The 54-acre subdivision before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) called Katama Meadows is in the final throes of the longest deliberation before a decision in commission history. Last Thursday, Oct. 1, significant progress was made in deliberation, but a final decision wasn’t made.
Commissioners entered final deliberation Thursday on Katama Meadows, which includes weighing the benefits and detriments of the project in various categories. Deliberations will continue on Oct. 8, and the other agenda items for that day — Jordan’s Nursery and the Housing Behind the Dairy Queen — were pushed.
Katama Meadows is a housing development proposal by Utah developers Richard Matthews and Douglas Anderson. The duo purchased the land in 2017 for $6.6 million, and the subsequent plans for the large parcel have since endured some stops and starts. The fourth iteration, however, stuck, and is the proposal that commissioners have discussed during several months now.
The proposal includes homesite lots: a mix of market-rate lots and lots that are available to local municipal workers and Islanders with income restrictions. Commissioners voted through a condition to decrease the market-rate lots from 26 to 19, which reduced the total of homesite lots from 52 to 45, at a meeting in August.
There remained a few main concerns about the development that came to a head on Thursday, including the potential environmental impact. Commissioners deemed the project an overall detriment to the environment. The 45 homesite lots that make up the Katama Meadows proposal abut Edgartown Great Pond, an impaired watershed due to nitrogen loads.
The area, like much of the Island, is sensitive to increased nitrogen from housing development. Housing units require septic systems, and waste increases nitrogen, which can seep into the watershed. Added nitrogen can lead to eutrophication, which decreases oxygen in ponds and creates dead zones that create more problems for long-term ecology and wildlife.
The development will be connected to town sewer lines, and the applicant has stated that they will mitigate excess nitrogen. “Houses add nitrogen. There will be added nitrogen, no matter how well-mitigated, into the pond,” Michael Kim, a commissioner, said at Thursday’s meeting. “But I think they deserve at least the status of slight detriment rather than full detriment for the actions and the money they’re putting up.”
Katama Meadows is one of the largest developments the MVC has ever considered, so the nitrogen loads, even if within the standards set for housing developments by the commission, will be significant.
But Commissioner Doug Sederholm argued the project meets the water quality policy of the MVC, so deeming it a detriment has potential consequences. Commissioners noted that the policy may be outdated, if a proposal as impactful as Katama Meadows meets the standards set.
“We’re going to look really stupid when they appeal and the courts … see that it’s our policy,” Sederholm said.
Still, Katama Meadows was handed the full “detriment” designation.
Commissioners acknowledged that energy (a category within environmental impact) was a benefit, with the applicant slated to pay for solar arrays on each of the homes built. But they also argued that a significant loss of carbon sequestration will result due to the development of the project, which would potentially impact the ecology of the Island too drastically.
The MVC toggled through other categories on Thursday as well. Health and safety, traffic, and night lighting were deemed neutral by commissioners. The economy was deemed a slight detriment. Social development and recreation were voted through as a detriment, with income segregation of the lots a top worry of commissioners.
“I find that upsetting,” Linda Sibley, a commissioner, said of the separation of market-rate and income-restricted lots in the design proposal.
“The design is a losing design,” Kim said of Katama Meadows’ proposal.
The MVC will continue final deliberations on Katama Meadows on Oct. 8 at 6:30 pm.
