Chilmark selectmen sign Squibnocket Farm lease

Town solar array generates 60 percent of municipal buildings’ electricity needs.

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From left, Ron Rappaport, Bill Rossi, Jonathan Mayhew, Warren Doty, and executive secretary Tim Carroll at the signing of the Squibnocket Farm lease Tuesday night. — Photo by Edie Prescott

Chilmark selectmen held court to an absolutely packed house Tuesday evening. There was not a single open parking spot in the town hall lot. Topping the agenda was the approval of the Squibnocket beach lease that will allow the town to move forward with a plan to restore Squibnocket Beach, move the parking lot west, and create a new access road to the Squibnocket Farm subdivision, now threatened by erosion.

“I think the cost is significantly lower than what was originally thought,” Chilmark zoning board of appeals administrative assistant Chuck Hodgkinson said.

“We appropriated $410,000 —” said Mr. Hodgkinson, “— and it’s less than half of that,” chairman Bill Rossi said, finishing the sentence.

Contingent upon permitting, the town will pay Squibnocket Farm, Inc., $200,000 for a 99-year lease.

“These were recommendations from the committee and approved by the town, and that gives me, as a member of the committee, immense comfort,” said Jim Malkin, chairman of the committee that shepherded the plan. Mr. Malkin said the only difference was their recommendation to move the skiff landing more to the west to give better access to Squibnocket Pond.

“Well, that was the first half,” said selectman Warren Doty. “The second half is the ENF [environmental notification form].”

The ENF provides all environmental information to relevant parties and begins the formal environmental review process. On hand for the discussion and explanation were Reid Silva from Vineyard Land Services and Engineering, Meg Rehrauer from Ropes and Gray, and Daniel Padien, senior environmental scientist in coastal planning and permitting, from VHB.

Mr. Hodgkinson reviewed the recent history. “On Feb. 2nd the town meeting approved unanimously the recommendations of the committee. On July 7th we came back to you with essentially this site plan, with the designs that Reid Silva prepared for translating the town meeting concept — the relocated parking lot, the skiff launch ramp location, and where the roadway is going.”

Mr. Hodgkinson said they were at the meeting to ask selectmen to approve the ENF: “The purpose of the ENF is to provide all the environmental data on the town and the homeowners’ projects to all of the relevant permitting state agencies as well as all the relevant permitting Island agencies.”

Coastal Zone Management, one of the ENF review agencies, has granted the town $300,000 to build the town’s portion of the project.

“We were handed the project and asked to start preparing permitting documents for it,” said Mr. Padien. “I will say that the very first and guiding principle that we have kept throughout this process of writing this document was to start with the footprint that was recommended by the committee, and that’s exactly what we did. No creative genius here.”

Mr. Padien reiterated that the purpose of the ENF was to provide disclosure to the public. “Most projects don’t see this light of day before they get to an ENF. This project has the benefit of two years of review in the public realm,” he said.

Selectmen endorsed and approved the environmental notification form as presented.

In other news, MV ACE director Sam Hart presented survey findings to selectmen on continuing education needs on the Island. Mr. Hart proudly shared that 559 Islanders responded to the survey, and that there are already over 40 community teachers signed up for the two-year master’s in education degree offered in conjunction with Fitchburg State University.

“I applaud you for the advancements you made in the past two or three years, and I like the fact that you are incorporating a nice mix of personal enrichment for tradespeople on the Island looking to improve themselves and also with the master’s degree program,” Mr. Rossi said. “I think this assessment reflects the hard work you have been putting into the program.”

Selectmen were also thrilled with the success of the town’s solar array. “This is the first time that we have gotten a report as to how our solar array at the landfill has gone,” said selectman Warren Doty. “We generated 122,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity between September and August, so almost one full year.”

Mr. Doty said that was 60 percent of the town’s need, and “we produced it on land that was not going to be used for anything else.”

“I’m looking at the environmental benefits,” said Jonathan Mayhew, “and it says we have an oil offset of 9,651.35 barrels.”

Selectmen also approved $17,250 for a roof project at the Chilmark Community Center.