Chilmark voters Monday night voted on budgets, bylaws, and — the most anticipated — a ban on leaf blowers, which passed unanimously although with an amendment that will allow residents to use the equipment in their backyards.
Chilmark now joins three other Island towns in passing the bylaw, ensuring that gas powered blowers will be mostly phased out by 2028.
However, unlike the other Island towns, Chilmark residents, through amendments on town meeting floor, decided to only impart restrictions on leaf blowers to contractors, with homeowners able to continue caring for their lawn however they see fit, gas-powered or otherwise.
Zach Coutinho, a landscaper, introduced an amendment Monday night to limit the restrictions on homeowners. Coutinho said most of the issues with leaf blowers the community faces are due to contractor-use. Noise complaints and environmental damage were mostly contributed by groups like himself, he clarified. “Maybe we should regulate us, and not the people of Chilmark,” Coutinho said to the packed room of locals, earning him scattered applause.
The amendment he proposed passed 114 to 49, after locals voiced their support for the ability to retain their rights as a Chilmark homeowner.
A Chilmark resident who owns a back-pack, gas-powered blower, Ann DeWitt, said she’d rather blow leaves herself than pay someone “over a thousand dollars” to do so. To her, the right to operate this machinery is non-negotiable.
“You’re gonna tell me that you could start fining me for taking care of my own property?” she asked the town officials.
An added amendment ensured that caretakers and those receiving financial compensation for landscape or garden maintenance would also be exempt from gas-powered blower use also passed, as did a restriction for electric blowers in some winter months.
But an amendment to allow large, wheel-powered gas blowers to be used by contractors failed, leaving some landscapers to bid goodbye to the expensive equipment and look to comparable electric models.
A proposed zoning bylaw for protected-use accessory dwelling units also passed unanimously Monday night, but only after less restrictive zoning was added to the docket. Chilmark residents opted to be able to build accessory units up to 900 square-feet no matter the square footage of the primary dwelling on the land. Prior to this amendment, the bylaw stated that an accessory dwelling unit had to be half of the square footage of the primary dwelling, or 900 square feet, whichever was smaller.
A $100,000 provision for financial assistance toward the renovation of a beloved, hundred-year old fishing vessel also passed on Monday. The Mememsha fishing boat, named Little Lady, is the oldest wooden, western-rig fishing dragger in New England, according to the warrant.
While the total cost of renovation is closer to $2 million, according to vessel owner Dennis Jason Jr., $100,000 is to kick start a full repair. According to the Fisherman’s Preservation Trust, who is spearheading the project, Little Lady will be used as a teaching experience for students, a historical landmark, and as a fishing vessel once she’s up and running again, with all fish caught donated instead of sold.
“The boat’s almost 100 years old,” Jason said. “It would be nice to see it to 200.”
Another historical landmark will not be restored, however, after an amendment for the removal of a belltower at the Chilmark School was passed unanimously. Kate Squire, principal of the school, said the decision not to repair the belltower was based on expert opinion, cost analysis, and a desire to put financial backing into student learning.
Squire said it would cost double to repair the tower as it would to remove it, and as important as history is, the bell tower was not actively contributing to the students’ daily needs. She’d rather save future financial help, she said, for a project that directly involved students and their active education.
Salaries and municipal budgets were passed on Monday, with an extra tax on restaurant orders moved through the warrant as well, albeit not without questions from residents. But that was eventually passed too, so with every $100 check from a restaurant — take-out or dine-in — Chilmark residents will pay an additional $0.75 to the town for municipal needs in a fund that is guaranteed to not exceed $40,000.
In a brief respite from voting, selectboard member Marie Larsen thanked selectboard chair James Malkin for his nine years of service, as he will be stepping down this year.
“His mantra has been ‘Protect the small town character of Chilmark,’” Larsen said. “He’s just done a lot for this town.”
Malkin addressed the room of residents and reminded them of a song the Chilmark School students sing every day. The song, he said, is about nature, charm, and community, and not about luxury yachts or fancy houses. He addressed the crowd in a speech:
“I urge you all who care about this town to ask — ‘Is this taking us further to our character, or further away from the character of our town by the sea?’”
