Office Building Eyed for State Road

By MANDY LOCKE

A 10,000-square-foot office building proposed for a congested
stretch of State Road in Tisbury has shaken neighbors still trying to
carve out a quiet residential life on this busy thoroughfare.

"We're the orphans from 1972 when the business district
crept up the street," said Shirley Kennedy, a lifetime resident of
Causeway Road, a residential street just up the hill from Main street.

Ms. Kennedy registered her complaints with the Martha's
Vineyard Commission as members reviewed the project as a development of
regional impact.

Just within the borders of the downtown Tisbury business district,
longtime property owners Gerald and Martha Sullivan want to build an
eight-unit office building along State Road at its intersection with
Causeway Road. The three-story building would be constructed on the
slope in front of the Edmond G. Coogan Law Office, on the same half-acre
site. If built, the attorneys would relocate to the new office building,
and the three-bedroom house currently hosting the law office would
revert to a year-round rental for a municipal employee.

Only the top two stories of the structures, which are designed to
look like three residential homes, will be visible from State Road. In
one section of this 142-foot-long building, a first-floor terrace
connects two pieces, providing a visual break in the structure along the
State Road streetscape.

"The mass and scale of this project, I find shocking,"
said Judith Federowicz, chairman of the William Street Historic District
Commission, which often weighs in on projects proposed in the downtown
area.

"The mass and scale of the Mansion House building has
certainly had an impact on the town, and I think we need to think twice
before we do that again," said Ms. Federowicz.

While neighbors did express concern that the Causeway Road office
building would dwarf homes immediately surrounding it, the prospect of
nearly 200 added car trips a day to this clogged highway dominated much
of Thursday night's discussion.

The applicant's traffic consultant said that congestion is bad
enough in this area that adding 176 more trips wouldn't make it
any worse. The MVC's own figures put peak traffic in the area at
18,000 vehicles per day.

"On a rough day in the summertime, [drivers coming out of
Causeway Road] are relying on the kindness of strangers to make a left
turn," said Andrew Grant, a traffic consultant retained by the
Sullivans.

Neighbors confirmed Mr. Grant's assessment.

"Those of us living here don't have the luxury of
avoiding the ‘wrong time of day,' " said Helen
Gelotte, who lives along this section of State Road.

Residents described traffic so loud and incessant they can no longer
carry on conversations on their front porches. They complained of
five-minute waits to turn from their side streets onto State Road and of
fences being knocked down by careless drivers. For some neighbors in
this area, the Causeway Road office building promised more of the same
elements - traffic and noise - they've been enduring
for years.

The Sullivans are undertaking this $1.5 million project to build
equity to pass on to their sons. Soon to be retired public educators in
Boston, the Sullivans will be operating on a tight budget. Even after
collecting an average of $1,950 per office each month, their budget
forecasts no profit for the 20-year life of the mortgage.

"Our proposal is ambitious, but we believe in the future. In a
sense we feel like a pair of cats in a room full of rocking
chairs," Mr. Sullivan admitted in a letter to commissioners.

Cost concerns caused the Sullivans to shed several third-floor
affordable apartments proposed in an early version of the project.
Insurance rates, Mr. Sullivan said, jumped from less than $5,000 a year
to more than $15,000 when residential units were added to the mix.

"As explained to me, and as you well know, residential
insurance on the Island has gone haywire," Mr. Sullivan told
commissioners.

Mr. Sullivan is also asking to be excused from the $13,000
affordable housing contribution recommended by the commission's
guidelines.

Several residents questioned the need for more office space in
Tisbury. An office building has just been completed in the last year on
Church street, and commissioners several years ago approved an office
complex yet to be built along Beach Road.

Commissioners have asked the applicant to explore the issue further.

"The reason it concerns us if there is a need. . . .
It's certainly the impetus for people coming back to us years from
now and asking for more use," said commissioner Linda Sibley.

The applicant is proposing an on-site septic system for the project;
a two-year building moratorium is in place for the town's recently
installed sewer system. The leaching field for the septic system is
located 108 feet from a designated wetland. Groundwater flows in the
direction of the harbor.

The Sullivans will need permission from both the town conservation
commission and the board of health for the proposed septic system.

The office building, as proposed, is allowed by right in the B1
business district. "I didn't write the rules, and I
attempted to play by the rules during this process," said Mr.
Sullivan.

The public hearing has been continued to July 15.