The Martha’s Vineyard Commission once again continued its public hearing for the Hob Knob Inn after a set of revised plans for the inn’s expansion garnered another round of criticism from abutters.
Currently the inn features 17 rooms, with a basement spa and fitness area.
The project has two parts. The first is at the existing property on 128 Upper Main St., and would consist of constructing three new guest rooms and enlarging the existing spa with a larger fitness room and four new treatment rooms — an increase of 1,450 square feet in total.
The second part of the project involves the incorporation of 124 Upper Main St., the Tomassian & Tomassian Law building.
The office space of Tomassian & Tomassian would be removed, and a 4,401-square-foot addition would be added and an existing carriage house would be renovated to create 16 new guest rooms. The property would also have four rooms with private bathrooms, to house up to eight employees.
In addition to the renovations, nine parking spots would be created, resulting in 20 parking spots between the two properties. A pool, which was originally planned for behind the existing Hob Knob, has been moved to the Tomassian building.
The revised plans add 1,649 total square feet, an additional room (40 in total), and take away a parking spot (20 in total) from the previous plans.
The commission has received 47 letters from the public, 17 in support and 23 opposed, for the project. Supporters say the Island will benefit from the renovation for aesthetic reasons and increased tax revenue for the town. Opponents to the project, which include several abutters, say the project creates too large a hotel for the residential area, traffic issues, and is not consistent with the Historic District regulations — particularly of the proposed three front-facing dormers on the structure.
Jane Chittick, who lives across the street and has appeared at all other public hearings, once again voiced her opposition to the project.
“We see a brand-new hotel, motel, whatever you want to call it, on what is currently and always has been a residential home,” Chittick said. “It’s totally incongruous to the historic aspects of the residential area in which we all live.”
Another abutter, John Ettinger, was worried the addition would create a party spot filled with noise, and guests bringing in alcohol to the pool area.
“This is way too much commercial development in a residential district,” Ettinger said. “It’s going to be a constant, constant issue back and forth with the police about noise and alcohol at that pool.”
James Joyce, a commissioner who recused himself and spoke as an abutter to the hotel property, reiterated similar concerns. “They didn’t redesign a residential zone to a commercial zone,” Joyce said. “They’re still trying to put a square peg in a round hole. It still doesn’t work.”
Joyce also said he’d like to see a sound barrier around the pool area to help neighbors.
Commissioner Linda Sibley said she also was concerned about the sound from the pool area.
“I just don’t see, personally, how an outdoor pool can be anything other than a loud and joyous place,” Sibley said.
Architect Patrick Ahearn, who designed the project, said the hotel’s client base is people in their late 50s and early 60s, and virtually no children.
After listening to similar concerns from other abutters, commissioners decided to continue the hearing.
In other business, commissioners granted a four-year extension to the Lagoon Ridge subdivision. Lagoon Ridge is a proposed housing development that was headed by Davio Danielson, who passed away from tularemia in 2018. The commission granted the subdivision a two-year extension in 2018 after Danielson’s death. The family in charge of his estate is working to complete the project, but has faced setbacks due to the pandemic.