On Monday afternoon the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank commission voted to refer a campground proposal for the Southern Woodlands Reservation to the Oak Bluffs Land Bank advisory board for input. After deliberation, the commissioners waxed positive toward the concept of a seasonal campground set in a section of the Southern Woodlands Reservation off Barnes Road.
Land Bank executive director James Langyel described the pitch as an “unsolicited proposal to resurrect” the old Webb’s campground. The proposal comes from Jacob Weaver of Boston, who stated in his proposal he wished to create “a low-impact campground with a variety of family-friendly accommodations such as safari-style tents, geodesic domes, and ‘pitch your own tent sites.’” Weaver indicated his wife’s family made a bid to buy Webb’s campgrounds years ago, but were outspent. Weaver’s proposal calls for portable showers and toilets.
As The Times previously reported, Randall and Sarah Spurr, who were abutters, tried to buy Webb’s property, but the land instead went to golf course developers. Those developers were blocked from building a golf course by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. Subsequently, the Land Bank acquired the property.
Though Weaver, per a pre-existing Land Bank management plan, wanted to place the campground in the Southern Woodlands off County Road, the commissioner’s saw more merit in siting the campground off Barnes Road, where Webb’s campground was originally located.
Lengyel told the commissioners the area in question is in “priority habitat,” so whether the state’s Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program would need to conduct a review was something to consider. Lengyel said the Barnes Road site definitely falls within the purview of the Natural Heritage program.
He also said it was customary to send out a request for proposals when a project is presented to the commission. The commissioners considered that a possibility, but took no immediate action.
“I think this is a really exciting proposal,” Oak Bluffs Land Bank Commissioner Kristen Reimann said, “to reintroduce tent-style camping at the Southern Woodlands.”
Edgartown Land Bank Commissioner Steve Ewing said he is a “strong supporter” of the project or one like it.
In response to a question from The Times if campfires would be used at the proposed campgrounds, Lengyel said generally speaking, no Land Bank land permits fires. “The Land Bank does not permit fires on its property,” Langyel said. However, he added, an “exception” might be “carved out” for campgrounds. Lengyel also said it may be premature to consider campfires. “Let’s get the location first before we design it for somebody,” he said.
West Tisbury Commissioner Peter Wells said campfires were integral to the camping experience.
“I think Oak Bluffs may be the last town on the Island that allows beach fires and campfires. All the other towns have said absolutely no, it’s forbidden,” Wells said. “I’ve been to campgrounds up in Maine, and we all had roaring fires in amongst the pines. We didn’t set the place on fire, so it could be done … It’s a big part of camping to have a campfire and to smell wood smoke.”
Weaver’s proposal calls for the allowance of “charcoal fires for cooking in approved grills, providing permission is granted by the Oak Bluffs fire chief.”
Lengyel later told The Times the Land Bank had explored establishing a campground previously, but nothing ever came to fruition. He made it clear, then as now, if something should come to pass, the Land Bank would not own or manage the campground, but have a lease agreement with someone. “There was never any contemplation that the Land Bank, as an institution, was going to run this,” he said.
Sarah Thulin, Aquinnah’s commissioner, abstained from the vote, without specifying why. The commissioners from all five other towns and the commonwealth’s commissioner voted in favor of the referral to the Oak Bluffs advisory board. That board is set to meet Wednesday at noon.
