After many discussions and a public hearing about food trucks, the West Tisbury select board finally established a set of regulations for itself regarding these vendors during a July 20 meeting. Board member Jessica Miller did not attend the meeting because she had limited Wi-Fi access, according to West Tisbury town administrator Jennifer Rand.
The food truck issue garnered attention because events were being denied permits for the trucks by West Tisbury building inspector Joseph Tierney, who made the decisions based on the town’s zoning bylaws. These decisions were overturned multiple times by the West Tisbury zoning board of appeals, and members of the public pushed for more access to food trucks, which led to the development of a set of food truck regulations based on existing ones from Tisbury and Wellfleet.
“We now have a final draft,” board chair Cynthia Mitchell said.
Board member Skipper Manter had several questions about the final draft’s language, which was edited by town counsel Michael Goldsmith. These included clarifications about where food trucks could go, and the enforcement of the rules, among other subjects.
After going over Manter’s questions, West Tisbury Fire Chief Gregory Pachico asked whether the food trucks would need to have an inspection on the day they are operating at events.
“If there is not, my suggestion would be, under the application process — most of these would have a hood or fire suppression of some sort — I think they should have to show it has been inspected within the year, and that it is current,” Pachico said.
Rand clarified that an applicant would need to gather the relevant town officials’ signatures, including Pachico’s, before the board can “take action” on the permit application.
“You would then have the ability to make sure it’s been inspected before you would sign it,” Rand said. “Much like the event permit, you sign it before it gets to the board.”
Manter made the motion to accept the final draft after a “two-minute speech” addressing the potential issues the future may hold because of the current zoning bylaws, such as where food trucks can operate, which he hopes can be clarified by Tierney or the planning board.
“I think that’s important to iron out as we’re moving forward to change the zoning to allow some of this, and certainly, I would think, in a limited fashion,” Manter said.
“We have regulation, we don’t have changes in zoning bylaw,” Mitchell said after the vote. “That will be worked on.”
In other business, the board unanimously approved a warrant for the 2022 state primary from Massachusetts Secretary of State William Francis Galvin. West Tisbury voters can cast their ballots for candidates running for various offices, from the governor to sheriff, at the Public Safety Building on Tuesday, Sept. 6, from 7 am to 8 pm. Early voting will take place at the Public Safety Building on Saturday, August 27, from 9 am to 5 pm, and Monday, August. 29, to Friday, Sept. 2, from 8 am to 11 am. The 41 poll workers listed were also unanimously approved.
The board unanimously approved the Martha’s Vineyard Animal Shelter holding its “Celebration of Animals” at Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society on Saturday, July 23, from 2 to 4 pm.
The board unanimously approved hiring the company ACG as the Howes House owner project manager, per the recommendation of the Howes House feasibility study committee. Manter disclosed he is a member of the committee. West Tisbury treasurer Kathy Logue was chosen by the board to enter into contract negotiations with ACG.
The board unanimously approved sending a letter written by Coalition to Create a MV Housing Bank coordinator Laura Silber asking Massachusetts State Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, to support amendments proposed by State Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, and State Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, to the economic development bill being considered at the state legislature. Cyr’s amendment would “allow a transfer fee to pave a way for the MV Housing Bank,” while Comerford’s amendment would push in favor of the home rule petition Nantucket filed in 2016 for its own transfer fee. Silber said Aquinnah and Chilmark have already sent the letters.
In correspondence, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a public comment period regarding a proposal “to issue a modification to the Clean Air Act (CAA) permit issued to Vineyard Wind 1, LLC (VW1) for the construction and operation of an Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) source that includes an offshore wind farm and export cables.” Comments will be accepted until August 10, and can be sent either by email to the agency’s representative, Eric Wortman at wortman.eric@epa.gov, or by mail to Air and Radiation Division (Mailcode: 05-2), U.S. EPA Region 1, 5 Post Office Square, Suite 100, Boston, MA 02109. Comments can also be submitted at regulations.gov. A copy of the notification is available on The Times website.
