The West Tisbury select board this week took steps to reorganize the town affordable housing committee after a period of disarray, appointing two new members and asking the committee to reconsider its leadership.
At a hearing this week, Vineyarders threw their weight behind a local option transfer fee, the new seasonal community designation and other measures intended to alleviate the state’s housing affordability crisis.
State Sen. Julian Cyr took a swing through the Island last week, meeting with housing advocates, hosting a campaign event and outlining his priorities in a meeting with Gazette reporters and editors.
In the face of a persistent housing crunch, a controversial state law designed to spur development of affordable housing is once again being considered by Island housing advocates as key to meeting a critical need.
Southern Tier, a new neighborhood of 60 affordable apartments just east of the Martha’s Vineyard Ice Arena in Oak Bluffs, plans to be built in one phase instead of two after the Martha’s Vineyard Commission approved the change this week.
Michael Kim, the owner of Michael Kim Architecture in Brookline and the governor’s appointee on the commission, presented a study last week to the MVC that looked at the viability of housing for workers on employer-owned properties across the Island.
A long-planned program meant to encourage private affordable housing efforts in West Tisbury failed to get off the ground at a special town meeting Tuesday, when residents voted 24 to 80 against a $250,000 funding request.
An initiative to build a $3.5 million dormitory for summer employees at the airport is at least two years away from completion. Members of a committee looking at the feasibility of a complex said there is much work to do, but support is widespread.
A new neighborhood of 100 apartments for low to moderate income Islanders, served by four stores with employee housing, has been proposed for eight acres on Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Oak Bluffs, just east of the future Southern Tier affordable housing complex.
The nearly $1 million in state grants awarded to Island towns last week to upgrade their wastewater systems will be a boon for planned affordable housing developments and potentially other large regional projects.
