Tisbury greenlights drainage project

Orr appointed as a town housing bank committee rep.

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The Beach Street outfall pipes, shown here buried in sand, have proved challenging for planners to upgrade. — Rich Saltzberg

On June 22, Tisbury’s select board voted unanimously to write a letter of endorsement for a Beach Street and Beach Street Extension drainage project, headed up by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The board learned MassDOT plans to execute the project in two parts, and one of those parts remains in a study phase. 

MassDOT project manager and acting stormwater program coordinator Hung Pham outlined how the project came about. “Back in 2020, the EPA as well as the UNH Stormwater Center in conjunction with the town of Tisbury, Tisbury Waterways, [the] Martha’s Vineyard Commission, and MassDOT collaborated in a study to investigate the benefits of implementing cost-effective stormwater management strategies in the town of Tisbury,” Pham said. “And from that study there was a report that summarizes some findings, and presented a conceptual plan for stormwater improvements to provide flood relief within the Five Corners intersection.”

Pham said the project will collect water from the area’s watershed and send it through a subterranean filtration system at 21 Beach St., a town parking lot that was the site of the town’s old fire station. Also, he said, the project will evaluate the outfall pipes that drain into Vineyard Haven Harbor at the end of Beach Road Extension, and find the best solution for managing that outflow.

Pham said those pipes are “frequently buried,” and are “a primary contributor” to the flooding that’s occurring at Five Corners. 

“The drainage pipes are a lot more complicated than they seem,” Pham said. In light of that, Pham said MassDOT wants to divide the project “in two.”

The “first phase,” Pham said, would be to install the filtration system under the parking lot at 21 Beach St. Phase two would be “to tackle that outfall,” he said.

Because of the complexity of the outfall pipes, more study is needed to find “the best way to move forward with that, and all the environmental permitting that goes along with it.”

Select board chair Larry Gomez asked if the two project components would be done concurrently or in a particular order. 

Pham said MassDOT would like to do the filtration system first. 

“It would provide some relief from flooding, because it can store all of that watershed and then whatever we can’t store would divert back out to … Five Corners, downhill from there,” Pham said, adding that “phase two would assess that drainage system at the intersection out toward the harbor.” 

Pham went on to say MassDOT wants to “tackle what we can tackle,” and continue to study what the “best solution” to the harbor drainage would be. It’s also possible, Pham said, an alternate location for the outfall pipes may be found: “The flatness of the area of Five Corners and the outfall pipes has contributed to the challenge of arriving at a solution.”

The board learned that basically MassDOT would pitch a project where one-half is still in design flux. 

“So right now we’ll be advertising the two projects together,” Pham said. He added the project is on deck for 2024, with “regional target money.”

Gomez asked if there will be a solution for water that comes from Lagoon Pond Road to Five Corners.

Pham acknowledged water from that road contributing to the problem, but suggested the state’s focus was on water coming down the hill from State Road and Beach Street to Five Corners, where “elevation is our enemy.”

“We’re not going to ignore Lagoon Pond Road?” Gomez asked and then offered an answer to his own question by saying it’s not a state road, so it’s something for the town to handle.

“Correct,” Pham said. “There’ll be some partnership that needs to happen … It would be nice to have the support of the community.” He added it’s not immediately necessary, however.

Select board member Roy Cutrer asked if the water stored at 21 Beach St. would be pumped out, or if it would leach out. Pham said it will leach, and there will also be an outflow pipe down to Five Corners. 

“We just finished that lot,” Cutrer said. “We just repaved that lot. Are they going to dig that lot up now? Who’s going to pay to repave it?”

“It would be part of the project,” Pham said.

“I’m really quite happy to see that DOT is moving along on this project,” former select board member Melinda Loberg said. Loberg, who is a member of the town’s climate committee, went on to say, “The town has been looking into this for a while due to an EPA grant.” She added that a study was afoot to learn “how water moves through Veterans Memorial Park a little better. We on the climate committee have been concerned about the interplay of the two different initiatives the town has taken to deal with water.” Those two, she said, had to do with water that drains down to the shoreline, and storm and sea level “tidal infiltration.” Loberg cautioned, “if we take a step in one place, we’ve got to be sure it doesn’t have unintended consequences for the other.”

That said, Loberg said she was “fully” supportive of Tisbury endorsing the MassDOT drainage work.

Water Resources Committee chair Ben Robinson said he recommended MassDOT spend some time with local committees to workshop plans and ideas, because he felt Loberg was “absolutely right” about the need to see the whole water picture, not just what is within MassDOT’s jurisdiction. 

Pham said the state had to concentrate on what is within its purview, but he nonetheless was amenable to such cooperation.

In other business, the board unanimously appointed Rachell Orr to the housing bank advisory committee. 

Rick Homans, a member of the master plan steering committee, and a former CEO of a Florida regional economic development organization, and Orr, a member of the finance committee and a title examiner by trade, were the two candidates before the board. 

Both candidates had people weigh in for or against them. Dr. Henry Nieder expressed his support for Homans. Finance committee member Elaine Miller came out strongly against Orr, claiming she was anti–housing bank. Orr refuted that. Robinson and shellfish constable Danielle Ewart supported Orr. 

At the time, Coalition coordinator Laura Silber said the last town left to appoint somebody is Edgartown. On Monday, Edgartown appointed town administrator James Hagerty.

1 COMMENT

  1. Just imagine that the Mass DOT installed more catch basins and under the road surface including additional holding basins along the State Road starting at Martin Road intersection and running down the state highway right-of-way down to an area near the US Post Office.

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