At the Edgartown special and annual town meetings on Tuesday night, Edgartown voters approved more than $1.4 million in overrides to fund the next year’s operating budget and purchase the Martha’s Vineyard Boys and Girls Club property.
The meetings, held at the Old Whaling Church, drew a total of 245 Edgartown voters. Most articles passed with little opposition, and only two articles were denied. The special and annual town meetings started at 7 and ended at 10 pm.
Both override questions now go to the ballot at Thursday’s town election, from 10 am to 7 pm.
Article 6 passed after a brief discussion. The $900,090 general override will add roughly 6 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, said town administrator James Hagerty at the annual.
In a standing vote of 194–7, voters also approved the $3 million acquisition of the Boys and Girls Club property located at 4 M Daniels Lane. Funding includes $2 million from the capital stabilization fund, $500,000 from free cash, and $500,000 tied to the override, adding about 3 cents per $1,000, said Hagerty.
One resident asked for context for transactions, plans, and the renovations needed for the building.
“The inspection did show some issues … That being said, there’s a lot of flexibility on the project,” said Hagerty.
Hagerty said they have considered using it as a new Council on Aging facility or a parks department space.
While some residents applauded town officials for keeping taxes low in the face of high costs and inflationary pressures, others were concerned the money going toward the building acquisition was not being prioritized for more important projects, like the $15 million needed to change the Chappy Ferry slips to address rising sea levels.
But the article was ultimately passed without much further discussion.
Residents also ushered in some debates about approving $95,000 for fireworks on Article 25. Resident John Merrow proposed an amendment to require Edgartown to use low-noise fireworks starting in 2027, citing impacts on pets, veterans with PTSD, people on the autism spectrum, and birds. “I don’t think that’s asking too much,” said Merrow.
Merrow also said that low-noise fireworks have brighter colors. But Hagerty said he had consulted with the current vendor, Pyrotecnico FX, and it disagreed, stating quiet fireworks are not powerful enough to be seen from a distance, and the colors are faded. Town counsel Zeb Landsman also said they cannot approve an amendment for 2027.
“John, I’m respectfully disagreeing with you,” Hagerty said. “It’s the 250th anniversary. Similar to apple pie and Chevrolet. The fireworks that come in, the people that [are] brought in. It’s a great event for the town.”
“All in favor of rockets’ red glare,” said town moderator Steve Ewing. The crowd said a loud “Aye,” but this was followed by a significant “Nay.” A standing vote confirmed the warrant’s approval, 119–69.
Article 68, increasing fines for repeated false fire alarms, passed unanimously despite some residents’ arguing the penalties should target alarm companies rather than homeowners, and Article 69, which lowered the special town meeting quorum from 5 percent to 2.5 percent of registered voters (about 109 instead of 218), was also approved. Officials noted difficulty in scheduling special meetings with growing voter rolls, and said that the town had only 27 residents over quorum for the Tuesday meeting. The change passed on a standing vote of 117–55 after an amendment for proposing a quorum of 3.5 percent of voters failed.
There were also some pointed discussions about Article 70, an article that aimed to amend the town’s accessory dwelling unit (ADU) bylaws. The article changed specific wording in the bylaw, such as amending “accessory dwelling unit” to “protected-use accessory dwelling unit” and changing “livable floor space” to “gross floor area.”
Residents showed concern about the changes. Ben Hall, among other residents, was concerned that the changed wording for floor space would include unlivable rooms, such as unfurnished attics or basements, in tax assessments, and these were previously not a part of the calculations.
“The building inspector has rightly been troubled by a lot of situations where people have converted basements into apartments,” Hall said. “Once they become converted, they should be included in that gross or livable space. But before they are, why are they being included?”
Reade Milne, Edgartown building inspector, said this definition change is only for zoning purposes, and has nothing to do with tax assessments.
“If you have an existing unfinished basement, however the assessors assessed that unfinished space, [it] will continue to be assessed as unfinished space,” said Milne.
Hall proposed an amendment to clarify that gross floor area would apply only to finished basements instead of both finished and unfinished, but the amendment did not pass. The warrant article as written was approved 145–17 in a standing vote.
Article 72 was the only article outright rejected by voters. The article aimed to restrict outdoor amplified gatherings of 50 or more people involving food, beverages, and music on properties of three or more acres. Residents said they did not understand that the current bylaw, which was passed at town meeting last year, extended beyond just residents to commercial entities. The goal of the article this year was to prevent commercial entities from using the bylaw to increase profits.
Residents compared approval of the article to “closing Pandora’s box.”
But Julia Livingston, Edgartown’s planning board chair, spoke against the warrant article. She warned that the amendment could hurt the Edgartown Boathouse, owned and operated by the Vose family, who rely on weddings and events to generate income to keep the historic boathouse going. The restriction could jeopardize their ability to generate revenue.
The article was ultimately denied by a standing 138–6 vote.
Additionally, Article 44 was indefinitely postponed. The article was planned to see whether the town would appropriate $19,270,00 in free cash to supplement the Dukes County Commission’s budget, but before the article could be heard, Martina Thornton, Dukes County manager, said they do not need the funds anymore.
“The county was able to balance the budget without needing additional funding,” said Thornton.