The developers behind a controversial housing project in Edgartown are planning to withdraw their application and propose more units targeted at Islanders in the “missing middle” income bracket.
Situated on a 54-acre parcel off Meeting House Way, Katama Meadows in December proposed to create 26 single-family home lots, 12 duplex units and 36 low-income housing units. The project is currently before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission as a development of regional impact (DRI) and the town planning board.
But, at the suggestion of the town select board and affordable housing committee, the developers are planning to significantly change the proposal to target people who earn too much to qualify for affordable housing while still remaining out of reach of the Island’s sky high real estate market.
“We’re withdrawing at the MVC,” Katama Meadows attorney Robert Moriarty said at a meeting of the Edgartown planning board Tuesday. “It’s going to be a new DRI.”
The home lots initially were proposed to be sold on the open market and the duplexes were planned to be deed-restricted to buyers who live on the Island year-round. The affordable apartments were targeted for people making between 30 per cent and 80 per cent of the area median income, and were planned to be financed through the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.
The apartments and duplexes appear to be on the outs after the Edgartown select board, in a letter to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, said it wanted to see units be dedicated to middle income earners.
“While the Selectboard is committed to supporting housing initiatives that serve year-round residents and meeting broad housing needs of our community, we share the [affordable housing committee’s] position that the current Low-Income Housing Tax Credit subcomponent of the Katama Meadows proposal does not adequately address Edgartown’s most pressing housing challenges – particularly with respect to year-round housing for working families, municipal employees, and moderate-income households,” the board wrote in a May 27 letter.
Katama Meadows plans to withdraw its application from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and the Edgartown planning board, and hopefully have a new plan in the next two weeks or so, Mr. Moriarty said.
Though the new plan may still shift, the attorney filled the Edgartown planning board in about some of the details Tuesday. As of this week, Mr. Moriarty said Katama Meadows intends to donate 14 8,000 square-foot lots to Edgartown that would range from 80 per cent of the area median income to 180 per cent.
The duplex lots would be cut in half, resulting in 12 lots restricted to up to 250 per cent of the area median income.
“What’s going to come back is another form C subdivision with a special permit application for a cluster development,” Mr. Moriarty said, similar to another project proposed near Jernegan Pond Road in Edgartown.
Mr. Moriarty told town hall staff about the tentative project revamp earlier this month, and said the former duplex lots would sell for $295,000 to year-round residents, according to an email from the town’s affordable housing manager that was obtained by the Gazette. The new proposal would also give the town’s affordable housing trust 1 per cent of the sales of the market-rate lots in perpetuity, affordable housing manager Shanette Deleon wrote to other town officials in the email.
Overall, the project would have 26 below-market-rate lots and 26 market-rate lots, she wrote.
When the Gazette reached Mr. Moriarty by phone on Wednesday, he declined to comment further on the details and emphasized that things were still being hammered out.
“Stay tuned,” he said. “It’s going to be an exciting new proposal.”
This will be the fourth iteration of the housing development and subdivision on land owned by Utah-based developers Douglas Anderson and Richard Matthews. Katama Meadows precursor Meeting House Way was initially proposed in 2018 to create a 36-home subdivision. By 2020, the plan had changed to a 28-lot subdivision with 14 townhouses.
That proposal was denied by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission in a 10-4 vote, largely because it wasn’t within the character of the Island and didn’t meet the needs of the Vineyard’s housing crisis.
The developers sued over the decision, but the commission had its ruling held up by a Dukes County Superior Court judge in a landmark 2023 decision. Meeting House Way, as it was still named at the time, appealed that ruling to the state Appeals Court, where a settlement is still pending.
The initial Katama Meadows plan was born out of settlement discussions, and had only just started to go through the Martha’s Vineyard Commission public review process. Since the developers applied to the commission earlier this year, nearly 70 letters, almost entirely in opposition to the project, have flooded in, largely due to the size of the development and the potential impact nearby Edgartown Great Pond.
“While I appreciate their attention to the need for affordable housing on the Island, the development’s environmental impact far outweighs its benefits to Islanders,” Christine Ferrone wrote to the commission. “The fragile ecosystem of our Island is already compromised by the over-development of which we continue to feel the impact.”
Mr. Moriarty acknowledged at the Edgartown planning board Tuesday that Meeting House Way’s initial proposals were “bad.” Katama Meadows’ first proposal was better, he said, but this latest version would be a cut above.
“This, what’s coming at you, is by far the best plan,” he said. “Especially for the town of Edgartown.”
His declaration only got so far with some members of the planning board, which would have to sign off on the new proposal after its officially filed.
“You’re the lawyer,” said member Julia Livingston. “You have to say that, but we’ll be the judge.”
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