Boston firm picked for Owen Park Bandstand

Updated 5:45 pm

Town planners have selected Keith Moskow’s architectural firm to design a replacement for the Owen Park Bandstand in Vineyard Haven.

In a 4-0 vote Monday, with chairman Dan Seidman not present, the Tisbury planning board selected Moskow over Vineyard Haven artist Paul Lazes. The board agonized over the decision — Lazes offering a more historical Victorian design, and Moskow a more modern approach he described as offering the feel of a “Japanese lantern.” The two designs were part of a competitive public process where 10 different designs were submitted — all the designers receiving $400 for their efforts to replace the deteriorating bandstand on the same footprint.

“It is a bandstand, but it’s also sort of a beacon,” Moskow said. 

Moskow’s design included steps on the side of the water, a feature several of the board members liked.

In answering questions about potential wind damage, Moskow said the fir timbers would be reinforced with steel. Wood will be exposed, adding to the architectural detail of the bandstand, he said. He described the roof’s curved lines as reminiscent of the roof on the former Santander Bank building on Main Street.

Melinda Loberg, the only selectman at Monday’s meeting, asked if any storage could be incorporated into the design for the Vineyard Haven Town Band to store music stands and chairs. Moskow said there’s no place in the current footprint, and it would require a “huge amount of effort” for little return. Instead, he suggested a small separate building could work.

Jaime Hamlin, one of the few members of the public at Monday’s meeting, questioned the look of one of the slides that showed the bandstand lit up at night. “It’s going to look like a Christmas ornament on the landscape,” she said. She said she didn’t want it to end up like the lighting on Main Street, which is too much.

But Moskow promised the light will be softer and warmer than what was shown, while providing musicians with what they need to read sheet music.

The town will work in the next couple of months with Moskow to prepare a more detailed design and costs that it can use to go and seek support from voters at town meeting in March. A yet-to-be scheduled public meeting will be held in January to get feedback on Moskow’s design.

A key factor in the decision is Moskow’s experience. Moskow Linn is a Boston-based architectural firm that’s worked on public projects — notably the 9/11 Memorial at Logan Airport. His design also provides the most space for the Vineyard Haven Band, which already has trouble fitting its performers on the cramped stage. The rounded design offered by Lazes would cut into that space, members of the planning board feared.

Moskow’s knowledge of the public bidding process and his ability to legally work around it by creating a design firm — as his firm did with the MassPort project at Logan — was mentioned by planning board members Ben Robinson and Dawn Bellante Holand.

“One has direct experience with that process, and one just feels that they’re able to meet it,” Holand said.

Ahead of the vote, Robinson said he expects public backlash to the choice, and even suggested the copper roof in Lazes’ design might be something worth asking Moskow to incorporate, though planning board member Elaine Miller balked at moving away from Moskow’s translucent fiberglass roof design.

Holand said she fears the town is sometimes “paralyzed” by trying to get unanimous public approval. “If you’re trying to get everyone on the same page, you’re at the risk of getting nothing done,” she said.

Moskow said he understood the “real significance” that the bandstand has in the community.

Miller interrupted him. “It’s not just a bandstand,” she said. “It’s a monument.”

Both Moskow and Lazes were interviewed extensively about their designs and willingness to guide the planning board and town through the public process. Both men left while the committee members deliberated.

But while they were in the room, both showed appreciation for each other’s designs.

“I love your design,” Lazes said during his presentation.

“I love yours,” Moskow responded.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Lazes said he’s disappointed. “Of course. I really thought that, as much as I respect the other design, I don’t think it’s appropriate for the location,” he told The Times. “The rationale is that I didn’t have experience with public projects, but I don’t think that’s insurmountable. I was looking forward to it.”

Moskow could not be immediately reached for comment.

It became clear early on in the board’s deliberations that the scales were tipped in Moskow’s favor.

“I think we’re really lucky to have two final designs where people really care about it,” Cheryl Doble, a member of the planning board, said.

Planners weren’t convinced it was important for the bandstand to be a historic imitation. “I respect historic houses,” Miller said. “There’s a point at which we can leave our footprint on our locality as well … I don’t think we have to keep reproducing.”

Robinson said in dealing with two very different aesthetics, it comes down to who can get the project to the finish line. “I think it’s clear that one person has a lot more experience with the public process than the other. No doubt about that,” he said. 

Updated with more details. -Ed.