A long-planned West Tisbury affordable senior housing development has been put on hold as the town considers ways to overcome design challenges and a nearly $1.5 million funding gap. 

The West Tisbury select board voted Tuesday to rescind its request for proposals to build a housing complex at 401 State Road — essentially hitting the pause button on the project planned for a wooded lot on the corner of State Road and Lambert’s Cove Road.

“We could restructure the RFP to include some of the pieces that we have found problematic, to adjust them to make the project more approachable financially,” said Jessica Miller, a select board member and the chair of the town’s affordable housing committee, at a joint meeting of the boards. 

The Vineyard is in the middle of a housing crisis and 401 State Road was aimed at creating more affordable living options for the Island’s growing senior population. First approved by town voters in 2021, the nine-unit town-backed housing development has been dealt with several setbacks, leading to changes and a budget shortfall of $1.4 million.

The initial project designer, South Mountain Co., pulled out of the project in 2022, citing dysfunction on the town’s affordable housing committee. Later, the town realized the request for proposals only allowed for seven apartments, forcing a design reconfiguration. 

In response, Island Housing Trust, an Island-based developer and nonprofit, changed the mix of apartments from seven one-bedroom units and two two-bedroom units to four two-bedroom units and three one-bedroom units, all restricted to people over 60.

The new plan was approved by the town’s planning board on Sept. 9, but the changes and other rising costs pushed the estimated price of the project up from $4 million to about $5.5 million, Philippe Jordi, the executive director of Island Housing Trust, said in an interview earlier this fall. 

“It’s an inherently more expensive project due to these factors,” he said. 

Several town officials Tuesday said the structure of the request for proposals — a document that outlines the town’s requirements for developers — was too restrictive, leaving little wiggle room to overcome hurdles. For instance, the way the request was drawn up, the town could not access funding from the town’s affordable housing trust, nor could it eliminate a proposed common room in the home that was driving up costs. 

Because of this, the board felt it had two options: asking voters at town meeting to cover the $1.4 million funding gap, or rescind the request with the hopes of crafting a new one that could make building the senior apartments easier. 

Ms. Miller was nervous about asking at town meeting for that much money, because if the request was denied, the project would basically be dead in the water. 

The affordable housing committee is now tasked with retooling the request for proposals, in hopes of reengineering a project that would be more feasible to fund and build. 

“I think all of the hard work that’s been done has led us to a point where I believe we will be more successful and have a better project if we stop, cancel the RFP, take the RFP we have, which is 87 per cent done, tease out the parts that don’t work, readjust, put it back out to bid and we can turn it around fairly quickly,” said Jen Rand, the West Tisbury town administrator.

Some questioned the strategy, wondering if it would save the town enough money to make going back to the drawing board worth it. Affordable housing committee member Jefrey DuBard said that even if the committee is able to bring costs down by loosening the request for proposals, it may still end up asking for money at town meeting. 

“If we’re going back to the town in a year, two years, and say, ‘Well, we’re still asking for $800,000,’ it’s an uncertain environment out there,” he said. “Is it worth it?”

If the town does produce a new request for proposals, it will need to go back out to bid for a developer to carry the project over the finish line. That means Island Housing Trust would need to compete again for a chance to work on the project. 

Members of the select board noted the cancellation of the request for proposals was not an indictment of Island Housing Trust’s work, saying the nonprofit had been dedicated to meet the town’s requests. 

“They gave 110 per cent to make this project work,” said select board member Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter. 

If the design of the project is significantly changed, the town may need to go back through permitting again, according to Ms. Miller, but the select board hoped that the development wouldn’t grow or shrink too much during the pause.

“The intention is definitely not to stop this project,” she said. “It is to hit a very momentary pause and get it rolling again.”