A new housing proposal backed by a developer who is behind some of the most contentious projects in recent Island history is already fanning the flames of ongoing conflict with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC).
The project and the developer William Cumming are again bringing into sharp focus the question of whether the MVC has authority to review projects under a state statute that allows for local zoning to be curbed in exchange for some affordable housing, otherwise known as Chapter 40B. Despite the pending litigation, Edgartown officials say they are moving forward under existing guidelines.
Cumming, a Falmouth-based developer behind proposals like Edgartown Gardens and Green Villa, is gearing up to begin the Edgartown zoning board of appeals (ZBA) review process for a new development called Edgartown Cove. The proposal was scheduled for an initial hearing on Oct. 28 and consists of 40 apartment units proposed at 501 West Tisbury Road in Edgartown, a lot on two acres of wooded land near the State Forest.
The Edgartown Cove acreage is currently listed on Zillow for $1.6 million and is zoned for six bedrooms. The listing site states it is under contract. According to town records, the property belongs to Arthur Luongo of Tewksbury.
Ahead of the ZBA discussion, which occurred after our print deadline, abutters and Edgartown officials already raised concerns about limited septic capacity and environmental impact on the small area as well as the zoning bylaws, especially because the project falls under Chapter 40B.
Chapter 40B is a state law that was created in 1969 to ensure affordable units would be built within large developments by incentivizing developers; if a quarter of a project is affordable and the town the development is planned in doesn’t meet the affordable unit threshold, developers can curb local zoning bylaws.
The Island’s limited land, character, and seasonality, however, have all complicated Chapter 40B developments that have been proposed so far. And the lingering worry for some Islanders is the timing of the Edgartown Cove proposal. The authority of the MVC, a board that is tasked with reviewing developments in Dukes County and has had authority over Chapter 40B projects since 1974, is currently at a crossroads, and the Island is at a “tipping point,” as described by commissioners.
“[Cumming] is proposing a 40B to go around the rules, the rules that have been in place long before the Falmouth-based developer and 40B were around,” Daniel, Sarah, and Matthew Strem, whose property abuts the project site, stated in one letter to the zoning board.
Year-round Islanders are nearly as concerned about potential overdevelopment as they are about housing affordability, even though more than half of Island homes are occupied only seasonally and year-rounders still struggle to afford accommodation.
In April, the Massachusetts Housing Appeals Committee (HAC) ruled that the MVC is a “local board,” essentially stripping it of its ability to review Chapter 40B projects. The ruling was spurred by Cumming after the MVC unanimously denied another Chapter 40B project he proposed, Edgartown Gardens. The HAC ruling was contrary to previous court rulings that classified the MVC as a regional board with authority over any projects designated as potentially regional impactful.
The MVC appealed the HAC ruling in Dukes County Superior Court, and the case remains open, consolidated with other related court cases. Commissioners have been vocal in recent weeks about how consequential it could be for the future of local development if the ruling holds.
After the ZBA hearing, the state ruling and ongoing appeal could complicate review of Edgartown Cove, since the MVC and Cumming have polar opposite ideas of what the HAC decision means for the new proposal.
“There will not be a separate review process for the MVC,” Cumming wrote in an email to The Times. “As the regulations clearly state, the [zoning board of appeals] assumes all permitting authority for all boards and permitting functions, including ‘regional’ … The HAC decision is binding.”
MVC Executive Director Adam Turner told The Times that he disagrees with Cumming. He maintained that the commission will likely review Edgartown Cove and that he is confident the appeal will be successful.
“Unless or until the appellate courts of the commonwealth rule that our authority under the MVC Act does not extend to the review of 40B [developments], we will continue to review all such projects as we have for the last 50 years, including Edgartown Cove,” Turner wrote in an email to The Times. “We anticipate that the Edgartown ZBA will vote to refer the project to the MVC in due course. We will review as we always have.”
If the project is referred to the MVC by the ZBA, Cumming said, “I hope the MVC reviews the project in support of the town.” If it’s not, he stated, the MVC is “limited to recommendations to the [zoning board].”
Brae Eddleston, the Edgartown planning and zoning board administrator, told The Times Wednesday, prior to the hearing, that “no one can predict” what will happen in the review. However, she said the MVC Act, which requires that projects of a certain size be referred to the commission by towns, and the Chapter 40B statute are both guiding laws for Edgartown. “The town is following both statutes simultaneously,” she said.
With a housing market as desirable as it is on Martha’s Vineyard, developers aren’t slowing down. The local luxury and market-rate housing market is booming despite a national decline in real estate sales, and there has been a stark rise in proposals in the last two years for the largest projects the Island has ever seen. Housing costs continue to rise, while wages for local workers are not substantially increasing.
These realities prompted Edgartown officials to voice ardent worries about the proposal prior to the first hearing on Edgartown Cove.
“This disparity is a sobering trend” Alex Schaeffer, chief of the Edgartown Fire Department, wrote in a letter to the zoning board about Edgartown Cove. “While our department recognizes the critical need for year-round housing on Martha’s Vineyard, the current proposal raises concerns regarding public safety infrastructure, emergency access, and ongoing vegetation maintenance and access.”
Alternatively, Cumming highlighted the Island’s need for year-round housing as the reason to allow Chapter 40B developments. “Today, Governor Healey’s $243,000 salary is inadequate to purchase the median-priced home on Martha’s Vineyard, even when her additional $65,000 housing allowance is included,” he wrote in the proposal for Edgartown Cove.
The Edgartown Cove proposal includes 10 units (eight one-bedroom units and two three-bedroom units) that will be available at state-designated affordable rates, which are 80 percent of the area median income. Cumming stated the sale price for the one-bedroom units would likely be $157,700 each, and the three-bedrooms would each cost $186,359.
The remaining 30 units (24 one-bedroom units and six three-bedroom units) will be available at market rates. Cumming estimated in his plans that the one-bedrooms would cost around $700,000 and the three-bedrooms, approximately $1.1 million each.
The proposed project’s density and costs were a concern for neighbors. The Edgartown Meadows Road Association, a group of 67 property owners near Edgartown Cove, voiced their collective opposition to the proposal in a letter. They wrote that the high cost of the market-rate units weighed against the affordable units didn’t really meet the needs of the average Island worker. Above all, though, “wastewater is the strongest concern,” they wrote.
The group stated the density allowed for the residential district (R-60) that the project is proposed in is about a third of what’s planned on the parcel. The group also pointed to the applicant’s plan to widen and pave Dr. Fisher Road, which is a “special way” under the Island Road District of the MVC’s Districts of Critical Planning Concern. Island roads are protected through this plan for several reasons, including character, stonewall integrity, and historic significance.
“We understand that Edgartown is below the 10 percent threshold and that the board’s room to deny is limited,” the association wrote. But they urged the zoning board to consider the health, safety, environment, and open-space concerns that could outweigh the housing need, as according to the group, the board has the authority to deny or condition a project on these grounds.
Municipalities that have 10 percent of their total housing stocks designated as affordable units reach what state officials call “safe harbor.” Once safe harbor is reached, Chapter 40B projects are evaluated like any other development. No Island town besides Aquinnah has reached safe harbor.
Edgartown Cove would add 0.4 percent to Edgartown’s affordable housing stock, bringing its total from 4.47 percent to 4.87 percent of the needed 10 percent of affordable units. Edgartown has outlined a goal of developing 12 affordable units a year in its pursuit of safe harbor. In the 2026 Housing Production Plan, reaching safe harbor is regarded as of paramount importance to the town.
“If less than 10 percent of the municipality’s total housing units are subsidized low- and
moderate-income housing units, there is a legal presumption that there is a substantial
regional housing need for affordable housing that outweighs ‘local concerns,’” Cumming stated in the Edgartown Cove proposal regarding Chapter 40B developments. He added that by his calculations, Dukes County has the lowest amount of affordable housing in the state.
Island officials say the reality of the local variables with development and affordable housing is more complicated. Due to limited land, environmental pressure, and the number of homes that already exist, each development is seen as hugely impactful.
Edgartown Cove is the third project Cumming has proposed under this statute on the Vineyard, with significant pushback from the community and the MVC each time.
One proposal in Oak Bluffs, Green Villa, is in a state of limbo after being approved by the MVC with a long list of conditions. The set of conditions put forth by the MVC “makes the project unfeasible,” Cumming stated in a text to The Times. He said it is a “denial, in substance.”
But he maintained that “the MVC approval is no longer legally relevant,” referencing the state ruling. Green Villa, he wrote in a text, “will be vacated and the town draft permit is reasonable. We are working out one last issue, timing of wastewater.”
Edgartown Cove began the public hearing process in front of the Edgartown Zoning Board of Appeals on Oct. 28. The hearing will be open until April 26, 2027.
