Seven minutes before midnight Tuesday, Edgartown town meeting voters
wrapped up a long list of business - supporting a $19 million
operating budget and killing proposed house-size caps on Chappaquiddick.
But the night's liveliest debates for those in the crowded
pews at the Old Whaling Church, and perhaps the most interesting result
of the week, centered around a funding request to hire a housing
inspector to license the town's 1,500 rental properties.
Controversial Road Plan Wins Approval in Edgartown Meeting
By IAN FEIN
Edgartown voters last night continued to back the Pennywise Path
affordable housing project, turning a deaf ear to pleas that called for
postponing the controversial taking of a second access road to the
development.
Residents approved all 12 articles on the special town meeting
warrant, including a $310,000 appropriation to bring water, sewerage and
electricity to the project.
In an Edgartown case which is esoteric but has application for small
towns across the commonwealth, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
has ruled that a house on an undersized lot cannot be expanded without a
special permit - even if the expansion itself conforms to the
requirements under zoning.
Earlier this week, on a sunny, warm May afternoon, Main street in Edgartown resembled a ghost town.
Although year-round places like Edgartown Hardware were doing a moderate business, well over half of all businesses were closed while several storefronts were empty.
Go back a few decades, though, and the scene was quite different.
A s a longtime Edgartown resident, I was surprised to hear news reports that I might be paying more than my share to support the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.
As a member and present chairman of the MVC, I was more surprised to hear some people saying that things the MVC does for the Vineyard aren’t necessary for Edgartown.
Wearing both hats, I sat down and made a list of the ways my town has benefited over the years from the MVC’s work. What follows is part of it.
Protecting the Edgartown Great Pond and Sengekontacket:
Edgartown voters easily approved $4.9 million in funding for a new town library, along with dozens of other spending requests during a lengthy annual town meeting Tuesday night.
With a gathering of 305 voters at the Old Whaling Church, town meeting members approved most of the items on the 63-article annual town meeting warrant and a 12-article special town meeting warrant.
Concern over traffic and parking problems in Edgartown’s historic town center has spread all the way to Boston.
To Northeastern University, specifically, where a group of transportation engineering students have tackled the town’s traffic situation as part of their senior project.
