The Tisbury zoning board of appeals (ZBA) Thursday unanimously approved a comprehensive permit for Kuehn’s Way, a 20-unit, $6.3 million affordable housing project proposed by the Island Housing Trust (IHT). At a hearing last month, the ZBA asked IHT to entertain the idea of reducing the project to 16 units, but Thursday night they approved the permit without the reduction. The Kuehn’s Way site is off State Road near Deer Hill Road.

Abutters have objected to what they termed the project’s density, the number of units per acre, and the possible harm to area groundwater. However, IHT executive director Philippe Jordi said that any reduction in the number of duplexes would push up per-unit costs and hinder efforts to seek state financing for the project, making it economically infeasible. IHT must maintain the total project costs per-unit, including land, of $319,000 to remain competitive, he said.

All five board members, chairman Jeff Kristal; Susan Fairbanks; Michael Ciancio; Anthony Holand; and John Guadagno were present at the hearing, as well as a number of supporters. Approximately 15 residents, mostly abutters, attended and were represented by attorney Dennis Murphy of Cambridge, who was filling in for attorney Daniel Hill.

The ZBA voted on four waivers IHT requested and unanimously approved three. IHT will be allowed to build ten duplex apartment buildings — 20 apartments — on a 4.5 acres building envelope within the 14.85 acre parcel; provide 35 parking spaces; and the project may be built in a single phase. Regarding parking and traffic, the ZBA asked that IHT obtain letters from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional Transit Authority (VTA) and from the school transportation department to ensure the safety of those waiting for buses on State Road. They also requested that a shared-use path be built.

Mr. Ciancio, a plumbing contractor, abstained from voting on the waiver to allow fees to be waived for the nonprofit after approval from various boards, departments, and inspectors. All other members voted in favor.

Four conditions were attached to the approval. The ZBA asked that IHT be required to mitigate abutters’ wells if they were affected by the project. They requested specific lighting conditions, such as low-level lighting and downward facing porch lights. They said that if the assessors determined IHT is exempt from property taxes as a nonprofit organization, then IHT must enter into a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement for no less than $5,700 per year. The ZBA also incorporated the conditions approved by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) in July.

“We are very pleased with the decision. It comes at a great time for us because we’re really gearing up for a significant fundraising drive,” Mr. Jordi told The Times on Friday. He said that the project, after approval from the town board of health and the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), could break ground as early as next fall.

The project

Kuehn’s Way consists of 10 clustered rental duplex buildings with 20 units, 40 bedrooms, to be built on 4.5 acres off State Road in Tisbury. The complex would include four wells and a state-approved enhanced denitrification septic system. IHT plans to build the project under the terms of Chapter 40B, a part of state law that gives affordable housing projects some freedom from local zoning regulations. The apartments will be rented to tenants earning 80 percent or less of the area mean income, from $28,000 to $67,000 annually, depending on household size.

The project would be built on a site previously eyed by a consortium of church groups for a development known as Bridge Commons. In 2003, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) approved 15 duplexes with 30 units. In 2007, the MVC approved a modified plan for 13 buildings with 22 units on an 8.7 acres building envelope within the larger parcel. However, in the face of neighborhood opposition, the financing package unraveled, and the property fell into foreclosure.

A joint land deal between IHT and the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank, which purchased the back of the property, resurrected the project.

In July, the MVC agreed Kuehn’s Way did not merit further review by the regional permitting agency as a development of regional impact (DRI), and voted to send it back to the town zoning board of appeals.

IHT will fund the project through Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds, philanthropic capital campaigns, and competitive state grant funding with a goal of $1.8 million for each. The approximate $1 million remaining will be financed through a loan, according to Mr. Jordi.

Six Island towns have contributed a total of $500,000 in CPA funds. IHT has also received $500,000 through philanthropic donations.

Response of abutters

The ZBA approval for Kuehn’s Way prompted a mix of emotions among abutters, who have opposed the project from its inception. Although they are disappointed with the decision, some said that the ZBA has acted diligently throughout the process.

Abutter Frank Pitts expressed his appreciation to the ZBA and told them that although he cared about affordable housing, he also cared about the impact the project would have on his neighborhood.

“Density is a concern and I appreciate you guys obviously paying attention to the balancing test that is yours, about the importance of reading the need for affordable housing, but also paying attention to the impact that the project can have on abutters,” Mr. Pitts said.

In a conversation with The Times on Friday, abutter Kristen Henshaw said she echoed Mr. Pitts’ comments. She said she was disappointed in their decision but after hearing Mr. Kristal’s explanation of the responsibilities of the ZBA in terms of due diligence, thought they acted “in good faith.”

“I thought the ZBA, in my estimation, was doing their very skilled due diligence,” Ms. Henshaw said.

All the abutters, she said, believe in affordable housing; however, the density of the project, sited on 4.5 acres, continues to be a major concern.

Attorney Mr. Hill, who represented abutters during the hearing in September, told The Times on Friday that he and abutters were “evaluating their options” as far as what their next steps would be.

“We were taken aback by the board’s decision last night, which we thought was surprising given how much time has passed. It was only the second hearing on the applicant and there was basically no peer review of the project,” Mr. Hill said.

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Realtor René Jackson has joined Island Real Estate. According to a press release, Ms. Jackson is a year-round Vineyard Haven resident, and has more than 14 years experience in the real estate industry. She has extensive knowledge of the Island. She was also a mortgage underwriter, which gives her the ability to answer questions during the loan process. Ms. Jackson will be handling both sales and rentals, and is currently welcoming new clients. If you are a prospective buyer, seller, renter, or homeowner in need of assistance, contact Ms. Jackson at Island Real Estate.

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In 2016, as part Feiner Real Estate’s Client’s Choice program, they donated $25,000 to 14 Island nonprofits of their buyers’ and sellers’ choosing. According to a press release, the program is straightforward — Feiner donates 10 percent of their sales profits to local charities on every sale. They hope to build on their current success and show that even a small local firm can make a real impact. They have a goal of donating $100,000 to Martha’s Vineyard charities over the next five years.

“My colleagues and I believe it is important to contribute to and support the Island in different ways. Our agents are active in the Vineyard community, on town boards, on nonprofit organizations, and we have decided to become a leader of a wonderful new initiative, Clients Choice,” said Feiner Real Estate owner Jim Feiner.

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At least one Chilmark selectman thinks tiny houses might just be too small. But the consensus at the board of selectmen (BOS) meeting on Jan. 11 was that they are a housing idea that should be pursued.

Marina Lent, the administrative assistant and inspector for the Chilmark board of health, began a tiny house presentation to the BOS by relabeling the proposed homes “small” instead of “tiny.” BOS chairman Warren Doty mentioned she had already made another presentation to the Housing Committee earlier that day, and they had decided at that meeting “that perhaps ‘small houses’ was a better way to describe it,” Ms. Lent said.

“As I was preparing this,” she continued, “I went through the housing needs assessment, and I was actually stunned at how many of the households on Martha’s Vineyard — a full 75 percent — are one- and two-person households. The concept is to make better use of town land by having a number of small houses be considered the equivalent of one large single-family four-bedroom home, and the sharing of land, septic, and drinking water is really a way of cutting the most expensive and most difficult factors to fit in and can be done without creating the feeling of extreme high density. The houses are so small they are not slam-jammed together.”

Ms. Lent said that four small houses would be equivalent to a single four-bedroom family home. She noted that a public water source is required if there are 15 hookups, or 25 individuals, living too close together to allow for effective septic systems. Her scenario does not reach this population density even if the houses had more two inhabitants rather than one. She said that even if there were 10 houses on three acres, that would only be 20 people.

Selectman William Rossi said he was more comfortable with small homes “up to 800 square feet.”

“I understand the need, but I don’t know if I could live with someone in 400 square feet,” Mr. Rossi said. He also said he thought that a house that small is just not sustainable as a suitable living space over time and would get turnover.

Ms. Lent and Mr. Rossi discussed small house “communities.” They agreed they would need to be permanent and not moveable, in addition to being fully building-code compliant.

Mr. Doty said that each small house would cost much less than a more traditional four-bedroom “affordable” family home that might be built at an affordable housing location. “When you are building far fewer square feet, the savings does add up,” Ms. Lent said.

Chairman Doty said the town has three building lots at Peaked Hill, each about three acres, which were part of the original Peaked Hill subdivision, and they’ve owned them for a long time.

“Is it a good idea to take one of them and put it to a project like this, whether you wind up with four houses or six houses or three houses — is that something we want to do?” Mr. Doty asked.

“I think it’s something we should look into,” selectman Rossi said. “We need to look into what is going to be viable on a three-acre lot.”

“I just don’t like the concept of tiny houses,” Mr. Rossi said. “Small houses I can live with.” He said that there may need to be a zoning bylaw to allow for the higher density of houses per acre.

“If we have six kitchens on one property, we have a problem,” Mr. Rossi said.

Town Clerk Jennifer Christy will ask planning board chairman Rich Osnoss to get the tiny house idea on a near-term agenda.

“This is a creative idea,” Mr. Doty said.

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Word has spread this week that former Secretary of State John F. Kerry has bought an historic house at Seven Gates Farm, on Harlock Pond Road in Chilmark.

According to the Massachusetts Land Records database through the Dukes County Registry of Deeds, the waterfront home sold for $11.75 million to Two Sisters Realty Trust on March 6.

Ronald Rappaport and James Reynolds, of the Edgartown law firm Reynolds, Rappaport, Kaplan & Hackney L.L.C., are listed as the trustees of the Two Sisters Trust.

Bound, they said, by confidentiality agreements, the real estate brokers — Wallace & Co. Sotheby’s International Realty — would not confirm who the new owner is.

The Vineyard Gazette reported the information on March 9 (“John Kerry Buys Historic Vineyard Property”) on its website, but did not attribute the report to any source. The Times has been unable to confirm the information.

According to the Dukes County Registry of Deeds, the sellers are Michael C. Fulenwider, representative of the estate of Constance Morrow Fulenwider, Michael C. Fulenwider, Anne M. Fulenwider, and Wendy F. Liszt.

The seven-bedroom, four-bath house sits on 18.5 acres, and overlooks Vineyard Sound. It is a short walk from the house to the beach, according to a description of the house from a previous listing online.

Seven Gates Farm spans 1,600 acres. About 1,000 acres are common land, mostly in conservation, with open fields, woodlands, ponds, and miles of walking and riding trails that thread throughout the property.

Residents at Seven Gates Farm have access to roughly two miles of a community beach, two piers, and two tennis courts. Homeowners can only be leaseholders of their property, leasing the land from Seven Gates Farm Corp. There is no private land ownership.

Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, a Harvard professor of geology and onetime dean of science at Harvard’s Lawrence Scientific School, founded Seven Gates Farm in the late 1800s. As a young man, he explored the Island’s geology, and in 1888 he published “Report on the Geology of Martha’s Vineyard.”

Mr. Shaler bought the property incrementally over time, until he owned 1,600 acres. Seven Gates Farm gets its name from the number of gates Mr. Shaler had to travel through to get to his own house.

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Adam Rebello, a lifelong resident of Oak Bluffs, has joined Ocean Park Realty as a sales agent.

A graduate of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, he has been in the restaurant business on the Island for the past 12 years. He was assistant manager of the Farm Neck Café, assisted with the opening of Rockfish Restaurant in Edgartown, and currently is the manager of the popular Coop DeVille on Oak Bluffs Harbor.

“Adam will be a legacy member of the team, as his grandfather and I were partners in real estate in 1978,” said Alan Schweikert, principal broker. Adam lives in Oak Bluffs with his wife Guinevere and their soon-to-be-born baby.

For more information, call 508-693-4210 or go to oceanparkmv.com.

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Updated Saturday, April 29, 12 pm*

It was 2008, and the housing market had tanked, along with the rest of the economy. Bill Potter, a traditional builder on the Island, needed a good idea. He and his wife Terry, half of the then Potter Construction team, brainstormed and came up with an interesting “what if” question.

Their “what if” idea was to marry modular construction with onsite building practices to allow customers to custom-design their houses, free of size and design restrictions, at an attractive price in a skittish economy.

“But we needed a modular building partner who was willing to work with us, to change their business practices to accommodate the need of clients here,” Mr. Potter said in an interview last week at his office in the Airport Industrial Park.

The idea was not exactly original: In the late 1960’s, well-known architects and builders produced close to 200 beautifully-designed “modular” type houses on Martha’s Vineyard. But in the decades since, “modular” came to have a different connotation, and it wasn’t positive.

The Potters made a list of seven modular construction companies in the Northeast and pitched them all on their notion. Six said no, but Westchester Modular Homes in Wingdale, N.Y., on the New York/Connecticut border, said yes, and the two companies began to shape their cultures and approaches into what has evolved into a full-service approach to building homes and offices.

“We’d been doing some green building, and we wanted to continue doing that, as well as offering more design choices, and Westchester was willing to adapt,” he said.

Potter Construction was a traditional builder with four employees; the company employed crews when it got a building contract. Potter Construction has since become Squash Meadow Construction Co. Its management team is now 10 people, and “on any given day, you’ll see 50 Island guys working at our work sites,” Mr. Potter said, debunking criticism that modular construction costs Island jobs.

The appeal of this hybrid process for clients is savings of 20 percent or more over traditional onsite building, and completion times of three months rather than nine months or a year.

The proof is always in the pudding, however. Julie Fay and her family moved into a Squash Meadow hybrid build recently. Ms. Fay, executive director of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, spoke with the Times about her experience.

“This was a stellar experience for us. We bought our land last June, and we were fully moved in by September. Their computerized design system let us walk through every room [in the design phase] and see what our choices looked like. We got a realistic view down to appliances and interior details.

“We wanted a green design, and we had a contractor friend look over our shoulders every step of the way. Squash Meadow could do anything. Of course some choices involved a price tag, but it was an easy and predictable process,” she said.

The Westchester Modular website also contains lyrical endorsements, including from other Island clients.

Now, precision and planning are the linchpins of any construction job. Precise measurements, to 1/16th of an inch, are essential in any method of construction. And planning is critical. Things have to happen when they are supposed to, and in a necessary order. If you’ve ever had the experience of an electrical contractor chirping in your ear on Monday that he has to be in by Wednesday while you are staring at 1,000 feet of unhung insulation or sheetrock, you know the feeling.

And when precision and planning are happening in two places several hundred miles apart and involve an $8,000 barge trip, they better be right. That’s the magic in this story. A prime example of precision and planning partnership can be seen in a vaulted ceiling under construction at the new home of Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs, a 6,500-square-foot project Squash Meadow is building.

The space is constructed from two boxes provided by Westchester, on which Squash Meadow’s crew has built a peaked roof with skylights. You can see the snug marriage today in the open framing. In two months it will be seamless.

Mr. Potter builds 12 houses a year on the Island these days, and he’s learned the importance of a culture of partnership and planning. “We work together, both with Westchester and each other on the Island. Our crews know what they’ll be doing every day when they come to a jobsite. For clients, we’ve developed a full-service system, from architect to construction, that is interactive and accessible,” he said.

It’s difficult to assess what percentage of new homes involve modular or hybrid assembly, or its future impact, though the heavy-lifting work of creating a system such as Squash Meadow and Westchester have done probably means that both onsite building and hybrid building will continue to coexist in the future.

From an architectural standpoint, Phil Regan, managing partner at Hutker Architects Inc. in Vineyard Haven, which also has offices in Falmouth and Boston, offered this perspective:

“The modular industry is an affordable option and historically a sort of bucket of parts in dimensions of two, four and eight feet built in units small enough to be shipped. There has not been a lot of design but that is changing.

“Modulars are not quite small houses now, but generally are under 2,000 square feet. Above that level, design plays a larger role,” Mr. Regan said.

“There is market demand for modular design but it seems to me that onsite construction and modular methods right now are like a pair of magnets — drawn to each other but when they get close, the direction starts to shift.

And in the future? “We don’t see any modular design in our office but we are interested,” Mr. Regan said.

*This story originally reported that modular housing on Martha’s Vineyard had a negative connotation, and produced only “glum” homes. That is not true, and the article has been corrected to reflect the positive experience the Island has had with modular housing in the 1960’s and 70’s.

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Feiner Real Estate has announced its recent “Client’s Choice” donation of $2,500 to Martha’s Vineyard Community Services. According to a press release, buyers, after consideration, selected MVCS because “they felt it was an organization that touched many Islanders.” So far, to date, the Client’s Choice program has yielded $32,000 in donations to 15 island charities. Every time Feiner sells a property, it donates 10 percent of its profits to the charity of the client’s choosing. For details, see mvre.com/clients-choice/.

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The agents at RE/MAX On Island recently celebrated their successful year in 2016 with an award presentations and dinner. According to a press release, Nic Korba of Oak Bluffs, a 2002 graduate of MVRHS, received the Executive Club Award for his outstanding production. Mr. Korba’s attention to detail and his dedication to his clients has helped him to achieve this high honor. Perry Patterson of East Chop received the 100% Club Award. In 2016, less than 22 percent of RE/MAX agents nationwide received this prestigious award. Helena Kirschenbaum of Oak Bluffs also received the 100% Club Award. In addition, Ms. Kirschenbaum received her RE/MAX Hall of Fame Award, which signifies longevity and continued success within the RE/MAX system. Broker/owner Doug Reece of Tisbury received the Chairman’s Club Award, which is received by less than 1 percent of active RE/MAX agents nationwide.

Everyone at RE/MAX On Island thanked their past and present clients, who helped to make 2016 a banner year.

RE/MAX On Island is a locally owned and operated full-service real estate brokerage located in the Tisbury Marketplace in Vineyard Haven.

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Chilmark

Jan. 11, Linda J. Wank, successor Personal Representative of the estate of Mary Elizabeth Cronkite, sold 2 Boulders End to Linda J. Wank, trustee under the will of Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr., for $850,000.

Jan. 14, E. Barrington Stott, a/k/a Edward B. Stott, trustee of the Martha S. Stott Trust under the Will of Martha S. Diener, sold Lot 18 off Hancock Beach to Alan and Jill Rappaport for $500,000

Edgartown

Jan. 11, Barbara Lebey sold 26 Schoolhouse Rd. to Richard E. and Jane Brody for $975,000.

Jan. 12, Norman and Margaret Rankow sold 6 Field Club Drive to R. Bradford Malt, trustee of SLE Nominee Trust, for $1,200,000.

Jan. 13, Arthur Yorke Allen, trustee of the Athearn House Nominee Trust, sold 1 Plantingfield Lane to Athearn Acquisition LLC for $9,375,000.

Jan. 14, Charles J. Regan and Patricia R. Ryan sold 70 Norton Orchard Rd. to Joseph E. and Elena M. Blatt for $550,000.

Oak Bluffs

Jan. 11, Olive Tomlinson, trustee of the Olive Tomlinson Living Trust, sold 34 Norris Ave. and 7 Windy Hill to James G. and Claudette I. Mullen, trustees of the Burma Realty Trust, for $350,000.

Jan. 13, Bradford J. and Raymond H. Fauteux sold 51 County Rd. to Raymond H. Fauteux for $50,000.

Jan. 14, James A. Ryan, a/k/a James A. Ryan, Jr., trustee of Ram Realty Nominee Trust, sold 19 Circuit Ave. to Ryan Family Amusements, Inc. for $3,500,000.

Jan. 14, Adam Barmakian sold 2 Wing Rd. to Robert M. Hagerty and Grace A. Bociccio for $620,000.

Jan. 14, Walter L. and Jayne C. Isaacs sold 115 Dukes County Ave. to Jason L. and Robbin L. Cray for $371,476.

Tisbury

Jan. 13, Jacqueline Noel sold 99 Summer St. to Daniel J. Seidman, trustee of 99 Summer Street Realty Trust, for $450,000.

Jan. 14, John M. Wilbur, 3rd and Beth Saint Amour sold 15 Fairfield Ave. to William L. Mueller, 3rd for $300,000.

West Tisbury

Jan. 15, Carl E. Magnuson, Jr., trustee of Carl Realty Trust, sold 71 Carls Way to Peter and Rachel Sorrentino for $2,825,000.

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The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital has purchased the Admiral Benbow Inn, a seven-room bed and breakfast on New York Avenue in Oak Bluffs, for $1.375 million. The Victorian-style inn will be used for housing and administrative offices.

In a conversation with The Times on Tuesday, Tim Walsh, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital chief executive officer, said, “It’s really all about housing.”

Mr. Walsh said the hospital currently spends approximately $1.4 million to rent housing for hospital staff throughout the down-Island towns. The hospital also has working partnerships with Massachusetts General Hospital, which staffs an oncology program, and provides anesthesiologists who rotate short-term between Boston and the Island.

“We have a lot of people coming and going year-round,” Mr. Walsh said.

The largest transition occurs during the summer months, when the hospital takes on between 70 and 80 additional staff, which includes doctors, nurses, and technicians.

“It is almost like two different hospitals,” Mr. Walsh said. “We are a small rural hospital in the winter and a fairly decent-sized community hospital in the summer.”

Mr. Walsh said that the inn purchase will help alleviate part of its housing needs, and also lessen the impact the hospital has on the Island’s overall housing inventory.

The plan is to move the development office out of a three-bedroom house located on Windemere Road, a spur road that runs past the emergency room.

There will not be any structural changes to either the interior or exterior of the Admiral Benbow Inn, other than a possible handicap ramp at the rear entrance, according to attorney Sean Murphy, who represented the hospital at the Jan. 14 site-plan review with the Oak Bluffs Planning Board (OBPB).

The OBPB approved the change-in-use permit in a unanimous 5-0 vote on Jan. 14, conditional on the installation of a sprinkler system.

According to the site plan presented to the OBPB, the first-floor living room of the inn will become a reception area, and the existing dining room will become a conference room. The three employees in the hospital development office will also occupy the first floor. The five guest rooms on the second floor and the apartment on the third floor will house hospital employees and remain as they are. The kitchen will remain and be shared by office and tenants.

The hospital previously tried to purchase the Thorncroft Inn on Upper Main Street in Vineyard Haven to help fill its need for employee housing. That deal fell through when time ran out on an agreement contingent on town approval of a special permit that would allow a change in the existing nonconforming use as an inn to “accommodations for visiting medical professionals.”

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The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston has awarded the Island Housing Trust a $390,000 grant through the Edgartown National Bank for the construction of six new energy-efficient rental apartments in downtown Vineyard Haven that will serve low-income residents.

A total of 123 applicants from across the New England region competed for more than $15 million in grant funding, according to a press release. The Island Housing Trust’s application was selected 15th out of the 32 awarded. In addition, the Edgartown National Bank has provided the Island Housing Trust with an 18-month construction loan that will convert to a permanent loan.

This is the third year in a row that the FHLB Boston has awarded a project grant to the Island Housing Trust, IHT executive director Philippe Jordi said. Additional funding came from the towns of West Tisbury and Tisbury Community Preservation Act committees, Charlesbank Homes, the Zeitgeist Foundation, Kuehn Charitable Foundation, and donations from individuals.

Farley Built, Inc., from West Tisbury has begun construction, and the apartments are scheduled to be completed in June 2016.

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In a decision with far reaching consequences for the town of Oak Bluffs, the Oak Bluffs Planning Board (OBPB) unanimously approved the amendments to the 2004 special permit for the Southern Woodlands subdivision, 4-0, at its regular meeting on Thursday night.

Approval of the deal with Paul Adamson, a Boston-area developer and Edgartown seasonal homeowner who bought the property for $5.15 million at a June 26 auction, will provide a massive boost to town coffers. One of the five approved amendments to the original permit, which was issued to developer Corey Kupersmith for the Down Island Golf Club in 2004, is a $700,000 donation to the Oak Bluffs Affordable Housing Trust (OBAHT).

Back taxes totaling $380,000, owed by Mr. Kupersmith’s now defunct Farlap Development, will also be paid to the town as part of the deal.

In addition to the financial contributions, the developers of the 26-lot subdivision agreed to reduce the total number of bedrooms from 190 to 156, and to enhance nitrogen mitigation to guarantee a limit of 19 milligrams of nitrogen per liter per year. Buffer zones were also extended in some areas, and ancient ways were restored and will be kept public.

“My client is extremely pleased to have gotten through all of the various permitting,” Geoghan Coogan, attorney for Mr. Adamson wrote in an email to The Times on Friday. “Both the OB planning board and MVC did their due diligence and we are happy to be done with the process.  We hope the Town is also pleased that the subdivision will finally be completed after all of this time.”   

“I’m pleased with the process and with the willingness of the applicant to do right by everybody,” Oak Bluffs Planning Board chairman Brian Packish told The Times on Friday. “They were extremely generous across the board.” Mr. Packish noted when the vetting process began that the affordable housing component was only $260,000, which was to be paid in $10,000 increments each time a lot was sold. Mr. Packish said that there is also a symbolic value to the deal moving forward. “Southern Woodlands has been an open wound in our town for 10 years,” he said. “The town is gaining a lot and we’re getting rid of a barren sand pit.”

Mr. Coogan said that his client intends to sell off the lots as is, although he does intend to salvage the two dilapidated sample homes on the property.

A letter from James Lengyel, executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission (MVLBC), to the OBPB, was read into the record, stating that the Land Bank would manage the public trails that traverse the property, at no charge to the homeowners. “The staff already manages the trails at the abutting Southern Woodlands reservation and it would not be burdensome for the Landbank to incorporate these additional trails into its work schedule,” he said.

Thursday’s public hearing was sparsely attended, with no public opposition — a sharp contrast to this summer’s OBPB public hearings, which were standing-room-only affairs, peppered with heated exchanges and threats of litigation.  

In January, a sharply divided Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) voted 7-5 not to hold a public hearing to consider the five modifications that had been negotiated by the OBPB.

At Thursday night’s hearing, the only public comment came from Oak Bluffs resident Richard Toole. “I think these guys have gone through the ringer, and they’ve bargained in good faith. They deserve to move forward,” he said.

Mr. Coogan said the deal is set to close on April 8, pending the outcome of the 30-day appeal period.

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Rome wasn’t built in a day, but apparently six affordable apartments in Tisbury can be, if all goes according to plan this Friday. Construction is scheduled to begin at 8:30 am, Friday morning, on the Island Housing Trust affordable housing project at 6 Water Street, next to the Stop & Shop and just a stone’s throw from the Five Corners intersection.  

“The crane will be on site at 8:00,” contractor Farley Pedler told The Times Tuesday. “We’ll be cranking from 8:30 on. Our goal is to have all the boxes set by the end of the day, but we may be squeezing into Monday morning.”

Mr. Pedler said the state police will oversee traffic at Five Corners as well as escort the massive modular blocks from the R. M. Packer lot on Beach Road, where they arrived by barge on Wednesday.

The six-unit apartment building will be composed of eight modular “boxes,” four of them 12.5 feet wide and 55 feet long, and four that are 12.5 feet wide and 30 feet long. Plans call for six 600-square-foot apartments, three handicapped accessible ground floor units and three on the second floor, each with one bedroom and one bathroom.

Mr. Pedler said there are no detours planned for Five Corners traffic. “We have it scheduled so the boxes will be brought to the site at times when no boats will be arriving,” he said. The large crane required for the job will be positioned at the car rental lot next to the 6 Water Street building site.

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Over a decade in the making, the sale of the Southern Woodlands property in Oak Bluffs is finally complete ten months after Paul Adamson, a Boston-area developer and Edgartown seasonal homeowner purchased the property from Patten Companies at auction.

Friday morning, Geoghan Coogan of Vineyard Haven, attorney for Mr. Adamson, delivered two checks, totaling over $1.15 million to Oak Bluffs town hall. Per conditions of the deal set by the Oak Bluffs planning board, Mr. Coogan delivered a check for almost $450,000 in back taxes owed by the previous owner, Corey Kupersmith’s Farlap Development Company, and a $700,000 check for the Oak Bluffs affordable housing trust, according to chairman of the selectmen Michael Santoro.

Mr. Adamson purchased the Southern Woodlands property — a 26-lot, never realized subdivision with an equestrian theme off County Road in Oak Bluffs — at a June 26 auction last year. Patten, a family-owned network of companies based in Williamstown with a long history and national track record of purchasing failed developments, precipitated the sale after it purchased the mortgage from the bank that was left holding the property once owned by Corey Kupersmith of Greenwich, Conn.

The subdivision was one of the remnants of a lengthy and divisive battle over the failed Down Island Golf Club that ended in 2004 when the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank agreed to purchase 180 acres for $18.6 million, creating the Southern Woodlands property; the Martha’s Vineyard Commission signed off on the subdivision plan; and Mr. Kupersmith stopped suing and left the Island.

Following the sale of the foreclosed property to Mr. Adamson, the closing was held up when the planning board questioned whether the 2004 special permit issued for the development remained in effect. After a series of negotiations, members of the Oak Bluffs planning board won some major concessions that included a $700,000 donation to the Oak Bluffs affordable housing trust, voluntary reduction of total number of bedrooms to 156, and enhanced nitrogen mitigation to insure a limit of 19 milligrams of nitrogen per liter per year. Buffer zones were also extended in some areas, and ancient ways were restored.
When the vetting process began with the planning board last summer, the affordable-housing component was only $260,000, which was to be paid in $10,000 increments each time a lot was sold.

“Hopefully, everybody won with this deal,” Mr. Coogan told The Times on Friday.
Mr. Coogan said he expects his client to have the lots on the market within a few weeks. There is currently no realtor of record.

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West Tisbury has selected the Island Housing Trust to develop three duplex clusters consisting of nine rental apartments at 565 Edgartown Road on town property behind the fire station.

In an effort to maintain open lines of communication, the Island Housing Trust invites neighbors, as well as the community at large, to a public informational meeting at the Howes House at 5:30 pm, Tuesday, according to a press release.

The Island Housing Trust invites anyone with concerns or questions to call Derrill Bazzy at 508-693-1117.

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Dukes Academy, long the only real estate school on the Vineyard, has announced the sale of its Classroom Education Division to Erik Hammarlund, who operates Academy of MV. According to a press release, for over 15 years Dukes Academy conducted real estate licensing and continuing-education courses in a traditional classroom venue. The school has assisted many hundreds of Islanders to pass the licensing exam, to launch a career in the real estate field, and to renew a license. Lead instructor Robert Sawyer related anecdotes from his greatest teaching moments, stating he will miss the students, the stories, the camaraderie of the Island real estate community. “We are moving from the classical classroom environment to broaden our online education division, targeting real estate residential and commercial licensees throughout the commonwealth,” said Sawyer.

The turnover will be complete by the end of October. Licensing classes are scheduled to begin Oct. 18. Erik Hammarlund is the lead instructor for Academy of MV. Mr. Hammarlund has taught courses for Dukes Academy for several years, and is widely acclaimed for his knowledge and commitment to students. He holds a Massachusetts broker’s license and a Massachusetts real estate instruction license, and is a highly recognized real estate attorney practicing on the Vineyard.

“This will be a seamless transition,” Mr. Hammarlund said. “It has been a great pleasure working with Dukes Academy, and I have been teaching there for years. Our students have attained some of the highest first-time pass rates in the state, and I look forward to continuing that legacy.”

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John F. Newsom of Oak Bluffs has joined Dockside Real Estate. According to a press release, Mr. Newsom has been a summer resident of Martha’s Vineyard since 1947. He moved to the Island full-time in 1992, and subsequently served as advertising manager for the Vineyard Gazette for two years, and as sales agent for Lawrence Realty for 24 years. Mr. Newsom has lived in the Campgrounds as a summer or year-round resident for 69 years. He served on the MVCMA board for nine years, the Oak Bluffs Planning Board for four years, and the Oak Bluffs Capital Improvement Program for four years.

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Looking to the past to handle a contemporary problem, the owners of the Lampost, the venerable nightclub, bar, and restaurant on Circuit Avenue, originally built as a four-story hotel in the Victorian heyday of Oak Bluffs, have begun discussions with local permitting boards to allow the top three floors to be converted, or more accurately, reverted, into housing.

Co-owner Adam Cummings told The Times on Monday that the shortage of employee housing is the impetus behind the move. “We had a real problem with staff housing this summer,” he said. “We always have a problem, but this year was brutal. I had my entire staff hired in March, and half of them couldn’t find housing.”

Mr. Cummings said he typically hires 42 people for his summer staff. He said he considered buying a house for staff housing, but it made more sense to look internally.

“We have five floors here. The plan right now is to convert the top three floors for housing. The [Dive Bar] restaurant on the ground floor will stay. You have the Lampost that everybody knows; that will stay. The dance floor, the lounge, and the floor above it, that used to be hotel rooms, will all be converted into housing.”

Mr. Cummings said it will be dormitory-style housing, with 10 to 15 bedrooms on the third floor, with shared living areas, kitchen, and bathrooms. The project will be done in phases over the next two years. The plan for this winter is to convert the dance floor, the third floor, into staff housing. The other two floors would be converted the following winter, for a total of 24 bedrooms, if all goes to plan.

“I’ll be getting rid of the nightclub. My abutters are thrilled,” Mr. Cummings said. “We all get along, but they said, ‘We will sign whatever you need to get this done.’”

Mr. Cummings said he will draw on his experience from the recent top-down renovation of the Lampost. “The past three years I’ve been involved in the biggest renovation project in downtown Oak Bluffs,” he said. “I learned a lot. I’m not going to start this process until I am formally approved by everybody.”

Mr. Cummings is off to a good start. He received enthusiastic support from town selectmen after his presentation at Tuesday night’s meeting. “This is exactly what we need,” chairman Gail Barmakian said.

Selectmen voted unanimously to refer the project to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

“I hope it goes well,” he told The Times on Wednesday. “We open April 1, so we need to be swinging hammers within 30 days.”

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As part of annual budget legislation, the State Senate is expected to approve a tax on short-term rentals via the web such as Airbnb, the State House News Service reported. The tax would be at the same rate as current state hotel and motel taxes. To date, Islanders who let out rooms via the web have enjoyed proceeds devoid of hospitality taxes.

The Martha’s Vineyard short-term rental market, historically strong during the season, has in recent years become white-hot with the rise of Airbnb. Many Island spaces that once were difficult to market are readily rented on the popular hosting site. This has exacerbated an increasingly fraught housing market, where year-round rentals have become scarce and their accompanying rents have inflated to summer levels. The revenue from anticipated taxes will flow to state coffers. It is unclear whether any of the tax money, or aid derived from it, will eventually trickle back to the Island to help address the year-round rental market.

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