Vineyard Gazette
Capt. William Lewis has sold to a syndicate of Boston gentlemen all the land, wharf property, &c., of the West Point Land Co., on West Chop, Martha’s Vineyard.
West Chop
Housing and Development

2002

Listening to the banter of benchwarmers in front of the Edgartown town hall, it's hard to tell if it's 1972, 1982, 1992 or 2002.

The characters have changed, but the themes stayed the same. The building trade is booming. There's a new home on every corner. The town can't house its young people.

"We've always been talking about growth. We've always thought we're growing too fast," said Larry Mercier, lifelong Edgartown resident and respected town official.

1999

An initiative to build a $3.5 million dormitory for summer employees at the airport is at least two years away from completion. Members of a committee looking at the feasibility of a complex said there is much work to do, but support is widespread.

It is important that in the rush to designate the entire Island as a “district of critical planning concern” that we not forget two other issues that have long been neglected on the Vineyard. The first is the urgent need for affordable housing. The second is the need for much more active comprehensive planning so that we will not lurch from crisis to crisis as we have been doing, while growth around us has continued unabated. This letter deals only with the first.
 

1998

New developers of the old Vineyard Acres II subdivision in Edgartown have filed an application with the Edgartown zoning board of appeals to build a private 18-hole golf club on the site once planned for 148 houses.

1982

How’s this for a long view of the Vineyard, let’s say some time after the year 2000 when this fragile Island enters the 21st century.
  • A summer population of as much as 260,000.
  • More than 40,000 buildings situated on only 64,000 acres of Vineyard land.
  • Miles upon miles of asphalt roads criss-crossing back and forth across the length and breadth of the Island.
  • Housing construction riveted to rigid, evenly spaced grid plans, like another Levittown. Forget cluster development with open spaces and green buffer zones.

1962

The 1960 census of housing of the U.S. Department of Commerce counted 5,340 housing units in Dukes County. Of these:
 
  • 4,019 were in sound condition with all plumbing
  • 2,032 were occupied
  • 1,579 were occupied by owners
  • $10,100 was the median value of owner-occupied places
  • 456 were occupied by renters
  • $75 was the median gross rent of rented places
  • 4,499 had hot and cold running water
  • 5,019 had flush toilet, 4,827 bathtub or shower
  • 3,966 had basements
  • 4 were trailer homes

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