The Island Housing Trust is proposing a 40B development in Vineyard Haven that would to three existing bedrooms add 12 bedrooms in three separate duplexes, with room for seven more bedrooms in the future, to a property near Veterans Memorial Park.
The plans, laid out in the trust’s November petition to the town, include a four-building final product at Lobster Alley consisting of three new buildings of two units each, in addition to an existing structure on 2.68 acres.
The trust says the project will address a crucial need for affordable housing, though some neighbors have voiced concerns.
Philippe Jordi, the trust’s executive director, told The Times Wednesday that the project will help alleviate the Island’s housing crisis, as well as complement other IHT projects in town on Daggett and Greenwood avenues.
“As you probably know if you live here on the Island, we have an emergency in terms of both creating ownership and rental housing,” he said. The new units would also lower the barrier to homeownership, he said. “At this point, you’re looking at paying twice as much on the open market as what we would be selling.”
Two of the six new units would be affordable for households earning 80 percent or less of the area median income. Two would be sold at 140 percent of the area median income, and would count as community housing. The final two units would serve the upper end of a “missing middle,” the petition states, representing homeowners with incomes above affordable housing targets who nonetheless struggle to purchase homes at market price. All of the units will require year-round residency.
The completed project will also have room for seven more bedrooms. Use of these bedrooms would require additional zoning board approval, however, the trust told The Times.
The trust partnered with the Vineyard Transit Authority to acquire the property in 2022 for $1.575 million from the Hughes family. Three Transit Authority employees live there currently.
The trust is now seeking a comprehensive permit from Tisbury’s zoning board of appeals, which it says would grant all necessary approvals for Cat Hollow as a Chapter 40B project. The petition is expected before the board on Jan. 23. The project will also be in front of the town’s planning board on Wednesday evening, for informal discussion.
The project will not require review at the Martha’s Vineyard Commission as a development of regional impact, according to the commission’s Lucy Morrison.
The project has already seen success in Tisbury, with town voters approving $300,000 of Community Preservation Act funds in 2023, and the town affordable housing committee giving its support.
However, some neighbors have written to officials with concerns.
Simon and Annabelle Hunton, owners of Nobnocket Boutique Inn, sent the zoning board their concerns over adequate fire suppression and parking at the site. The Huntons also questioned how the possibility of 22 bedrooms could change the area’s character.
“This high-density development will change the character of this tranquil, fauna-rich habitat, and negatively impact the quality of life for the abutters and neighbors. The density simply does not fit with the surrounding neighborhood,” they wrote.
The trust’s petition also states that its goal is to contribute affordable housing on-Island and in the town. The town is well under the 10 percent minimum that Massachusetts considers sufficient for affordable housing, the application states.