A special permit request for a residential home to become workplace housing for a Christian summer camp has been moved to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) for further evaluation.
The permit was submitted to the West Tisbury Zoning Board of Appeals in March by Fellowship of Christian Universities and Schools (FOCUS), an organization that operates a summer camp on 30 acres of land in West Tisbury. Up to this point, the property at 420 Lambert’s Cove Road has been a residential, single-family home. The permit request would change its use to dormitory-style workplace housing.
Legal representation for FOCUS submitted a letter on April 23, prior to a public meeting later that day in West Tisbury, requesting that the permit be withdrawn from consideration by the board.
“FOCUS filed the application after the building inspector [Joseph Tierney], during an inspection related solely to proposed bathroom renovations, advised that a special permit was
required. That advice was in error,” Marylin Vukota, the camps’ counsel, stated in the letter.
But the board said since it was submitted, whether in error or not, a decision of which direction to go was in their hands.
“Sometimes this board does not agree with applicants and the representation of their legal counsel,” Larry Schubert, chair of the zoning board, said. “We’ve heard from your counsel, but we haven’t heard from our counsel.”
Schubert also pointed to the existing development of regional impact (DRI) that FOCUS has on file with the MVC. The DRI is from 1995 and encompasses much of their campus, but not the property at 420 Lambert’s Cove Road that was under the request.
For 50 years, FOCUS has hosted up to 700 young people annually on the Island. Their camp website states the goal of the camp is to deepen the attendees’ relationships with God and with themselves. The special permit application, submitted by co-facilities managers of FOCUS, Linda and Stoddard Lane-Reticker, stated that they hoped to use one of their existing properties to host college-aged students who were hired to run the programs.
Abutters of the camp came forward at the first zoning board meeting, held on April 9, with concerns about noise, environmental implications for Seth’s Pond, which 420 Lambert’s Cove Road is next to, and apprehension with any expansion of the camp’s reach. Many of the same abutters were present at the April 23 meeting. An additional abutter letter was also submitted between the April 9 and 23 meetings expressing similar concerns with the FOCUS permit request.
“A residential neighborhood loses its integrity and tranquility one special permit at a time,” the letter, submitted by Nicholas Puner, stated.
But Vukota and the Lane-Reticker’s maintained their request to withdraw and asked that the board consider their request, especially since they only submitted the permit on recommendation by a West Tisbury town official.
“We’re not required to ask for permission,” Stoddard Lane-Reticker said to the board. FOCUS, through its faith-based standing, is tax-exempt. Vukota said this standing means they are also exempt from needing a special permit for the property. She cited the Dover Amendment, a state statute that limits municipalities from restricting agricultural, educational, and religious organizations through zoning ordinances.
But the board disagreed. They said the MVC should have the final say, and the chance to look over the proposed change in use themselves.
“I’d like to do our job which is, I think, interpreting the DRI checkpoint,” Casey Decker, zoning board member, said. “I don’t lightly send applicants to the MVC.”