Southern Woodlands Hearing Is Set, but Developers Seem Primed to
Fight
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
On the eve of a public hearing - now set for next week -
to review a massive housing project in the southern woodlands section of
Oak Bluffs, the developers of the Down Island Golf Club appear to be
charting a fresh collision course with the Martha's Vineyard
Commission.
Oak Bluffs Heads to Polls; Commission Vote Casts Fate of Town and
Island
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
Oak Bluffs voters go to the polls Tuesday to cast ballots in a
crucial special town election whose outcome will set a clear course for
the town - and also the entire Vineyard - for many years to
come.
A simple majority of voters will decide whether to stay in or get
out of the Martha's Vineyard Commission.
A high-octane mainland manhunt for two suspects who were allegedly involved in a wild crime spree in Braintree last week led police to the tiny town of Aquinnah on Saturday night, where one of the suspects was found holed up in a private home.
William Brymer, 31, of Quincy, was arrested without incident by a large contingent of local police late Saturday, following a tip that eventually led them to a private home on Lobsterville Road in the remote western reaches of the Vineyard.
Three months after an accident that nearly claimed the life of one
of its employees during a routine training exercise, the Steamship
Authority is refusing to release the results of its own internal
investigation into the mishap.
It Could Only Have Happened This Year: Added Fee of $1 Per Ferry
Ticket Is Proposed for Municipal Relief
By JULIA WELLS
A bill chugged along in the state legislature this week that would
allow all port communities in the region to charge a fee of $1 per
ticket for visitors traveling on ferries.
A $10 million-plus annual operating budget, a laundry list of
override requests that adds up to more than $800,000 and a town hall
expansion project with a $3.7 million price tag - next week when
the voters of West Tisbury gather to conduct the annual business of the
town, the prevailing winds are expected to be out of the pocketbook.
Planning Commission Hearing Is Closed, While the Developer Continues
to Press Case on Multiple Fronts
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
The gavel came down one more time late last week and a public
hearing was closed on a plan to build 320 homes in the last unbroken
stretch of oak and pine forest in Oak Bluffs.
Connecticut Developer Refiles Massive Housing Proposal for Woodlands
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
The developers of the Down Island Golf Club slipped back onto the
scene this week, quietly reviving a dormant plan for a massive
affordable housing project in the southern woodlands section of Oak
Bluffs.
An attorney who represents Connecticut developer Corey Kupersmith
wrote a letter to the Martha's Vineyard Commission late last week,
asking to have the housing plan put back on an active track.
A shed and a pier in the tiny town of Aquinnah were the fulcrum for court arguments this week that will ultimately test the question of whether the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) waived sovereign immunity when it signed a land claims settlement agreement in 1983.
The settlement agreement later led to federal recognition for the tribe.
$50 Million Is a New Estimate; Leaders Plan Public Meeting for This
Saturday to Unveil Update on Their Thinking
By JULIA WELLS
Leaders at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital are moving forward
with an ambitious plan to replace the badly decayed 30-year-old hospital
on Linton Lane in Oak Bluffs - but they got a hard reality check
recently when they saw the price tag attached to the new plan.
