Chilmark says yes to $9 million budget, no to beer and wine service

Voters at annual town meeting Monday said yes to a plastic bag ban but had no appetite for allowing restaurants to sell beer and wine.

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Bob Nixon speaks in favor of a proposal to allow beer and wine service in restaurants. Photo by Ralph Stewart.

Chilmarkers crowded into the Chilmark Community Center at 7:30 pm Monday to attend to a 36-article annual town meeting warrant and take action on a $9,035,504 operating budget for fiscal year (FY) 2017, an increase of 1.67 percent over the current fiscal year.

A total of 200 of the town’s 933 voters, about 21 percent of the electorate, approved spending on a plan to restore Squibnocket Beach, changed zoning bylaws to protect historic houses, and instituted a ban on single-use plastic bags.

After vociferous debate, which included an exchange between Frank and Merrily Fenner, co-owners of the Galley, located across the street from the Home Port Restaurant, who opposed the measure, and Robert Nixon, owner of the Home Port Restaurant, the Beach Plum Inn and Restaurant, and the Menemsha Inn, who supported it, voters turned down a request to begin the process of allowing Chilmark restaurants to serve beer and wine.

The operating budget passed unanimously without discussion, as did all of the other articles on the warrant, save a measure intended to expand the regional refuse drop-off facility, which was rejected by Edgartown and postponed indefinitely.

Selectmen Bill Rossi and Warren Doty also honored fellow selectman Jonathan Mayhew, who chose not to seek re-election, for his 15 years of service to the town. “He really helped move the town in its modern and new direction,” Mr. Doty said.

Voters went to the polls on Wednesday to elect town officers. The election featured one contest for a three-year seat on the library board of trustees between Carol Shweder and Zoe Thompson. Jim Malkin ran unopposed for a seat on the board of selectmen.

‘Messing with our character’

The debate over whether to allow restaurants to serve beer and wine at times took on a highly personal nature, with several speakers questioning the motives of Mr. Nixon.

In a prepared statement, Mr. Nixon read from a letter that he had previously distributed to Chilmark residents in which he made the case for allowing beer and wine service. He said that it is hard to turn a profit, that it is safer to control the flow of alcohol than to let customers control their own flow, and that a beer and wine license could make his season longer.

“It is confusing to our guests,” said Mr. Nixon. “We have to explain to every person that calls that it is a dry town, that if they want to drink alcohol, you have to drive down-Island, bring it up here, and then we’ll serve it to you and charge a corkage fee.”

Chilmark is the only Island town that does not issue liquor licenses. However, alcohol is freely consumed in restaurants and along the beach and bulkhead in Menemsha.

Mr. Nixon said he appreciated the town’s resistance to change, but he thought that providing a beer and wine license would not change the character of the town as much as losing these businesses would.

“I’m resistant to change,” Clarissa Allen said, “but I think it’s punitive to these businesses.”

The article limited licenses to establishments having 50 seats or more. A suggestion was made to amend the article to allow establishments with less seating to apply for a license, so as not to favor only the three larger establishments in town.

“I’m just curious what difference it makes whether it’s a 50-seat restaurant or a 20-seat restaurant, or a 10-seat restaurant?” said Chilmark School teacher Robin Smith. “We only have three restaurants in town — we’re really at the same place that we started at.”

Mr. Nixon was handed a piece of paper and a pen, and he wrote out an amendment requesting beer and wine licensure for establishments with 20 or more seats. The amendment was defeated.

Mr. Fenner, a former selectman, took issue with any notion of beer and wine, and directed his arguments at Mr. Nixon.

“I am concerned with Mr. Nixon’s application,” Mr. Fenner said. “I have seen septic running down the street from the Home Port, and alcohol will not reduce the usage of the septic system.”

Referencing Mr. Nixon’s desire to increase his business and his profit, Mr. Nixon said, “They stated they paid $204,710 in meals and taxes last year. That means they grossed a little over $3.4 million in sales. I’m a businessman, I appreciate making sales and profit. I must assume there is a sizable profit in $3.4 million worth of sales. How much profit is enough? Is there ever enough profit to satisfy?”

Chilmark custodian Rodney Bunker shouted, “Stop messing with our character, leave it alone.” That remark was met with applause.

Referencing the other businesses in the small port, including the town’s two fish markets, Larsen’s and Menemsha Fish Market, where people often purchase food and sit outside, Merrily Fenner said, “The Galley won’t profit, the Bite won’t profit, Betsy [Larsen] won’t profit, Stan [Larsen] won’t profit, the Deli won’t profit. This is for the Nixons.”

One speaker invoked the battle to save the Home Port Restaurant, which was on the market, and which some residents wanted the town to purchase for a park. Many hailed Mr. Nixon in February 2009 after he purchased the restaurant and promised to keep it as a going concern.

“It wasn’t so long ago that we stood on this floor and gave the standing ovation for the Home Port to be saved,” said caterer Jan Buhrman. “I can’t imagine going into town, into Menemsha, or into Chilmark and not have a restaurant at all. I just think we need to consider small businesses, or large businesses, or businesses in town. We aren’t really changing the rural character of the town, but are instead contributing to the business and supporting the business. I know how hard it is to make money, and it’s a short season, and I think that to regulate alcohol is a much safer way than to allow people to pour alcohol all night long on their own dime.” Her statement was met with applause.

“All these articles tonight were about change,” Mr. Nixon said. “Do I like the idea of a sidewalk in Menemsha? Not really, but we’re going to do that now, I guess. This town spends a lot of time, and rightly so, supporting fishermen and farmers — not so much, it seems to me, on other businesses that have been here a long time.”

A voice vote was called. “It appears to be lost. It is lost,” longtime moderator Everett Poole said.

‘Level the playing field’

A proposal to ban single-use plastic bags prompted some discussion about an exception for the church to use plastic bags for its lobster roll sales over the course of 10 weeks this summer to avoid the cost of paper bags.

Selectman Warren Doty proposed the article be amended to exclude not-for-profit organizations, but the crowd erupted in chatter, with some questioning, “Why?”

“Level the playing field — everybody has to be in it all the way,” said one voter.

Meg Athearn of Morning Glory Farm stood and said, “We will donate the [paper] bags to the church for 10 weeks.”

The vote and offer of a donation of paper bags was met with applause.

Voters also agreed to improvements in Menemsha, including a sidewalk. “The main purpose is to widen the road for pedestrian use,” Mr. Rossi told the crowd.

Voters also agreed to support the cost to restore Squibnocket Beach and create a new parking area. Mr. Doty summed up the situation. “Needless to say, the board of selectmen has followed this project for several years now in great detail,” he said. “We currently have our project before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to do projects at Squibnocket Beach. We have two years in a row been awarded grants from Coastal Zone Management and from the State of Massachusetts in significant amounts — $200,000, $205,000 — and each year we haven’t been able to spend that money because we don’t have a permit. We expect there will be significant funding from the state for our renovations, but we would like you to vote on this tonight so we can go through the permitting process and go out to bid. If we get the state grant, then we won’t have to spend as much.”

Several measures not endorsed by the finance committee generated discussion. Voters wanted to know why FirstStop Martha’s Vineyard, an Island-wide website for seniors, did not pass muster.

“The reason for [the Finance Committee] not voting in favor of it was because they thought there was a duplication of services that you could get from elsewhere on the Island,” Mr. Rossi said.

“To me, this is an essential service that is finally being offered on this Island,” Valerie Sonnenthal said. “To keep the stress level down in a family, to know there is only one phone call you have to make to get information that is up-to-date and current, is a gift to the entire community. Under no circumstances can I imagine it not being funded.”

There was also passionate discussion over spending CPA funds to continue the town’s contribution toward the regional effort to create affordable housing.

“I’d rather see my taxpayer money used to house people in this town instead of worrying about people in other towns,” Rodney Bunker said. “Where are we going with this?”

“We all benefit by supplying affordable housing in down-Island towns,” said another resident. “They could be working in our hospital, our police departments, or our schools.”

“I feel like there are a lot of young people here who do not have enough money in the bank to even apply for a youth lot,” said Caitlyn Cook. “If you get an apartment, it’s a little bit easier to exist here as a young person without a savings account.”

“We all know there is an affordable housing crisis. This is a no-brainer, just vote it,” said Chilmark resident and real estate agent Jim Feiner.

Voters did pass it, along with an article intended to convert seasonal rental properties to affordable year-round rentals.