One of the largest housing proposals ever evaluated by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) was denied Thursday after seven, hours-long sessions where commissioners not only contemplated the plan in front of them but also the consequential impacts of vast housing development on the Island.
Katama Meadows, the proposal commissioners eventually voted down on Thursday, has been widely criticized since its introduction to the regional planning board. The final MVC decision was precedent-setting and hotly debated up until the end.
In a brightly-lit meeting room, commissioners deliberated the merits of the project as nearly a dozen Islanders lined teal chairs and watched in silence. More than 40 people observed the meeting over Zoom. Before the last “no” vote echoed in the room, the energy was increasingly charged. The final vote was 10 to 3 with one abstention from West Tisbury commissioner Ernie Thomas.
“Tonight, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission squandered a golden opportunity to provide ‘missing middle’ housing to police officers, teachers, firefighters, and EMTs. They did so despite the proposal complying with their housing, nitrogen, and open space policies, and having the support of the Edgartown Select Board and Affordable Housing Committee,” the legal representative for Katama Meadows, Robert Moriarty, told The Times on a phone call after the decision. “It’s a sad day for the ever-dwindling important members of our community who earn too much to qualify for ‘big A’ affordable housing but make too little to pay the skyrocketing cost of market-rate housing.”
Katama Meadows is a 54-acre subdivision of homesite lots proposed for Edgartown. It included 52 homes to be built on that acreage. Most of them — 26 to be exact — were proposed as “attainable” and “affordable” homes available to mainly moderate-income earners and municipal workers in the town of Edgartown. Twelve lots were planned to be sold at $225,000 each, with one of those to Habitat for Humanity, and 14 were set for donation to the town of Edgartown, with another one of those for Habitat for Humanity.
The other 19 lots of over 4,000 square feet each were set to be available to both seasonal and year-round buyers at market rate, which commissioners said could include homes marketed at around $5 million each. The homes were proposed to allow up to five bedrooms. The 54-acres of land is located off of Meshacket Way and Division Road. Currently, tall grasses, trees, and open space are visible from the road.
Commissioners assured that the land will remain undeveloped, at least for now. While the parcel is still owned by the developers, and it’s highly likely they will submit another proposal, as indicated during Thursday’s session, the commission determined the plan at hand was not well-suited for the Island.
Commissioners deliberated numerous aspects of the proposal on Thursday night. From environmental concerns to qualms with the cost of the housing options and its actual attainability, the discussion cast a wide range.
“I find it quite offensive that the design of this project is income-segregated,” West Tisbury Commissioner Linda Silbley said Thursday. “I find that repulsive.”
Chilmark Commissioner Joan Malkin asked: “Do we need more ‘missing middle’ at the expense of affordable housing?”
The developers of Katama Meadows, Richard Matthews and Douglas Anderson, are based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They purchased the acreage in 2017 for $6.6 million. Soon after, they crafted a proposal, then second, then a third. The third iteration of their plans, called Meetinghouse Place, was for 24 market rate homes. In 2020, it was denied by the MVC.
The developers went back to the drawing board. The fourth iteration of their proposal included the donation of 14 lots that would be available to moderate-income families and municipal workers, which appealed to town officials in Edgartown. Edgartown officials stated they sorely need more housing units of this caliber. Due to state-subsidized income restrictions for affordable housing projects, municipal workers often make too much to qualify.
Last summer, the Edgartown Affordable Housing Committee, Edgartown Select Board, and the town’s fire department signed letters in support of Katama Meadows before it went before the MVC to be evaluated as a development of regional impact (DRI).
But Islanders and environmentalists have not been so convinced of the need for a project like Katama Meadows. There has been widespread criticism of the Katama Meadows development plan; opposition has argued the proposal goes against the character and needs of the Island by putting environmental pressure on the area and building market-rate homes that could be seasonally owned.
The nitrogen that the proposal would inevitably introduce into the abutting Edgartown Great Pond would likely be the tipping point for the pond’s health, conservationists said in February. As Malkin pointed out Thursday, community members, testimonials, and letters were “overwhelming against this project,” largely because of the environmental concerns.
“The location is wrong for this,” Tisbury Commissioner Ben Robinson said. He explained that the land Katama Meadows is proposed for needs environmental protections, not development. He said the parcel is a wildlife corridor, meaning animals frequently pass through the area.
“I’m having a hard time supporting it,” Oak Bluffs Commissioner Brian Smith said of Katama Meadows. “When is enough, enough?”
Smith referenced a quote from MVC housing planner Laura Silber when she said, “We can’t build our way out of this.” Smith said, “Sooner or later, we have to come to that realization and look to other paths to get people into housing that don’t destroy the environment.”
Over 60 percent of the Island’s housing stock is lived in for two months or less of the year; there’s a steeper climate cost to development as housing and septic systems put strain on water quality and infrastructure; and many luxury homes are seen by locals as a diversion from character standards for a seaside New England town.
Community members, some commissioners, and conservation groups have pointed to acute concerns that Katama Meadows is an example of the dangers of allowing luxury development solely for the sake of needed units.
“The housing crisis is not a lack of abundance,” Aquinnah Commissioner Jannette Vanderhoop said on Thursday. She referenced that more than half of seasonal homes sit empty for most of the year. She said the housing crisis is, instead, “a lack of access.”
But to other commissioners, the exchange of affordable housing for market-rate homes is an unavoidable reality as the cost to build continues to rise.
“To secure housing for 26 Island families and preserve forever about 32 acres of woodland … is worth losing those 22 acres of woods. The price we’re going to pay … and I’m not going to sugarcoat this … is 19 luxury homes for off-Islanders,” Sederholm said. “I firmly believe that if this project is denied, what will come next will be worse.”
With the exception of commissioner Jeff Agnoli, who recused himself from evaluating the project at its onset, the commissioners have evaluated the criticisms, assets, facts, and figures in regard to Katama Meadows for many months. Finally, on Oct. 15, commissioners made their decision. The effect on the future of development because of that decision is yet to be seen.
