The Gay Head Light relocation project will be referred to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission for possible review as a development of regional impact, the Aquinnah planning board decided this week.
And discussions remain ongoing between the town and abutters who will be affected when the lighthouse is moved sometime next year.
“This whole process is in motion,” planning board chairman Peter Temple said at a public hearing Tuesday. The board voted formally to refer the project to the MVC, although the commission has already said informally that it may pass on the review since the project is already under detailed review by the town, state and tribe.
There is activity on a number of fronts for the lighthouse move. Last week the town learned that one more step had been cleared in the process of transferring ownership of the historic light from the federal government to the town. A wide-ranging effort to raise about $3 million continues, with the second annual 10K road race (dubbed A Race Against Time) planned for Oct. 5. Every Island town has contributed to the project using Community Preservation Act funds. Aquinnah town leaders have already selected a location for the move: a one-acre plot about 135 feet southeast of the current location. Once it is moved, the brick lighthouse, which is a National Historic Landmark, will sit on a knoll behind what is known as the Manning-Merry property and will be more visible to visitors at the Aquinnah Circle.
It will also be closer to a small cluster of four condominiums just off the circle, and the town is in talks with the owners to mitigate any impacts on their summer homes. Len Butler, chairman of the town lighthouse relocation committee, told the planning board Tuesday that he and a small group from his committee have been meeting regularly with the abutters. A lengthy draft agreement calls for the town to provide more screening, build enclosures around outdoor showers at the homes and put some limits on public use of the lighthouse for special events during peak summer months, among other things.
Three abutters also attended the meeting.
“We are the neighbors and we very much want to see the lighthouse located to a safe place, but . . . this has gone from save the lighthouse to save the lighthouse and create a larger tourist attraction to becoming the largest tourist attraction on the Island,” said Jamie Planka, who bought his property recently. “A little over a year ago we knew what we were getting into when we purchased our property next to the lighthouse, but we never thought the lighthouse would be proposed on a residential nonconforming lot,” he said. “Our life savings has gone into this property.”
David and Diane Jensen said they bought their condominium 21 years ago. “We’re not standing here and saying don’t move the lighthouse closer to us. . . . We’re saying okay fine we’ll go all-in with the lighthouse, we’ll bring it 140-feet closer to us, it’s only the distance of about eight car lengths, so do it, but make those restrictions so that they are binding,” Mr. Jensen said, referring to the draft agreement.
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