To the Editor:
After calling Martha’s Vineyard home for the past 27 years, I feel it’s time for me to speak up for the Island I love.
I strongly support the creation of housing that truly serves Island residents, including those who live and work here as part of our community. But community housing should not require the sacrifice of the natural resources that sustain us all.
The proposed Katama Meadows development would threaten Edgartown Great Pond, wildlife habitat, forestland, groundwater, and the environmental health of the Island. Once these resources are damaged or destroyed, they cannot be restored.
This is why the Martha’s Vineyard Commission is so important. We need a body willing to look beyond the interests of a single development, and consider what is best for the Island as a whole.
Denying this particular subdivision is not a rejection of housing. It is a call for housing that meets the real needs of Island residents without permanently degrading the homeland that we are trying to preserve.
I respectfully urge the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to deny the Katama Meadows subdivision.
Lynn Thorp
Oak Bluffs
