Krishana Collins is sculpting bouquets in her flower studio. She wears knee-high, green rain boots and moves quickly down a row of three wooden tables standing end to end. Her face is set in a serious expression but she smiles easily, scrunching her nose and shaking her brown curls. She holds up a black knight scabiosa and looks down at the dark burgundy petals.
Her flower studio looks more like a temporary movie or stage set than a place of business. Filled with silver vases, vintage glass bottles, ribbons and buckets of fall blooms — among them stunning red, magenta and saffron-colored dahlias — this is the front office for Krishana Collins, flower farmer. The building is an old farm structure that looks like a miniature house, with aging shingles weathered white trim and casement windows, and one long side wall completely chopped off.
The Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard and state officials have approved preliminary plans for the new West Dock in Menemsha. Engineer Kent Healy and a draftsman are finalizing bid specifications for the project to rebuild the car-way destroyed in the July 12 fire.
Chilmark executive secretary Tim Carroll told the selectmen at their meeting Tuesday if everything stays on schedule, construction should be complete by May 1, at which point electricians can install power cables with the aim of completing their work by June.
The Tea Lane Farm building committee has selected a draftsman to help with the plan for restoring the historic farmhouse in Chilmark. Committee members Leonard Jason, Dick Smith and Chilmark selectman Frank Fenner agreed to engage the services of Elise Elliston, a Chilmark resident, last week.
The goal is to have a final plan for renovating the farmhouse ready for the annual town meeting in April.
The future of Tea Lane Farm took a different course this week as Chilmark selectmen reviewed preliminary plans to lease the property as a farm as-is instead of spending money to restore it.
Under the new proposal, the town would lease the historic farmhouse for up to 99 years, using a resident homesite model similar to the Middle Line Road affordable housing project. The farmer tenant would be responsible for a long list of improvements that would be spelled out in the lease.
Chilmark selectmen are now rethinking the future of the house at Tea Lane Farm after voters rejected a second plan at a special town meeting on Monday. The plan would have have renovated the 18th century house at a cost of $550,000 to prepare it for leasing to a tenant farmer.
With little discussion voters defeated the article by indefinite postponement.
Chilmark selectmen are now considering a new plan for leasing out the town-owned house at Tea Lane Farm.
On Tuesday town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport outlined three options for the town — sell the property, issue a short-term or a long-term lease.
Selectmen are considering the next steps after voters rejected a third plan to restore and renovate the 18th century farmhouse for $550,000 at a special town meeting last month.
The future of the historic Tea Lane farmhouse will be in the hands of Chilmark voters at a special town meeting Monday night as they decide whether or not to back a $550,000 project to restore the farmhouse and prepare the land for a tenant farmer.
The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center. Longtime moderator Everett Poole will preside over the 11-article warrant.
This will be the second attempt to appropriate funds for the hilltop house which sits at the intersection of Tea Lane and Middle Road.
