The Martha’s Vineyard Commission voted 6-5-1 on Thursday night to approve the largest condominium project in Martha’s Vineyard history, the 116-unit Green Villa complex on Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Oak Bluffs.
The project, planned to be built on a nearly eight-acre parcel near the regional high school and the Tackenash Knoll affordable housing project that’s in construction now, has been under review since 2023 and is one of two controversial projects proposed by developer William Cumming.
While some commissioners believed the complex was too large and would make the vehicle congestion in the area even worse, others said that the injection of affordable housing was essential for the Island.
“Teachers can’t come [to the Vineyard] because they can’t find housing,” said commissioner Linda Sibley, who voted in favor with Willa Kuh, Douglas Sederholm, Brian Smith, Ernest Thomas and chair Peter Wharton.
The majority of commissioners felt that the housing — including 100 one-bedroom apartments, which are in short supply across the Vineyard — outweighed the project’s expected negative effects on traffic and the environment.
“The lack of housing for our community is a social disaster,” Ms. Sibley said.
All of the units will be permanently deed-restricted to year-round Island residents who must make them their primary residences, with no short-term rentals allowed, according to Mr. Cumming.
Ninety-five of the condos will be further deed-restricted in perpetuity to owners making from up to 80 per cent to 150 per cent of the area median income (AMI).
Nine of the units will be earmarked for municipal employees and school teachers and permanently deed-restricted to 100 per cent of the AMI, which is determined by the federal government.
Twelve condos, located in duplex buildings, will be sold at market rate with no income restrictions.
Mr. Cumming plans to make 30 apartments available for sale to local businesses, for lease to company employees at no more than 30 per cent of the workers’ incomes. No single employer would be allowed to purchase more than three units, and if resold, the condos must go to residential owners meeting the same income restrictions.
The Dukes County Regional Housing Authority will be responsible for confirming buyers’ incomes and other aspects of eligibility. Violations of the terms will result in a forced sale, according to the conditions of Thursday’s decision.
Bernadette Cormie, Mark Gauthier, Michael Kim, Ben Robinson and Jannette Vanderhoop voted against the project, which falls short of meeting the commission’s policy for preserving open space and also will have to rely on septic systems that will pollute the Sengekontacket Pond watershed until Oak Bluffs expands its wastewater capacity in the 2030s.
Mr. Kim said the apartments are essential and he applauded the fact that the project involved no government subsidies, but decried the 11 boxy two- and three-story modular buildings and limited open space.
“It’s a tragedy that the way it’s formed is so completely inappropriate … The scars on our built environment and Island character will be permanent,” he said.
Commissioner Jeff Agnoli abstained from the vote.
Thursday’s late-night decision, which came after more than three and a half hours of commission debate, clears the way for Mr. Cumming to seek a general permit from the Oak Bluffs zoning board of appeals.
The board of appeals previously denied Mr. Cumming’s permit application because he had not yet completed the Martha’s Vineyard Commission review process.
At the time, however, the board indicated it would grant the permit if the commission voted in favor of Green Villa.
Mr. Cumming also continues to pursue legal action against the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, arguing in state land court that only towns should have jurisdiction over what’s called 40B projects under a state law easing local zoning rules for developments with affordable housing.
Earlier this year, the commission denied Mr. Cumming’s other contentious project, a proposed condominium complex called Edgartown Gardens.
This article appears in May 8, 2026.
ABOUT TIME
OMGoodness, can’t believe more of our precious acreage is being destroyed. This Island use to be charming and beautiful but not anymore. What everyone is coming here for is quickly disappearing…..
then what????? The middle class might as well just throw in the towel.
Everyone just seems to cater to the wealthy and the ones who do their bidding. To bad, what once was beautiful is no longer!
If you want to live in Disneyland, move to Florida. Our Island towns need to be real places where real people live and work, not frozen in a snow globe. Change happens. We need to adapt or die.
affordable….ok how about the rest of the monthly payments on top of the mortgage? do the taxpayers have to subsidize that also?
can the owners sell their condo if the leave this island?
In this project there are no direct cost to taxpayers. The developers do not use any tax money.
Why can Cummings create units permanently deed-restricted to year-round Island residents with no short-term rentals allowed for this project but can’t manage to do this for Edgartown Gardens? How do the numbers work here and not at all for Edgartown Gardens?
They can’t do it due to basic economics. First, the land costs more in lower Edgartown than it does on the property in Oak Bluffs on a per square foot basis. Then there is the number of units. The more units there are the cheaper it is. The Edgartown project has less units and more expensive land. Either way the developer is restricted to make 20% of the project cost in profit
This is a ton development on limited infrastructure, island needs to slow this all down…
No. Dealing with the housing crisis has been dragged out for 20 years, now. This is exactly the kind of project we need. Now.
Such a shame,mv is ruined. Too bad the mvc caved. This will probably mark their decline and mv will become everything that the mvc was created to prevent. When our institutions fail us, it becomes apparent that the island has failed us.
Edgartown should reconsider who they vote for commissioner as not voting and abstaining is not a good outcome. We need people who will have a conviction and willing to put it out there.
Congratulations Mr. Cummings and the working class of Martha’s Vineyard! This is exactly the type of project we need 20 to 30 more of them strategically placed and our community will continue to thrive.
Well this is a really bad idea that will be built. 100 one bedroom apartments, meaning 1.4 cars on average per apartments. 325 flushes on average per day. 140 showers on average per day. 140 loads of laundry per day on average. I live on 1.5 acres I cannot imagine 8 acres housing that many residents . Just the logistics of policing the rules and regulations seems insurmountable. All the commissioners who voted in-favor of allowing this monstrosity should be voted out and all those who voted in the negative should be commended. Only green in this project will line Mr Cummings pockets. Shame
A lot of these residents will be working people who already live on Martha’s Vineyard, but are forced to live in substandard conditions. They are already using these resources, but struggling. More and more of these people are being forced to commute or leave entirely. What happens to this island if everyone making less than $300k/year leaves the island? No police, no teachers, no public works. You can’t fill those positions with seasonal college kids and J1 holders. They need somewhere to live and market priced homes are not within reach for any of them.
I agree with Jeremy. The island cost of living crisis shuts out many qualified workers in greatest need on the island! Teachers, nurses, hospital staff, trained mechanics…
The island IS going to change no matter what anyone thinks. It will implode from within if those of us who do live here permanently can’t find skilled workers to make the island a place where we CAN ALL live more comfortably. I’d write more but I have to catch the ferry to make my medical appointments, get my car fixed, get some house supplies…
That is what a free market is for, to let the market set points where supply/demand intersect. If companies demand workers, salaries rise to the point where workers will fill the paid roles. For instance, a teacher will commute from Falmouth at a certain salary, as will any other worker at given salary points. In no way does any affordable housing project ever solve the “demand” side of the supply/demand curve. It awards a few lottery winners, but also creates even more demand as those residents demand more services. By the way, anyone can research this topic as it pertains to the Island, with newspaper articles going back a century or more mentioning problems with housing availability. It is an unsolvable problem in theory and practice with limited land supply and high demand.
What makes this hard to take isn’t just the decision—it’s the contradiction sitting right in the open. The article itself acknowledges this could “fundamentally change the character of the Island,” calls the design “uninspired,” and even warns of an “irreversible scar.” And yet, it moves forward anyway. That’s not grappling with a consequence—that’s accepting it.
I don’t dismiss the housing pressure. I see it. Year-round residents are getting squeezed, and 40B is stepping in where towns didn’t plan ahead. Fine. But that doesn’t mean every proposal automatically becomes the right answer. From where I sit, the Island is already under strain—roads, water, traffic, summer overflow. That’s not theoretical, that’s daily life.
So what exactly are we inviting here? More people? More pressure? Or a permanent shift that we won’t be able to undo once it’s locked in?
At some point, “addressing a crisis” starts to feel less like solving a problem and more like a rationale to push things through that would never pass otherwise. You don’t preserve a place by approving something you openly admit will change it permanently.
I’m not seeing a solution here. I’m seeing the Island being redefined.
Call it progress.
When this is built they will want another and another and another, over and over again. At that point Martha’s Vineyard will look like a city , filled with traffic and no charm. Dam fools
It already looks like a city(for this island) with the traffic. It is absurd in the off season months. Give us our island back from Labor Day to Memorial Day
I will not pretend I understand ALL of the issues, nor do I have building knowledge. However, I would hazard a guess many if not all of the folks with negative outlooks have a house or land (1.5 acres) purchased or inherited. You are blessed!
Housing for those of us who live here year round who do not own a home is challenging. The “Island Shuffle” is real! Homelessness, for working folks is REAL! Ordinary folks, who do not have deep pockets, in fact many us have no pockets, who speaks for them (us). Teachers, other professionals and/or trades who provide services, we too, want to live on this beautiful Island. Where the quality of our lives are enriched by the small town appeal and charm. We do not desire to destroy or disfigure what we love. Hundreds, who add value and sustainability in our community leave every year i.e. seniors, who wish or need to downsize, our youth who want to give back to the home that nurtured them, cannot return.
I’m curious and again admittedly, I do not know or understand all the issues, BUT does anyone have a better solution? I’m ready to hear something positive!
Toni-I like your perspective. There are no perfect answers on this topic. I do own a home on the vineyard and I am fortunate. But I also see how so many service workers, teachers, etc. struggle. This is a good solution, flaws and all. For those who are negative I’d like to hear your solutions to the housing crisis. It is not enough to just put your head in the sand and pretend that it is someone else’s problem.
A fast speed ferry would help.
It’s too bad these aren’t one story units on the perimeter and then 2 story on the interior. I lived in an area that had a building code for apartments that followed this and it’s so much better looking than just three stories plopped down. Apartments like this need to be deed restricted with donated land so allow for better design. Otherwise, these are just going to be eyesores and won’t age well.
Another blight on our landscape and might be the tipping point of losing the island’s character forever. This “housing crisis” is a self fulfilling prophecy as more development begets the need for more development. The island is already well beyond its carrying capacity.
The project is another symptom of the separation of the “haves” and the “have nots”.
A bizarre ghettoization of the so-called “middle class”. The project may have some good intentions, but, in my opinion, Chilmark, next to the grade school, would be a more holistic choice for it’s placement.
But that is not allowed.
SHAME!
As most tourist destinations around the world aim to “upscale” their surroundings, either by restricted visits, sound development plants, and environmental improvements, MV seems to be doing its best to “downscale” its entire experience for its most precious visitor — the spendthrift summer tourist. Tourists expecting a bucolic setting now see almost continuous development now from end to end on EDG-VH Road instead of the old stretches of pine forest. And most of the development, is, well, ugly. I suppose the new development will fit into its neighborhood that already includes the trash-filled skate park and the illegal dumping grounds of the State Forest past the high school baseball field.
With yet another development, the new Marth’a Vineyard Chamber of Commerce campaign should be: “MV – Just Like Any Other Boston Suburb, But with $40 Tee Shirts!”
A silver lining in this approval, however, is that once developers have paved over every permittable plot on the Island, the Lyme disease and alpha-gal syndrome rates will finally go down. I don’t think the deer ticks and lone star ticks can survive asphalt. But the Island cannot tolerate much more asphalt either before tourists go elsewhere for good.
Wonderful to see an effort to welcome and care for people who might otherwise not be able to afford living on the island. What about the rest of us who have put in our blood sweat and tears for years, decades, and generations? Can we get a handout too? Can we get a reimbursement so as to level the playing field?
Next stop Nantucket