But Edgartown pulls plug on energy DCPC

By Susan Vaughn - February 1, 2007

A warrant article designed to set the stage for the creation of an Island-wide energy conservation District of Critical Planning Concern (DCPC) will not appear on the Edgartown annual town meeting warrant.

Edgartown selectwoman Margaret Serpa said at Monday's selectmen's meeting that the deadline had passed for submitting articles for the town meeting, and since the DCPC proposal is a zoning issue, it has been referred to the planning board. "We've been very strict about holding hearings for zoning issues," she said.

Pamela Dolby, Edgartown selectmen's executive secretary, said town policy is that the planning board is required to hold public hearings before a zoning proposal goes on the warrant. "There seem to be a lot of questions about this," she said.

Kate Warner of West Tisbury, an energy consultant who is helping to lead an Island-wide push to take advantage of the Martha's Vineyard Commission's superseding regulatory authority, presented the article language to selectmen in an e-mail.

The article mirrored an article accepted by West Tisbury selectmen last week that asks voters to support the selectmen's appointment of three representatives to an Island-wide advisory group responsible for drafting a nomination with proposed guidelines and regulations for an Island-wide energy DCPC.

The article was a modified version of an earlier article that asked voters to support a nomination by selectmen to the MVC to nominate the Island as an energy DCPC in order "to mitigate the environmental impact of energy use in new or renovated structures, and to foster Island energy independence."