Developer William Cumming has offered to scrap the retail component of his proposed income-restricted condominium complex, Green Villa, which is under consideration by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

In an April 10 email to the commission, Mr. Cumming said he is willing to replace the four retail buildings in his application with four two-story apartment buildings holding 36 dwellings. 

“Residential creates substantially less traffic than what we proposed in terms of the retail,” he told commissioners at a hearing Thursday.

Green Villa, proposed to be built near the ice rink along Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Oak Bluffs, is one of the largest residential housing projects to come before the MVC. 

Replacing the storefronts with housing would cut 50 per cent of the vehicle traffic from Green Villa, Mr. Cumming said, during the third installment of a public MVC hearing that began in February and will continue in May.

The additional apartments would bring the total number of dwelling units to 136, all of them deed-restricted to year-round occupancy by owners earning from 80 per cent to 150 per cent of the area median income.

In his email, Mr. Cumming said he would offer 20 of the added units to employees of Island schools who earn up to 100 per cent of the median income for this area.

“Based on legal work previously undertaken with the Islandwide school system and IHT [Island Housing Trust], which was presented to DHCD [Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development], we are confident this school preference is a fair housing valid preference proposal,” he wrote.

Nine of the additional units would be available to households earning up to 80 per cent of the area median and seven to buyers earning 150 per cent of the area median.

While easier on traffic, the added apartments would add substantially to the nitrogen-rich wastewater coming from Green Villa, which is located in the already-impaired watershed for Sengekontacket Pond.

Mr. Cumming said that this problem would be solved if the complex connects to the town of Oak Bluffs’ expanded sewer system, but MVC water resource planner Sheri Caseau said it’s not that simple.

“Even on the sewer, they’re still over the water quality policy limit, and there would have to be some mitigation,” Ms. Caseau said.

There’s also the fact that Mr. Cumming and the town are communicating mainly through the legal system: Oak Bluffs has sued the developer in Dukes County Superior Court, and also appealed to the state Housing Appeal Committee over the project.

Town officials say Mr. Cumming is misusing state Chapter 40B, which allows some relief from zoning bylaws when affordable housing is being built.

Commissioner Douglas Sederholm said it was up to Mr. Cumming, and not the MVC, whether or not to switch from retail to residential for the part of the complex facing Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.

“The applicant proposes a project, and we vote yes or no, and we add conditions [for] approval, but you are going to make the decision,” he said, adding that Mr. Cumming also needs to provide more information to the MVC.

“There’s more work to be done, at least on the nitrogen and the traffic and your … possible decision to go with all residential. We certainly aren’t ready to finish this public hearing now,” Mr. Sederholm said, setting May 15 as the next continuation of the Green Villa hearing.

Commissioners also continued a hearing on Millers’ Professionals’ proposed expansion at the airport business park and voted to allow planned renovation work at the Chilmark School to proceed without MVC review.

On April 17, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission will continue with its public hearing on another project of Mr. Cumming’s, the proposed Edgartown Gardens condo complex for residents aged 55 and older.

The continued hearing on Katama Meadows, a proposed mixed-income subdivision in Edgartown, also is on the agenda along with the commission’s deliberation and decision on a proposed demolition on Massasoit avenue in Vineyard Haven.