Edgartown selectmen conditionally approved a conservation restriction on Tower Hill Road, received a green light from the state on the town tax rate and formally accepted an award for the town’s water department in a busy but quick meeting Monday.

The conservation restriction will cover a 10-acre parcel of land at 35 Tower Hill Road on Katama Bay, just south of the fork in Herring Creek and Katama Roads. The land is owned by a trust managed by Edwin N. Woods, 2nd, according to a copy of the restriction provided to the Gazette. The property includes a small seasonal beach cottage along with pitch pine woodland. The Vineyard Conservation Society will hold the conservation restriction, according to documents.

A larger, 30-acre inland parcel just off Katama Road was subdivided from the beachfront property in 2016. Mr. Woods plans to retain a five acre parcel and continue to use the cottage seasonally.

At the meeting Monday, attorney Victoria Fletcher and VCS executive director Brendan O’Neill explained that the land has been in the Woods family since the 1890s, and that Mr. Woods did not want the property to be subdivided in the future. The conservation restriction protects scenic landscapes, property views and a small area for agricultural use in perpetuity.

“This is the old Frances Newhall Woods bath house down on the bay,” Mr. O’Neill said.

Although the entire property is classified as rare imperial moth habitat, the town cannot use the property for habitat mitigation because of its agricultural uses.

Selectmen voted unanimously to approve the conservation restriction on condition that it passes muster with town counsel Ronald Rappaport. Selectman Michael Donaroma said the town should think about future moth habitat mitigation.

“It’s a toss up between agriculture and moth credit for the town. I don’t know which one if more important. Just something to think about,” Mr. Donaroma said.

In other business, town administrator James Hagerty informed selectmen that the state Department of Revenue had officially signed off on the town’s tax rate at $3.28 per $1,000 property valuation. Mr. Hagerty said tax bills would go out by Dec. 31.

The tax rate marks a drop from last year’s $3.35 rate.

“That’s good news,” selectman Arthur Smadbeck said.

Selectmen also announced that the state Department of Environmental Protection had awarded the town water department for outstanding performance and achievement in medium and large community systems for the year 2019. The award marks the second year in a row that the Edgartown water department has been recognized by the state.

Manager Bill Chapman thanked staff for their contribution to the town’s water system, scoring in the top 12.1 per cent of all statewide water systems.

“Water systems are unique animals in the municipal government, and sometimes it seems like we don’t get the recognition that we deserve for what we actually do, with that being the sustainability of the safety and the health of the community,” Mr. Chapman said. “The caliber of the operation of the Edgartown water department is known throughout the state.”

Selectmen also appointed Jay Sigler to the council on aging, and voted to support a rapid recovery grant with the Edgartown Board of Trade as the lead applicant.