A proposal from the Pachico Family Trust to divide a 1.2-acre commercial parcel on High Point Lane in Tisbury into four lots does not require review as a development of regional impact (DRI), the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) decided on June 21.
The Tisbury Planning Board referred the proposal to the MVC because division of commercial land is a trigger for DRI review. The commission’s land use planning committee reviewed the project on June 18 and voted to recommend to the full commission that it should not concur with the referral.
Tisbury health agent Tom Pachico represented his family at last week’s MVC meeting. He said an electrical supply company is interested in buying one or both back lots and that he would like to save the other lots for future use by himself or his four children.
Some of the commissioners were concerned that each lot could be developed with a building up to 1,999 square feet without triggering the MVC’s threshold for review, which would leave them unable to put conditions on the lots.The sticking point for them was the potential impact of cumulative and future nitrogen-loading on Lake Tashmoo, if the four lots were developed separately.
“The real question is, are we willing to impose a regulatory burden on these four lots when we don’t know what’s going to be there?” MVC commissioner Doug Sederholm of Chilmark said. “And, does the potential benefit outweigh the burden on the applicant, when these lots may not be developed?”
Mr. Pachico said he would be willing to put in a system for combined nitrogen reduction for the four lots, and have the property connected to the town sewer system if is it extended in the future.
The commissioners voted 11-2 not to review the Pachicos’ land division as a DRI.
