A lawsuit filed by the owner of the former Lampost building in downtown Oak Bluffs to repeal a restriction on short-term rentals at his property is headed to trial.
The bench trial between owner Adam Cummings and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission is scheduled to be held in Dukes County Superior Court before Judge Maureen Hogan on Oct. 14.
“It’s a long time coming for those of you who sat in 2018 to 2019 on this case,” Adam Turner, executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, told commissioners on Thursday.
Cummings, who owns the Lampost building on Circuit Avenue and is operating as Windsor Circuit Ltd., sued the commission in 2022 over the commission rejecting his proposal to reduce the number of workforce housing units on his property from 10 to four. The complaint, filed on Cummings’ behalf by attorney Tomas D. Orr, argued that the commission’s decision “directly and proximately caused the plaintiff to sustain damages” and violated his client’s constitutional rights to “exercise and enjoy certain rights, privileges, and immunities to own and develop property free from threats, intimidation, and coercion.”
In June 2021, Cummings was served a warning for using the workforce housing units for short-term rentals through Airbnb. In an attempt to remain in compliance, Cummings requested he be allowed to decrease the number of units he was required to have for workforce housing, which the commission blocked.
The commission approved a proposal to convert three of the five floors in the building to workforce housing in 2018.
While a trial awaits, the two parties did come to an agreement in July this year that hastens court procedures. If the court determines that all units in the Lampost should be “used at all times exclusively as workforce housing,” then the commission was right to deny the modification, as it cut down the number of workforce housing units and the benefits of the change “could not outweigh the detriments.” However, if the court determines that not all of the units in the property are required to be exclusively used for workforce housing, then the commission should have approved the modification, since it wouldn’t be a reduction in workforce housing units, and the benefits of the change outweigh the detriments.
Anything can happen in a courtroom and it is not always the verdict we want to see, but I sure hope the owner here loses so that the island will win.
Curious if the town or MVC has any means to stop short term rentals in the building. The owner was renting short term when it was expressly prohibited before. Is anything different now? This is a classic example of it being easier to ask forgiveness than permission.
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