Gillies Property

December 1997

Property:

Current status:

Objectives:

Development Plan: Island Cohousing & South Mountain Co.

Undeveloped 49.4-acre parcel on Stony Hill Rd., WT, property begins approx. 950' from State Rd., runs along east side of Stony Hill for approx. 2700'.

Island Cohousing has done a form subdivision into 4 lots and purchased the entire parcel. Lots # 1 and # 2 have been sold to John and Chris Abrams. Lot #4 is under agreement to a year round island couple. Lot # 3 will be retained by Island Cohousing.

Create a neighborhood development of tightly clustered small houses and common facilities, using the cohousing approach, which brings together high quality affordable year round housing and open space preservation.
Locate South Mountain Company in a well-protected, well-buffered area where its impact on the neighborhood and town will be minimal.

Plan Summary:

Create a 1 6 unit clustered cohousing community on Lot #3, a 30 acre parcel. Within a construction zone of approximately 6.5 acres (22% of the property) build housing, common house, ancillary structures, parking, roads, and recreation areas, and devote the remainder of the property (78%) to agriculture and passive open space use.
On Lots #1 and #2, at the north end of property, the Abrams family proposes to locate their home and their business, South Mountain Co. Each lot will have a confined construction zone. Total construction zone for both lots to be less than four acres. The remaining eight acres will be devoted to passive open space use, pasture, and buffers to Stony Hill Road and the ancient way to the north. These lots will not be further sub-dividable.
Lot #4 is being sold as a non- subdividable 7-acre sale parcel at the south end of property. Building will be within a confined two-acre construction zone. The remainder will be devoted to agriculture, passive open space use, and roadside buffers.

Total construction zones Lots #1 - 4:	approx. 1 2 acres (24%))
Total open space:	approx. 37.5 acres (76%)

Provide a 1 50' permanently wooded no-clear buffer between all development activity and Stony Hill Road to the West, and between all development activity and the Holmes Hole Path ancient way to the North, and an additional 50' no build zone (for a total of 200') along Stony Hill Road.

Provide an easement to the MV Land Bank for a walking path along both the Eastern and Northern boundaries of the property.

Zoning Approach:

Because West Tisbury's zoning precludes the density proposed here, and because our access does not meet Planning Board requirements, we plan to seek a Comprehensive Permit under Mass. General laws Chapter 40B, Chapter 774 of the acts of 1969, which was designed by the Commonwealth to increase affordable housing by allowing limited suspension of existing local regulations which are inconsistent with such development.
We plan to seek a special permit under the West Tisbury Home Occupation By-Law (3.1 21) for the South Mountain Co. shop/office.

Benefits:

This is a new development model which creates a village/neighborhood setting rather than sprawl development, thereby preserving and echoing traditional rural development patterns.
It will be similar in density to beloved island places which zoning now precludes: Music Street, Menemsha, the Oak Bluffs Campground.
A large percentage of the property (over 75%) will be permanent undeveloped open space, roadways will be minimized, and the automobile will be marginalized to create a pedestrian environment within the development.
The project makes a strong affordable housing contribution. It creates a model for internally subsidized affordable housing using no public funds and satisfies a critical MV need. Some units fit stringent long-term affordability criteria and are affordable to low and moderate income families; others are affordable to year round residents whose income is around the median income.
The members are island people, strong contributors to the local economy who are already here and, mostly, need housing. Membership is open to anyone who wishes to participate.
Some members are elderly, and the project satisfies the need for supportive elderly housing.
Substantial agricultural potential of the property is preserved, and some areas will be cleared specifically for agricultural purposes.
The residents are the developers, so quality will be extraordinarily high.
This is an important ecological housing model; tight clustering permits shared systems and buildings are highly resource efficient. The island needs good examples of this type of "green" development.
The shared common house (Function space, laundry, workshops, children's areas, extra guestrooms, etc.) permits smaller homes, which means better land use and less resource consumption.
Houses are small, and although density is high, the overall number of bedrooms will be smaller than a conventional grid subdivision with larger houses. Houses are growing larger and larger here; it will be useful to see people living comfortably in well-designed dwellings of smaller size.
Stony Hill Rd. will get a substantial upgrade from State Rd. to the development access road. Only a small fraction of the road gets heavy use from the development.
Age and income variety limits the number of school-age children this development will bring to West Tisbury. Many of the children who will live here are already in the West Tisbury school system. A conventional development on this property would be likely to bring more.

It's an ideal location for SMC's operation. We have obtained permits to build our shop/office on a 1.3-acre Indian Hill commercial parcel. There, it would have high neighborhood impact. This location would place it on a large, low impact parcel, distant from any neighbor. Abutters would be:

North:	De Sorcy shop;
East:	Unoccupied Vineyard Haven well contribution parcel;
West:	Abrams lot;
South:	Cohousing community.

SMC would be invisible to abutters, a minimum of 750' from Stony Hill Rd.

This is the first development to be designed in recent years on Martha's Vineyard that is entirely designed to be for year round people, and is affordable to year round working people. There's even a provision in the agreement that discourages summer rentals.
We need to accommodate our people and means of livelihood. But we need to try wiser development patterns if we are to preserve the Island way of life. Reading the MVC enabling legislation, the current MVC policy plan, and the West Tisbury Master Plan, one is struck by how often the words in those documents fit this proposal. The project as proposed is an honest and carefully planned effort to use land well, preserve rural qualities, and create social benefits. It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction.