Community Preservation Comes Before Taxpayers at Annual Town Meeting
By JAMES KINSELLA Gazette Senior Writer
Abbe Burt looks at initiatives such as the Community Preservation
Act and the Community Housing Bank, and sees important ways of
addressing the Vineyard's lack of affordable housing.
Richard Combra, an Oak Bluffs selectman, looks at the same
initiatives and sees another tax on Island residents.
Weighing the pressing need for affordable housing over its other planning principles, the Martha's Vineyard Commission early this morning approved with heavy conditions an unusual 11-unit subdivision in the rural outposts of Edgartown.
"This is really a referendum on us as a community. If we can't find a way to provide homes for our working-class residents, then we fail," said commissioner Chris Murphy of Chilmark. "The results of this project are damn good. I think the applicant should be proud, and we should be proud."
A Massachusetts Land Court judge last week solidly denied a motion
for reconsideration from a group of neighbors who are trying to fight
three affordable one-acre homesites on Chappaquiddick.
Edgartown town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport yesterday said the ruling
- which directly rejected a series of claims made by the
neighbors' attorney - speaks volumes about the nature of the
case.
Morgan Woods affordable housing development in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard has won the 2008 Urban Land Institute’s J. Ronald Terwilliger Workforce Housing Models of Excellence Award.
The award recognizes exemplary developments that meet workforce housing needs in high cost communities. Entries are judged on specific criteria including: extent of affordability, involvement of public/private partnership, energy cost savings, green construction and innovative building technologies that reduce cost and improve efficiency.
Despite continued pressure from some Edgartown officials, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission on Thursday stood firmly behind its previous decision to hold a public hearing on a request from the developers of the Field Club in Katama to pay $1.8 million to the town instead of designating three lots on their property for affordable housing.
After an hour of emotionally charged debate, the commission voted 10-3 to hold the hearing.
The developers for the upscale Field Club and adjoining subdivision in Katama have agreed to pay the Edgartown affordable housing committee $1.8 million in lieu of designating three lots in their project for affordable housing as required by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.
The project was approved as a development of regional impact (DRI) in 2004 and calls for the construction of a 32-lot subdivision on the 24-acre site as well as a members-only recreational club. Club owners plan to sell 500 memberships for about $100,000 apiece.
Calling it a test of town priorities, the executive director of the Island Affordable Housing Fund this week asked the Oak Bluffs Community Preservation Committee to commit another $400,000 to the financially troubled Bradley Square project, in the name of historic preservation.
Living and raising a family on Martha’s Vineyard for the last 11 years has provided me with a broad knowledge of local charitable organizations, each striving to protect what is special about our Island community. Despite the daunting number of nonprofit organizations, there is an impressive level of respect and support shared among these groups. I’m sure most would agree that the charitable work of this Island is impressive.
He is a family man, father of three, physically fit with a passion for cycling, and a bit of history buff. And now T. Ewell Hopkins, who has been commuting from his year-round home in Oak Bluffs to work in mainland metropolises for the past 10 years, is happy to have more time at home on the Vineyard to be near his family, read and ride his bike on weekends.
But during the workweek he is occupied with a new job and a cause: raising money and promoting development of affordable housing on the Vineyard.
Dozens of curious Islanders turned out to take part in Saturday’s green tour of the affordable housing project under construction at 250 State Road in West Tisbury. The sun was shining on a bitterly cold day as members of the Island Housing Trust and South Mountain Company led visitors through three solar homes in various stages of completion.
