Tisbury selectmen, minus Melinda Loberg, moved through a laundry list of items Tuesday night. Selectmen Larry Gomez and Tristan Israel agreed to tentatively schedule a special town meeting on Jan. 12, pending the approval of Ms. Loberg, after Fire Chief John Schilling presented a need for a budget transfer from the stabilization funds for urgent and necessary ambulance repairs.
Tisbury shellfish constable Danielle Ewart asked selectmen to change town bylaws to prohibit scallopers from using drags with teeth, which cut through and damage eelgrass. She said other Island towns don’t allow it.
Selectmen agreed to hold a public hearing on Nov. 3 for a six-month moratorium on scallop drags with teeth.
Ralph Packer, owner of R.M. Packer Co. on Beach Road, presented a petition with 150 signatures from property and business owners on Beach Road. It endorsed a reduction in the speed limit from 30 mph to 20 mph from Five Corners to Wind’s Up, and from 40 mph to 30 mph to the Lagoon Pond drawbridge, with the installation of a pedestrian-crossing warning signal for the crosswalk at Wind’s Up to alert motorists entering Tisbury to slow down from 6 am to 6 pm.
Selectmen voted in support of the petition and agreed to pass it along to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), which must approve any change based on a traffic study. Selectman Israel said it could be tough, however.
“There’s a whole process involved in state speed limits which is archaic and frustrating, which is why I think we’re going to have to push on this,” he said. He called it a “torturous experience at best.”
Town leaders will hold a public meeting on the Union Street reversal on Tuesday, Nov. 3, town administrator Jay Grande said. Mr. Israel said that at first he was receiving positive feedback about the change, then people expressed concern over the loss of parking, and recently he’s heard comments that the road should be two-way.
MassDOT will return with a 25 percent design for the Beach Road project in one month, Mr. Grande said. In the meantime, he said, members of the planning board and selectmen will meet to come up with a list of specific design items and details to provide to the state.