The Vineyard Golf Club completed its purchase this week of four lots owned by the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation in the old Vineyard Acres II subdivision off the West Tisbury Road in Edgartown.
The four lots include four acres of land and were sold to the golf club by the conservation group for $310,000. Of that, $10,000 was paid to the foundation as an option at the time of the sale agreement and was used to cover legal expenses associated with the sale.
The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank announced this week that it will preserve 43 acres of active agriculture at Thimble Farm, the familiar Vineyard farm whose pick-your-own berries and luscious hydroponic tomatoes are now considered staples of Island life. Owned by Bencion and Patricia Moskow since 1982, the farm spans the three towns of Tisbury, Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury.
“This particular farm has an appeal because it is so well known to Islanders — who hasn’t picked strawberries and raspberries at Thimble Farm?” said land bank executive director James Lengyel this week.
Closely following the electoral mood of the country, voters in Dukes County turned out in huge numbers this week to cast ballots for national, state and local offices and to add their collective voice to an array of commonwealth initiative petition questions on everything from greyhound racing to universal health care.
In a characteristic show of independence, Island voters also bucked a number of the statewide trends, although like the rest of the commonwealth, they voted in large numbers for Vice President Al Gore over Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
The fight for affordable housing on the Island cannot be won without a serious wad of cash, according to the activists for cheaper housing.
On Wednesday night at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury, advocates unveiled a plan that could funnel millions of dollars into the effort on the Vineyard and promise tangible results as early as next year in the form of cash for land and houses and subsidies for rent or down-payments on homes.
Given the chance to sound off about the results of a survey that tracked their behavior around alcohol, drugs, violence and sex, Island teenagers are not at a loss for words.
A serious oyster disease that has afflicted Edgartown Great Pond for years is now in Tisbury Great Pond and it is expected to cause a major die-off in the months ahead.
The disease known as Dermo is not harmful to humans in any way but it is responsible for having caused the collapse of the oyster fisheries from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. The only cure, according to Rick Karney of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group would be a frigid winter. The parasite that causes the disease can’t stand bitter cold water.
It took 18 drafts, hundreds of hours of meetings and more than a year’s planning, but Tuesday night at the special town meeting, Tisbury residents voted into bylaw the first ever district of critical planning concern (DCPC) for Vineyard Haven harbor.
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission voted unanimously last week to accept a set of regulations for a new district of critical planning concern (DCPC) aimed at protecting the historic and environmental integrity of the Vineyard Haven harbor.
The special planning district is the first of its kind for a town harbor.
If the regulations are approved by voters at a special town meeting in October, they will become part of the town zoning bylaws. The regulations saw enthusiastic support from the public at a hearing last week.
