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The
Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
June 9 - June 15, 2005 Edition
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Questions in Chilmark June 9, 2005 Members of the Chilmark Housing Committee have described in powerful terms why affordable housing is needed in Chilmark. Voters certainly agree, but there are questions to answer. Indeed, as compared with the three, larger down-Island towns, and even with its two up-Island neighbors, Chilmark, with fewer than 1,000 voters, faces a disproportionately harrowing problem as it tries to increase the stock of modestly priced housing. Large-lot, low-density zoning, a tiny inventory of available property for sale, the near total absence of new subdivisions to create building lots, and the consequent sky-high real estate values make the affordable housing problem especially vexing. Add to all that the fact that the Chilmark economy does not produce by itself many well paying jobs, so that work-a-day residents often must travel down-Island to work and do so in cars that are expensive to operate, or on public transportation which is available but not always convenient: the conclusion must be that developing affordable housing in Chilmark is bound to be monumentally frustrating. Affordable housing is a bargain, struck between a community of voters that knows that younger people, starting out in life, earning modest incomes in vital trades, must be accommodated. Such neighbors are needed in every wholesome community. So towns offer inducements, in the form of subsidies — sometimes below-market land, sometimes rental units, sometimes grants in aid — to attract those residents who might otherwise not be able to locate in the community. For their part, the new residents who accept these inducements also accept restrictions on their freedom to benefit from home ownership. The town has a need; the would-be resident has a need. They strike a bargain. Chilmark voters will meet Monday to consider a town-financed plan to create affordable housing, either to rent or to own, on a parcel of town-owned land. There’s not much land in Chilmark controlled by the town and available for such a project. What should Chilmark voters ask themselves as they decide the several questions presented to them on Monday? The important question is, how can the town derive the greatest benefit from the housing it is able to create? Newcomers to Chilmark — teachers, police officers, town government employees — will be increasingly difficult to attract without the possibility of affordable housing. And because few of these workers remain in such positions long-term but instead find better paying or more challenging positions, or marry and move away, or begin businesses that prosper, allowing a move up the ladder of real estate investment, it is likely that the need for affordable housing for necessary neighbors will recur. This is an argument for rental housing in the Middle Line Road development. Limited town-owned land available for affordable housing, the likelihood of recurring need for such housing, and the very unlikely possibility that new, affordable Chilmark land will be dumped on the market in the foreseeable future argues in favor of rental housing as the best investment town voters can make. The 60-unit, Pennywise Path development in Edgartown is an example of sound thinking and aggressive management of an affordable housing initiative that will benefit the sponsoring town long-term. As the Edgartown Housing Committee member Alan Gowell told The Times this week: “We would not have been able to help so many households if our plan were on stand-alone residences. As attractive as single family homes are to all of us, the changing needs and the shrinking land supply on Martha’s Vineyard require that we change our attitudes about the type of housing we create for the people who live and work here year-round.” Mr. Gowell’s comment goes double for small, rich towns like Chilmark. Creating affordable ownership housing is important too, of course, but the better way to do it is through resident home sites, with appropriate but limited restrictions against long-term gain by the recipients. The current program is well founded, but lacks sufficiently attractive inducements to current Chilmark property owners. Increasing the size of the resident home site program will require new, imaginative, and more generous inducements to Chilmark landowners to create lots smaller than required by zoning from larger holdings. |
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