Tribe Approves Land Use Pact

Memorandum of Understanding Between the Two Governments Now Needs
Voter Approval at Special Town Meeting

By IAN FEIN

After five months of internal deliberations, the Wampanoag Tribe of
Gay Head (Aquinnah) this week approved a revised land use agreement with
the town of Aquinnah.

Cape Wind Plan Sees Potential in Year Ahead

By IAN FEIN

Beginning today, developers of the Cape Wind project in Nantucket
Sound will face a new political landscape as they continue their bid to
build the nation's first offshore wind farm.

Gov. Deval L. Patrick, an ardent Cape Wind supporter, was sworn into
office on Beacon Hill yesterday afternoon, minutes after the new
Democrat-controlled Congress convened in Washington, D.C., with
renewable energy reform as a top priority for the coming legislative
session.

One young Island family's dream of building an affordable home
on Chappaquiddick hit a roadblock last month when a Marblehead couple
that owns a summer home next door purchased the land out from underneath
them.

Receipts by the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank from property
sales on the Island fell almost eight per cent in 2006, reflecting the
general slowing of the real estate market.

The figures also point to a growing polarization of a market in
which higher end properties continue to sell well, while sales at the
less expensive end are stalling. The greater part of land bank revenues
in 2006 came from sales worth more than $2 million.

West Tisbury School principal Michael A. Halt, a lieutenant colonel
in the United States Marine Corps Reserves, was called back to active
duty this week and will leave for training in just over a week to
prepare for a tour of duty in Iraq.

Mr. Halt received the official letter on Wednesday and has known
with near certainty that he would be leaving for a little more than two
weeks. He must report for duty by Jan. 15.

In an attempt to lift passenger numbers, the Steamship Authority is
expected to ease restrictions on the use of ten-ticket discount books
when governors meet on Tuesday.

Car and passenger traffic on the Vineyard run was flat in 2006.
Statistics for the year to Dec. 21 show a rise in overall passenger
traffic of just 0.2 per cent, with a sharp decline in the summer
numbers, which were down for June, July and August by 5.8, 1.3 and 0.1
per cent respectively.

Property Tax Bills Are Out on Island: Edgartown Drops; Other Towns
Rise

By IAN FEIN

Driven by ever-increasing municipal spending, average property tax
bills in five of six Island towns rose yet again this year.

The price of the typical home on Martha's Vineyard fell for
the first time in six years in 2006, as buyers left the market and sales
figures dropped by nearly 30 per cent.

The median price for properties was down to around $690,000 in the
third quarter of 2006, a fall of almost six per cent compared with a
year earlier when the median price was around $732,000.

Fed up with petty internal politics, Dukes County voters this fall decided to take another look at the structure of their regional government. Hoping to prevent another divisive land use dispute, town and tribal leaders in Aquinnah spent months negotiating a potential peace accord. And with a solid financial footing, Martha's Vineyard Hospital trustees closed the year by securing approval for a new state of the art facility.

A Nantucket-based investment group closed on a deal last week to buy the Harbor View Hotel and Kelley House properties in Edgartown; total sale price was $45.1 million. The sale provided a tidy windfall for the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank, netting the agency just over $900,000 in fees. The sale closed Dec. 20 with four separate transactions. Scout Real Estate Capital LLC purchased the turn-of-the-century Harbor View Hotel for $32.5 million and the Kelley House pub and inn complex for $12.6 million.