The developers of the Down Island Golf Club turned up the heat on
the Martha's Vineyard Commission last night, hammering home the
threat of a large low-income housing project if the golf club plan is
not approved.

This time around, the gloves are coming off. That is the word that's been quietly circulated for the last several months by spokesmen for the Down Island Golf Club, as they prepared a new plan to build a private luxury golf club in the southern woodlands section of Oak Bluffs.

Acting on a joint request from attorneys for the Martha's
Vineyard Commission and the Down Island Golf Club, a superior court
judge sent the golf club plan back to the commission this week for fresh
review.

"This matter is remanded to the Martha's Vineyard
Commission for further proceedings, including a public hearing to
consider plaintiff's amended application," declared the Hon.
Richard C. Connan, an associate justice of the superior court who sits
in Barnstable.

The proposed Down Island Golf Club in Oak Bluffs is now officially
back in the pipeline at the Martha's Vineyard Commission with
plans filed last week and an initial hearing scheduled for June 11.

Using new lawyers but spelling out the same themes, the developers
of the Down Island Golf Club filed a lawsuit against the Martha's
Vineyard Commission late last week, attacking everything from the recent
vote to reject a luxury golf course project in the southern woodlands to
the enabling legislation that created the commission.

The developer of the Down Island Golf Club told the Martha's
Vineyard Commission last week that the members of the private luxury
golf complex he hopes to build will be "rich people" who
will bring no real benefit to the town of Oak Bluffs or the Island.

The Martha's Vineyard Commission last night affirmed its decision to reject the Down Island Golf Club plan, but not before a minor fracas around an unexpected eleventh-hour pitch from the Oak Bluffs selectmen to have the commission delay the final written version of the denial.

Torn down the middle for the third time in three years, the expressions eloquent and heartfelt on both sides of the street, a strained and weary Martha's Vineyard Commission voted 9-8 to reject the Down Island Golf Club plan for the southern woodlands late on Wednesday night.

"The applicant has come back with changes to the plan and the word is that he has addressed all of our concerns. But he hasn't ever addressed my main concern and that's my concern about the character and identity of Martha's Vineyard," declared commission member James Athearn.

The developers of the Down Island Golf Club made their final chess
move last night in the quest to win approval for a luxury golf and
housing project in the southern woodlands, unveiling a hasty
eleventh-hour plan for public play and urging the Martha's
Vineyard Commission to vote on the project immediately.

Once More Before the Court: Power of the Commission

By JULIA WELLS

The unique power of the Martha's Vineyard Commission to review
low and moderate income housing projects under Chapter 40B, a section of
state law commonly known as the anti-snob zoning statute, will come
under scrutiny again later this month in the Massachusetts Land Court.