Development

1999

April 16, 1999

War of Words Erupts Anew Over 'Organic' Golf Proposal

Julia Wells
Development
Edgartown Great Pond
Meeting House Golf Club

A citizens group that opposes a proposal for an 18-hole private golf club along the Edgartown Great Pond took its turn in the spotlight this week, responding sharply to an advertising campaign started by the golf course developers last week.

“They’ve ‘Gone Organic.’ We Think They’re Dead Wrong. Do You?” declares a full-page advertisement that appears in today’s Gazette.

The advertisement is a rejoinder to paid advertisements in both Island newspapers last week from the developers who want to build a golf club along the Edgartown Great Pond.

April 9, 1999

Golf Course Project Stirs Debate

Julia Wells
Development
Meeting House Golf Club

Developers who want to build a private golf club along the Edgartown Great Pond turned up the volume this week on a campaign to win public support for their project, pitching the plan through eye-catching paid advertisements in both Island newspapers as the Martha’s Vineyard Commission continued deliberations on the project.

Declaring “We’ve Gone Organic,” the bold advertisements purport to detail a new shift toward organic turf management techniques for the golf course development.

March 5, 1999

Scientists and Residents Attack Golf Course Plan

Julia Wells
Development
Edgartown Great Pond
Martha's Vineyard Commission
Meeting House Golf Club

A group of developers who want to build a golf course along the Edgartown Great Pond heard a team of scientists dismantle their environmental science last night, alongside an outpouring of statements from a striking array of Vineyard residents who urged the Martha’s Vineyard Commission in passionate tones to reject the golf course plan.

“We need to think about Martha’s Vineyard and why do we all live here?” said Tara Hickman.

“Trade a natural piece of heaven on earth for a manicured, hyper-fertilized artificial landscape? No thank you,” declared Liz Bradley.

January 29, 1999

Environmental Impact of Prospected Golf Club Is Debate at Hearing

Yvonne Guzman
Development
Golf
Martha's Vineyard Commission
Meeting House Golf Club

Developers at a hearing last night described the Meeting House Golf Club project as a blessing for the environment. The project would remove nitrogen from the groundwater, they said, improve the salinity of the Edgartown Great Pond and protect the rare plant known as gypsywort.

Some members of the public questioned those claims. And two opponents of the project hinted that scientific experts will appear, when the hearing continues, to offer different ideas about the environmental impacts of the golf resort proposed by Rosario Lattuca.

1998

June 23, 1998

Entrepreneurs Bankroll Golf Course; Sheriff's Meadow Retains Veto Power

Julia Wells
Development
Golf
Sheriff's Meadow Foundation
Vineyard Golf Club

Two Boston area businessmen and a Mississippi real estate developer have announced plans to build a private golf club on the former Vineyard Acres II property off the West Tisbury Road in Edgartown.

The would-be developers are Jay Swanson of Medfield, Owen Larkin of Boston and William Vandevender of Jackson, Miss. Their partnership is called Swanson Ventures L.L.C.

June 19, 1998

Public Debates Golf Development

Julia Wells
Edgartown zoning board of appeals
Meeting House Golf Club
Development

Ending weeks of suspense and confusion about who will review plans for a private golf club on some 200 acres of Edgartown Great Pond land, the Edgartown zoning board of appeals voted unanimously this week to refer the project to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission as a development of regional impact (DRI).

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