Felix Neck, Land Bank and Audubon Buy Moffet Land to Preserve
Sanctuary Borders

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

In a three-way partnership that will protect the last key piece of
undeveloped land at one of the oldest wildlife sanctuaries on the
Vineyard, the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank, the Massachusetts
Audubon Society and the Felix Neck Wildlife Trust announced yesterday
that they will buy 34 acres from Lucia Moffet for $2.55 million.

Revenues fell $1 million at the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank in
the fiscal year just ended, reflecting a distinct new cooling in the
overheated real estate sales market that has made an indelible mark on
both the economy and the culture of the Island in recent years.

The land bank fiscal year ends on June 30 (because the date fell
over the weekend this year, the land bank closed the books on Friday,
June 28).

The Vineyard could see as many as 7,032 more homes on its 17,475
remaining acres of developable land, officials from the state Executive
Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) said at an Island forum held
Thursday night.

"That's a relatively short time frame to be faced with
some tough choices," said Christian Jacqz, director of
Massachusetts Geographic Information System, in a presentation to Island
officials at the Howes House in West Tisbury.

The Martha's Vineyard Land Bank wants your ideas on how to
spend some $10 million of accumulated revenue. Plus, commissioners at
the land bank are game for fielding questions on policies that govern
the almost 2,000 acres of public lands it owns.

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.

Million-dollar sales, mostly in Edgartown and Chilmark, are dominating the Island’s real estate market, as figures from the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank make abundantly clear.

Hard numbers illustrating the trend underscore urgent concerns about the lack of affordable housing, the subject of a standing-room-only forum last weekend.

A rising tide lifts all boats, and the evolution of million-dollar price tags from shocking rarities to barely remarked commonplaces has ratcheted up the cost of even the most basic shelter.

Leaders for the the new Conservation Partnership of Martha's Vineyard and the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank have pledged full cooperation with one another, announcing among other things that they will begin to hold regular meetings to exchange information pertinent to the conservation movement.

"The land bank is committed to meet with the partnership monthly, to talk about specific properties and also priorities," said land bank executive director James Lengyel.