Neighbors file against local Spring Street decision

A nine-bedroom housing project under development in Vineyard Haven that was a lightning rod for controversy and litigation has shown no signs of slowing down in the courts. Over the past weeks and months, the developer behind 97 Spring St. and the neighbors to the property against the project have kept lawsuits moving forward.

In a filing in the Dukes County Superior Court at the end of September, neighbors of the development Mary Bernadette Budinger-Cormie and Leigh Cormie filed an appeal against a Tisbury board of health decision in 2023 allowing developer Xerxes Aghassipour to go forward with a septic system for the Spring Street property, a Title 5 system that the developer says has already been installed.

Meanwhile, Aghassipour has filed an appeal of a judge’s decision against his claim that the Cormies, as well as planning board members, were conspiring to attack his reputation and property rights. 

Aghassipour told The Times that a landscaping plan required by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission for the Spring Street development is wrapping up, and then he will apply for an occupancy permit for the nine-bedroom house.

Spring Street has been a contentious topic in Tisbury, going back at least two years, with some concerned that allowing the developer to build workforce housing — which could eventually serve Vineyard Wind staff — would open the door for other transient workforce developments in town without proper review, possibly creating a company town. 

The project originally made its way through the regulatory process without input from the planning board as it was proposed as a single-family home. But with public backlash, the project has since gone before the board, and has received approvals from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. 

Whether the development is being considered as a single-family home or otherwise is front and center of the Cormies’ latest lawsuit, filed on Sept. 24. 

The local homeowners argue that the board of health decision was the first misstep in the permitting process. In 2023, the board approved of the proposed septic system by right, without providing an opportunity for the community to comment. The Cormies argue that the Title 5 was proposed to serve a single-family home and, as a result, didn’t require the same oversight as a workforce housing development might. 

“The structure was purpose-built for the rotating stays of up to 18 different workers in 2-3 weeks shifts,” their filing reads. “Had the applicant stated the commercial usage as either Workforce Housing, Lodging House, Boarding House, or any form of congruent living of more then 5- unrelated individuals, the project would no longer have been eligible to be considered ‘By-Right’ in the permitting process and would have had public review and would have been denied.” The legal filing asks that the judge revoke the septic permit for the building and have the board of health reconsider the application.

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission, after the town’s planning board requested the commission review the project, approved the Spring Street development in June, but laid out conditions on the number of occupants that will be allowed. The commission’s approval limits the property to nine unrelated residents at any one time, with no more than 14 unrelated individuals occupying the property in a calendar year. There will also be no short-term rentals allowed.

At the same time, Aghassipour is pushing back against a judge’s finding earlier this summer he had filed against the Cormies and several planning board members. He had asked the court to grant him monetary compensation of nearly $1 million total after the judge wrote that there were no factual allegations to support the claims. He filed his notice to appeal the judge’s decision in mid-September.