Planners seek views on North Tisbury

By Susan Vaughn - March 1, 2007

Facing some pressure from the zoning board of appeals, the West Tisbury planning board members Monday sought opinions from residents of the North Tisbury neighborhood on the business uses in that area. They got plenty of response from the 40 people who attended the forum.

"We have tried to be flexible, but it gets difficult to enforce," board member David Douglas said. "It's your neighborhood. We're here to solicit opinions on what the neighborhood wants and how it would like to see itself in the next few years."

The stretch along State Road between the mixed-use business district and North Road is zoned residential agricultural, but various businesses have cropped up over the years or have been grandfathered in place. They have presented the planning and zoning boards with some difficult decisions.

"It's a mixed bag of business uses outside the {business} district," planning board member Mark Yale explained. "Some have retail sales. Some have changed over the years. It's a question of how the businesses should operate outside the district." He said the board would like to clarify what types of uses should be allowed in North Tisbury.

The majority of those who spoke Monday have run home businesses in the area and favored keeping the rural neighborhood character while instituting some controls to help keep that character.

Longtime North Tisbury resident Bill Haynes has run a plumbing business out of his yard, and he is surrounded by similar businesses. "I really feel we don't need a business zone in the area. I'm happy to keep it the way it is. It's residential. Home business is good." He said he feared that if the area were zoned for business, it would turn into a business strip like the area in Vineyard Haven around Cronig's Market.

Mark Weiner, owner of Martha's Vineyard Glassworks on State Road, said he likes running his business in a residential area. "The character is what's special," he said. "Having to live there is the key." He added that he doesn't believe the road or the water table could support a formal business district.

Mr. Yale said one proposal is to allow lots that front on State Road to be classified as business lots, which would make it easier for the zoning board to interpret what's allowed. It would not become commercial/industrial zoning, he said. "There are so many gray areas," Mr. Yale said. "We're trying to determine if some reclassification would make it easier for the ZBA."

Mr. Douglas said the biggest problem in the area is that the grandfathered uses are allowed to do what they did before zoning but wouldn't normally be allowed to do now. Several residents described several businesses in the area that had changed.

Much of the discussion focused around three businesses in that category that have closed: Middletown Nursery, Farmer Green's roadside fruits, vegetables, and flowers stand and the Bittersweet restaurant. The ZBA has rejected an expansion of Middletown Nursery.

Zoning board of appeals member Eric Whitman said his board is looking for guidance from the planning board on those three properties specifically. "We would rather have a business there than have it empty," he said. "We kind of stretch ourselves to let that happen. Home businesses are not the problem."

Zoning board member Tucker Hubbell echoed Mr. Whitman's sentiments. "We make judgments based on the bylaws made by the planning board," he said. "It has to be written and specific in the bylaw. The way the bylaws are written, [grandfathered businesses] can be what they are. We need some kinds of guidance," he told the planning board.

Toward the end of the meeting, North Tisbury resident Nina Gordon said, "I'm guessing that most don't want a business district," but she added, "This is a great opportunity. I wouldn't mind an expanded commercial zone," with some controls.

"The consensus seems to be to make no new district," Mr. Yale said, but he added that a definition of grandfathered uses is needed. Planning board member Ginny Jones explained that a grandfathered use expires if a business is closed for three years. A grandfathered business use in a residential district would then revert to residential use.

Ms. Jones also outlined the two levels of home occupations. One is a single proprietor who operates in a low-key fashion with no retail sales and no signs. The other home occupation is allowed by special permit so neighbors can comment, she said. That category allows up to three employees and three parking spaces. "We have no intention of restricting home occupations," she assured the residents.

Selectman Glenn Hearn urged the planning board to define what they want in the area and set the criteria for what is allowable.