Change is occurring rapidly at the long-dormant Southern Woodlands development in Oak Bluffs. A decade of inactivity ended abruptly this summer with the June 26 auction and sale of the 90-acre, 26-lot subdivision, also known as the Preserve at the Woodlands. This came barely a month after National Land Partners purchased the mortgage from People’s United Bank of Connecticut. After a month of give and take with the Oak Bluffs Planning Board over conditions, the special permit awarded to developer Corey Kupersmith in 2004 was deemed valid. Now the new stakeholders are poised to go before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC), which is expected to honor the conditions approved in 2004.
The swift progress of the Preserve at the Woodlands is in stark contrast to a component associated with the 2004 deal — the land swap between the town of Oak Bluffs and the Land Bank, involving a 24-acre landlocked parcel known as the “doughnut hole.” When completed, the swap will create a sizable parcel of developable land for the town that fronts Edgartown–Vineyard Haven Road, often cited as a prime location for desperately needed affordable housing. In addition, the parcel abuts the Ice Arena and the YMCA, two of the town’s most prized recreational facilities.
But a decade has passed, and the land swap languishes. The town, or more accurately the Oak Bluffs
Resident Homesite Committee, remains stuck with a landlocked 24-acre parcel that is virtually useless to all but woodland creatures. And no one seems to know when this stalemate will end.
In conversations with The Times, Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank, and Dukes County officials, along with attorneys with knowledge of the deal, repeatedly cited unresolved title issues as the reason for the decade-long impasse.
Title tribulations
“The Land Bank’s title is perfect, and the town’s is not,” Land Bank Executive Director James Lengyel told The Times. “We’re ready to go as soon as the town has cleared the title. It’s accomplishing two important goals, conservation and affordable housing.”
Mr. Lengyel pointed out that once the titles are cleared, one more hurdle remains before the deal can be consummated. “The swap needs to be finalized by the state legislature,” he said. “The property can’t come out of the Land Bank’s name without an act of the legislature. We’re hoping there will be no problem on Beacon Hill.”
According to Dukes County Register of Deeds Dianne Powers, the doughnut hole, also known as Map 42 Lot 2, has a long history of mystery.
“There were issues with that property long before Southern Woodlands,” she told The Times. “When I worked on that title, it was for the Oak Bluffs assessor’s office. They were trying to clear ‘owners unknown’ properties so they could either be sold or current owners identified so the properties could go on the tax rolls. It was a part-time assignment, and it was determined that there was more to that particular project than they could address at the time.”
Oak Bluffs town assessor David Bailey said that the original deed for the property goes back to the late 1700s. “If you look at the deed to the Land Bank, you will see a long list of deed references showing where the seller’s title originated. I chose one of those deed references at random, book 808 page 749, and found that sellers title originated in 1777,” he said.
Mr. Bailey gave a hypothetical example of how the deed could become muddled since then. “Part of the woodlands was exactly that, land where people from the developed parts of town got their wood. When they chopped down all the trees, the property was worthless to them, and when they stop paying taxes on it, the title collapses. Over the course of this much time, there are all kinds of reasons a title can collapse.”
“It’s a very complicated situation,” selectman Kathy Burton told The Times. Ms. Burton has 22 years of experience working in Oak Bluffs real estate. “The tax-taking records were not the best in the olden days.” Ms. Burton said. The town’s past financial woes also have contributed to the delay. “This kind of title search can get very expensive,” she said. “For a while, the town’s financial shape didn’t allow us to fund the legal bills it would take to sort this out.”
Town administrator Robert Whritenour told The Times that he has created a team of town officials dedicated to resolving title troubles surrounding Map 42 Lot 2. “We consider this project a major priority for the town, and an interesting puzzle to solve,” he said in an email on Monday. “It’s a little bit of a frustrating process in the time it takes, but we have it squarely on our plates now.”
Mr. Whritenour said the long delay was related to Land Bank litigation when someone claimed partial ownership, but they were ruled unable to prove their claim. “The result is that the town has title to the property, but the title is not perfect, just as none of the Southern Woodlands parcels ever had perfect title,” he said. “However, the developers were able to ultimately insure their titles, and the town hopes to as well.”
New report details disarray
This June, attorney James Coppola of Marblehead was engaged by town administrator Robert Whritenour to help decipher the Map 42 Lot 2 morass.
“Typically, title searches on the Vineyard are fairly difficult to do,” Mr. Coppola told The Times. In a two-page report to Mr. Whritenour on June 26, Mr. Coppola said that the title trail begins with the conveyance of the lot from the town to the Oak Bluffs Resident Homesite Committee in July 1990. The town had acquired the property when it foreclosed on Edward Smith for four years of unpaid taxes, in 1957. Mr. Smith had acquired the property from Martha Studley, widow of Clement Studley, in May 1951. The parcel was described as the same premises conveyed to Clement Studley by deeds of Ezekiel H. Matthews, collector of taxes for the town of Oak Bluffs, dated Dec. 6, 1921.
This is where the plot thickens.
Mr. Coppola wrote that although there is a “Collector’s Deed” from tax collector Matthews to Mr. Studley conveying “Woodland, Farm Neck,” a collector’s deed does not transfer ownership of the property.
“Mr. Studley did not become the owner of the property by virtue of the collector’s deed. He merely acquired the Town’s lien for unpaid taxes. The lien was for unpaid 1921 taxes assessed to the Heirs of N.M. Jernagan.” Mr. Coppola goes on to say that there is also a collector’s deed from the tax collector to Mr. Studley conveying “Woodland, Farm Neck” for unpaid 1921 taxes assessed to heirs of H.A. Coffin.
“There appear to be two separate owners, the heirs of N.M. Jernagan and the heirs of H.A. Coffin.”
Mr. Coppola points out an additional complication with the title search: “ambiguous description of the property.” The 1921 collector’s deed refers to “Woodland, Farm Neck.” “This could be anywhere on Farm Neck,” he said. “Map 42 Lot 2 was not referred to in any document prior to the deed from the Town to the Homesite Committee, so how did the Town determine that the land described in the Treasurer’s deed did in fact cover Lot 2?” Mr. Coppola concluded that he was sure these unanswered questions would be a concern to the Land Bank.