Corey Kupersmith, the Connecticut-based developer who a decade ago waged a bitter public battle to build a golf course and a development on the largest tract of undeveloped forest in Oak Bluffs, now faces foreclosure on almost all of the property he owns in the Southern Woodlands.
The weakened economy has caused plenty of hardship on the Island, but we’re occasionally reminded that even in healthy periods years ago, the good times weren’t always so good.
The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank envisions a new campground as part of its management plan for its 234-acre Southern Woodlands Preserve. Dan Feeney, the owner of the Vineyard’s only currently operating campground, envisages problems with that.
At Tuesday night’s public hearing to consider the draft management plan, Mr. Feeney emerged as the only person with significant objections to it.
It was once a battleground for one of the most heated and divisive fights in the history of Oak Bluffs.
It has been five years since the dust settled over the proposal by Connecticut developer Corey Kupersmith to build a private 18-hole golf course in the Southern Woodlands, the largest tract of undeveloped forest left in town.
The Martha's Vineyard Land Bank will seal its largest-ever deal today, handing over $18.6 million to Connecticut developer Corey Kupersmith and officially taking ownership of 190 acres of the southern woodlands in Oak Bluffs.
Amid conciliatory expressions and with the developer's representative waving a white hat in the air, the Martha's Vineyard Commission voted without dissent last night to approve a plan that is expected to close the final chapter in a bitter four-year battle over the development of the southern woodlands in Oak Bluffs.
"This has been a really trying time for the commission and for all those in the community that have been on both sides of the issue. I hope this is now time to put it behind us and heal the wounds," declared commission member Andrew Woodruff.
