additional consultation with architects, school administrators decided a new feasibility study would be needed to evaluate space requirements for various education programs.  

“It was determined...that the most prudent way forward would include a complete review of the educational programs that are currently there or needed, so that whatever renovation would be done would meet not just today’s needs, but the needs of the future,” Mr. Friedman said.

Along with much of the Island, West Tisbury will be voting on a bylaw that aims to limit the use of leaf blowers. The bylaw allows for operation between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and no use on Sundays. Gas-blowers would be banned by June 1, 2028.

A citizen’s petition from the historic district commission is seeking to create a Mill Pond Preservation Committee. This comes as the town’s existing watershed management committee recently released the findings of their study, indicating that the pond is reaching dangerously high temperatures. The new committee would aim to find the best practices to preserve, restore and manage the pond.

Two articles deal with state-mandated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) tracking. PFAS has been detected in various locations since 2023 near the West Tisbury fire station and the closed landfill.

“This year, there will be a warrant article to put voters on notice, next year it’s going in the budget, because this is an unfunded mandate that we’re going to be paying forever,” Ms. Rand said at a select board meeting last week.

Several new bylaw implementations and changes are also on the town warrant, including an event bylaw. The bylaw includes details on how many events are allowed per year, the event permitting process, exemptions and enforcement policies.  

“Last year, we had a situation in town where something was going on that we felt needed an event permit,” Ms. Rand said. “The individual did not agree with that assessment, and so they appealed that to the ZBA, and the ZBA said [they] don’t have anything to hang their hat on here. You don’t have anything defining what an event is. That was perhaps not an unreasonable response. Then the question was, how do we dig into this a little bit further?”

If approved, West Tisbury would be the first town on the Island to have such a bylaw in place.

Adding language to the zoning bylaw that addresses accessory dwelling units (ADUs) is also on the warrant. The new wording lays out how an ADU can be built in relation to the principal unit, among other regulations, including ADUs not being used as short-term rentals.

“I anticipate that people might be concerned about the no short term rentals requirement, but we’re trying to encourage longer term use and neighborhood stability,” planning board member Leah Smith said at a public hearing Monday.

Residents will also decide on whether to change the town meeting quorum from five per cent of registered voters to a fixed amount of 100 voters.

“Based on the fact that we are having a tricky time getting quorums, the board collectively felt it was worth putting to the voters,” Ms. Rand said.

Caroline Flanders said she is looking forward to moderating her first town meeting.

“Not only is the warrant longer than normal, but there are several articles that seem likely to generate lively debate,” she said.

Ms. Flanders has an extensive background in law and public service, and has served on the Affordable Housing Committee, Community Preservation Committee, the Library Board of Trustees, along with several nonprofit boards.  

“I like serving and I like helping,” she said. “I [would be at town meeting] anyway, and I know that I can do it. I’m proud that I have a long track record of service to the town of West Tisbury.”

The West Tisbury annual town meeting takes place April 8 at the West Tisbury School, beginning at 6 p.m. The full warrant is available on the town’s website.