Three Island residents walked away from the Tisbury selectmen’s meeting this past week with the opportunity to buy a home close to downtown Vineyard Haven for a dramatically reduced price.
Three Island residents walked away from the Tisbury selectmen’s meeting this past week with the opportunity to buy a home close to downtown Vineyard Haven for a dramatically reduced price.
It’s been two years since Island Housing Trust began the affordable housing project at 150 State Road. The Dukes County Housing Authority organized the lottery, held this past Tuesday night.
Land Court Denies Bid to Halt Affordable Homes
By IAN FEIN
A Massachusetts Land Court judge last week solidly denied a motion
for reconsideration from a group of neighbors who are trying to fight
three affordable one-acre homesites on Chappaquiddick.
Edgartown town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport yesterday said the ruling
- which directly rejected a series of claims made by the
neighbors' attorney - speaks volumes about the nature of the
case.
Weighing the pressing need for affordable housing over its other planning principles, the Martha's Vineyard Commission early this morning approved with heavy conditions an unusual 11-unit subdivision in the rural outposts of Edgartown.
"This is really a referendum on us as a community. If we can't find a way to provide homes for our working-class residents, then we fail," said commissioner Chris Murphy of Chilmark. "The results of this project are damn good. I think the applicant should be proud, and we should be proud."
Debate over the Supreme Court justice nominee John G. Roberts raged
in Chilmark. Dinner guests sat in awe as Patricia Neal recited her
Hollywood Walk of Fame address on Edgartown harbor. And couples danced
the night away to the cabaret music of Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano
in Lambert's Cove.
Martha's Vineyard may have an affordable housing crisis on its hands, but it also has the community support and political will to address the issue.
And if the Island's many grassroots housing organizations cooperate in their present efforts and continue to experiment with new ones, the crisis in the long run could change the Vineyard for the better.
Affordable Housing Initiative Clears Key Hurdles at Ballot Box
By JAMES KINSELLA
Voters in three Vineyard towns yesterday brought the Island a step closer to the creation of a housing bank by backing the initiative and enacting the Community Preservation Act.
Approval of the CPA in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury provided a crucial step on the road to establishment of a housing bank, which would be modeled on the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank.
