MVC unanimously rejects Edgartown Gardens

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission, in a rare unanimous vote, rejected a controversial, nearly 60-unit housing project proposed for downtown Edgartown near the Triangle. 

After nearly four hours Thursday evening of reviewing Edgartown Gardens — the proposed Chapter 40B senior housing development, headed by Falmouth developer William Cumming, that has received considerable pushback from the community — the MVC voted that the detriments of the project outweighed the possible benefits. 

While the commission recognized the project would bring housing to the Vineyard — particularly 11 affordable housing units — it called the project inappropriate for the area. 

While commissioners ultimately rejected the project, there is still uncertainty the rejection will hold up. Developers have filed litigation on multiple fronts against the regional planners — including, most recently, just hours before the MVC met. They are ultimately challenging the commission’s authority to oversee 40B projects.

Thursday’s meeting was a continuation of a meeting from Oct. 16, when the commission had reopened the public hearing for Edgartown Gardens. At the earlier meeting, commissioners and Edgartown officials were frustrated over what they saw as a lack of clarity over how the proposed project would play out. Meanwhile, the public continued to push back on the project, raising concerns about congestion from traffic generated by the site and the proposed development’s size. 

Commission chair Peter Wharton noted at the most recent meeting that the applicant declined to respond to several requests for information, such as a rendering of how the development would look with the surrounding area, so they had less of a record than usual for such a large project. Some members of the commission, like Tisbury Commissioner Greg Martino, called Edgartown Gardens an “incomplete application.” The Edgartown Gardens team had denied this. 

The most recent version of the proposal consists of 55 to 57 units, a total of 105 bedrooms, in 11 residential structures on a 3.38-acre lot. Eleven to 13 units would be for affordable housing. The project also proposes 88 residential parking spaces, 16 commercial parking spaces, and an elevator in each residential building.

Some commissioners were openly against the project. 

“It’s a bad design,” Ben Robinson, Tisbury commissioner, said. “They put all the parking on the outside, facing outside into the neighborhood, and it’s gonna appear as one large building.”

At the most recent meeting, despite the housing the project could bring to lower-income Islanders, as well as economic development to the town, several issues were raised by the commission as detrimental to the Island. 

The commission particularly highlighted the scale of the project, saying it would be much denser compared with other projects already built, under construction, or proposed. In the commission’s PowerPoint list showing developments on the Island, only Green Villa, a housing development proposed to have more than 100 units in Oak Bluffs — also headed by Cumming — was slightly denser. The Edgartown Gardens buildings would also “appear to be taller than any abutting/adjacent building/residence,” with the tallest three-story structure planned to be slightly more than 32 feet, and this would require a special permit from the Edgartown zoning board of appeals. 

The size of the project is also expected to impact the area, from traffic congestion to nighttime lighting affecting abutters. 

“I think it radically changes the character and identity of the neighborhood, and I think that’s negative,” Linda Sibley, West Tisbury commissioner, said. “You’re going to be shocked when you drive into Edgartown and you see this massive thing.” 

Brian Smith, Oak Bluffs commissioner, said he thinks the area would’ve been “perfect” for a housing development if it contained fewer units, noting its proximity to public transportation and nearby stores. 

Jeff Agnoli, Edgartown commissioner, noted the commission received over 100 letters, primarily from Edgartown residents, pushing back on the project

The commission also reviewed 42 conditions it would have imposed. Several of them would have had the developer undergo review by the commission’s Land Use Planning Committee, like an initial advertising campaign focused on Vineyarders and the homeowners association plan. 

The commission also voted 12-1 that the project was “essential but not appropriate,” with Tisbury Commissioner Mary Bernadette Budinger-Cormie abstaining, and West Tisbury Commissioner Doug Sederholm being the sole nay vote. 

But this isn’t the end for the project yet. Jay Talerman, the attorney representing the project, had filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts Land Court on Thursday before the meeting, challenging the commission’s authority to regulate 40B projects, a state statute that allows developers to build more densely and trump local zoning bylaws. The suit also alleged the commission failed to open a hearing in a timely manner, and that it lacked the power to require the plaintiff to fund the commission’s peer review of the project. 

“It was clear we would have a difficult time getting the votes,” Talerman said. “The hostility the MVC had expressed toward our project from the very beginning had not subsided.”

Adam Turner, Martha’s Vineyard Commission executive director, noted that a discussion about 40B was planned for the Thursday meeting, but would instead be done in executive session, following consultation with attorneys. 

A similar lawsuit was filed by Green Villa against the commission in September. The commission is scheduled to continue a public hearing for Green Villa on Nov. 6.