Cat Hollow, a housing project intended to add up to 19 bedrooms on a property near Lagoon Pond, has been referred to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission for review as a development of regional impact.
The vote from the local zoning board of appeals comes as around 50 Tisbury neighbors have signed a petition asking town officials to deny the project’s Chapter 40B application, citing concerns including nitrogen output into Lagoon Pond, traffic congestion.
The project developer, the Island Housing Trust, wants to build three identical duplexes at 25 Lobster Road near the Lagoon Pond watershed, where nitrogen loads have long been a concern. It has proposed 12 new bedrooms, including for residents in need of affordable housing and with room for seven more bedrooms if families require extra space.
Jeff Kristal, chair of the town’s zoning board of appeals, announced at a meeting last Thursday that the project required a mandatory referral to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, as not all of its proposed units would qualify as affordable housing. Two of the proposed units may serve buyers earning over 150 percent of area median income, he said. The trust, in its application, had said the project would not need review by the MVC.
If town officials accept the project’s permit application as a Chapter 40B project after commission review, it will be fully permitted and exempt from local zoning restrictions.
Around a dozen concerned citizens attended Thursday’s meeting, with some having signed a petition asking the board to deny the Chapter 40B application and refer the project to the commission.
The petition, created by a group of concerned citizens, had 48 signatures ahead of last week’s meeting, according to a filing to the board meeting by neighbors John and Susan Lemoie-Zarba.
Both officials and residents have asked for more evaluation of the project’s possible nitrogen impacts.
Town health agent Drew Belsky told The Times on Monday that the project would add 8.86 kilograms of nitrogen per year into the pond from wastewater, according to information provided to his board by the trust. The project’s 40B application notes that to offset its nitrogen contributions, the trust will help the town mitigate nitrogen at 9 bedrooms at other properties around the watershed.
He did note that his board would have liked more time to review the mitigation plans. “We approved that we’re open to working with [the trust] to offset new nitrogen by looking at offsite mitigation,” he said. “We’ve yet to speak to them about any of the details.”
However, he said that he looks forward to further discussion during the commission’s review. “We hope to work with [the commission] on the water resources of this project to get a real nitrogen mitigation plan from [the trust]. I’ve seen some nitrogen mitigation plans that the MVC has put out before, and it’s very thorough,” he said.
The project will use Innovative/Alternative KleanTu denitrification septic systems at all buildings on the property, the 40B application states.
The petition also cited parking and traffic congestion as a potential concern, stating that the project would amount to 44 additional year-round residents to the property in its maximum 22-bedroom capacity, and that the project could congest nearby Causeway Street and Skiff Avenue.
Speaking to The Times on Monday, John Stanwood, IHT project manager for Cat Hollow, said that the proposal is for 15 bedrooms at the property, and that the trust has conducted a traffic impact assessment with consultants Vanasse & Associates, available in the 40B application.
He also pushed back against the 44-resident claim. “The petition says every unit will be expanded, and two people will be in each bedroom. That would mean every family has four kids, raises two kids in each of the two other bedrooms, and all four of those kids would have cars. I think that that’s just a very, very unlikely scenario,” he said.
He also noted that the current project design takes into residents’ past concerns from a Zoom information session, as the initial four-duplex proposal was reduced to three and decks toward the back of the properties were removed to reduce noise pollution.
The town building and zoning department confirmed to The Times that the town’s referral was sent to the commission on Friday, but was not able to immediately provide the document.
Kristal said on Thursday that he had faith that the commission’s public review process would address residents’ concerns filed to his board. “We caught one thing over the last 25 years that the Martha’s Vineyard Commission didn’t, and that was that they didn’t allow space for somebody to put their lawnmower,” he said.
The ZBA scheduled its hearing on the 40B application for 4:30 on March 13 at the town hall annex at 66 High Point Lane, subject to change based on the commission’s overview of the project.
Documents and submissions to the zoning board regarding Cat Hollow can be accessed via the zoning board of appeals webpage.