Commission delays vote on Spring Street development

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Connie Alexander (center) addressed commissioners on Thursday. —Daniel Greenman

After an unusually long three-hour comment period, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission delayed a highly anticipated vote on a project intended to house Vineyard Wind workers in a single-family residence.

With around three dozen attendees, and a high turnout online, public officials, the project developer, Tisbury residents, and local business owners voiced their concerns and hopes to the commission during Thursday’s hearing. 

Town officials and public commenters overwhelmingly asked the commission to determine the construction at 97 Spring St. as a development of regional impact, which would involve the commission conducting a thorough review, and possibly imposing restrictions.

Many officials and residents revisited a wide range of the complaints that have fueled public debate over the past several months, arguing that the developer’s plan to house transient workers was out of place among year-round residents, and that the property’s previous structure was historic, and improperly demolished. Commissioners often interjected to remind commenters to speak to the matter key to their decision — whether the project will affect multiple towns in terms of people, property, the environment, and moderate- and low-income housing.

Many commenters on Thursday spoke on behalf of what they said is an endangered area of historic housing for much of the Island’s year-round workers, and asked the commission to make up for a lack of oversight from the town’s own building department and zoning bylaws.

“This hasn’t had the review it could’ve had, and we’re coming to you and asking for the review we feel it needs,” said Connie Alexander, chair of the town planning board that referred the project to the commission.

Commenters were also concerned that instead of providing housing for a local workforce, the project is intended for a transient workforce, which would mean one fewer home for year-round Islanders. Tisbury planning board members also noted that the neighborhood has a high rate of around 70 percent year-round residents.

One concerned resident was Sandra Lippens, owner of Tilton Rental in Vineyard Haven. Lippens lamented a loss of community over time in her neighborhood, and questioned whether Vineyard Wind workers would contribute in the same way. “I live in Lagoon Estates,” Lippens said. “We had barbecues, and went to one another’s houses for Thanksgiving dinner … [The workers would] have barbecues and meet their kids for Thanksgiving somewhere else. They leave Martha’s Vineyard.”

When asked by the commission about concerns around a transient arrangement, developer Xerxes Aghassipour replied that the commission had approved Vineyard Wind’s plan to house workers on-Island already. He added that workers in other industries, such as pilots and mariners,spend weeks at a time on-Island.

He also stressed the importance of respecting neighbors around 97 Spring St., and said that he has an office in town, and will be available to address any concerns.

Tisbury planning board members also provided evidence that the building demolished in January to make way for the current project was more than 100 years old, and was therefore improperly torn down without a required referral to the commission.

“This is a historic working-class neighborhood of over 100 years made up of single-family homes. It’s a tight-knit community,” Alexander said. “They’re concerned with the erosion of housing families, year-round in single-family-home formation, that are the workers of the Island. That history started with the building of this [demolished] house, and it continues today. I think the Island planners recognized that distinction, and called it worthy of preservation and protection.”

Aghassipour repeatedly assured attendees that he will only house people at the property as the town allows during the project’s certificate-of-occupancy phase, to take place after construction is complete. Members of the Tisbury planning board have said, however, that the occupancy stage is not meant to regulate a property’s use, and that the commission is effectively the last chance for oversight.

Aghassipour also expressed his confusion as to why his plans to house workers at the property has generated controversy, noting that Vineyard Wind workers at his nearby 52 William St. property have not disturbed their neighbors.

Around 10 pm on Thursday night, commissioners decided that they would not have time to deliberate and reach their decision. They instead announced that they would be extending the written comment deadline by one week. The commission will then schedule a public meeting for its vote.

Commissioner Doug Sederholm and development of regional impact Coordinator Rich Saltzberg also stopped by 97 Spring St. Thursday at noon for a site visit ahead of the meeting. Aghassipour showed commission members around the property, which included space for three washer-dryer hookups, and an optional fourth.

Aghassipour told The Times that the building is on track to be complete in a couple of months’ time.

Consideration of the Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard Board Workshop project was also on Thursday’s agenda, but the commission postponed that item to Nov. 7.

Documents provided to the commission for their meeting are posted at bit.ly/MVC_DRI_SpringStreet.

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