Four units of affordable housing planned to be built behind the Aquinnah town offices are expected to be completed by next June.
Aquinnah housing committee chair Mike Hebert gave a rundown of the status of the project to the Aquinnah Select Board during a Tuesday evening meeting.
The apartments are being developed by Island Housing Trust (IHT), who are finalizing a contract with Southwest Construction. The site work on the property will begin after the contract is signed; a well is expected to be installed by the end of July.
“The foundation work and actual construction will start to begin in … the end of August or so,” Hebert said.
Hebert also expressed thanks to the project neighbors for being supportive.
“Being accustomed to the time frame for construction on this Island, it seems fairly aggressive to have four units completed by next June,” board chair Tom Murphy said, who also expressed excitement about the project.
Meanwhile, Hebert also asked the board to take steps to deal with a percentage of a 1.2-acre lot off Old South Road that Aquinnah partially owns through an intergovernmental agreement with the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank. Herbert says that the ownership of roughly 12 percent of the lot remains a mystery. Hebert said this area could possibly be used as an affordable housing project, but the ownership of the remaining 12 percent needs to be cleared up.
The board unanimously voted to look into it, but Murphy also emphasized that Aquinnah should have a bigger conversation overall regarding affordable housing.
Yes, good. AHO.