The West Tisbury select board last week banned planting trees, shrubs and bushes in all town cemeteries.
The board took the vote last Wednesday after the cemetery superintendent at Lambert’s Cove Cemetery requested a change in regulations. The superintendent did not want to make decisions on a case by case basis.
“He’s explained that when plantings take place and they get bigger, they actually impede other grave spots,” town administrator Jennifer Rand said. “Visually, he feels historically cemeteries tend to be quite open spaces.”
After the vote, the select board said the town would make a more formal policy with clear guidelines.
Also Wednesday, the board voted to ask the state to do a speed study of Old County Road at Edgartown-West Tisbury Road due to safety concerns in the area.
But Ms. Rand warned that, after a meeting with a state Department of Transportation employee, there could be obstacles to getting that work done.
“If there is not a heavy increase in accidents or a change, they are unlikely to do a speed study because there would be no trigger for that…. Seasonality of traffic is not part of their study,” Ms. Rand said.
Beyond the possibility of the request for the test not being fulfilled, the results of the test could cause speed limits to increase rather than decrease.
“She also did caution that if we do a speed study, it could be that the speed limit goes up, because she said it’s based on how fast 85 per cent of the cars travel through there,” Ms. Rand continued. “She said cars are frankly better, and so speeds safe speeds actually have gone up, and so the outcome may not be what people are looking for.”
Board Member Jessica Miller advocated for trying to get the speed study done, citing complaints.
“I am hearing from a lot of people, and I personally am feeling like I wish there were something we could do,” Ms. Miller said. “This feels like sort of our only option for what we might be able to do. I know it might not result in what we want, but I do feel like we need to try something.”
This article appears in September 25 2026.