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Quote of the Week
“Oh come on, give me a break. This
is exactly what the fossil fuel industry hopes we’re all talking about .
. . controversy around your light bulbs, around your straws and around
your cheeseburgers. When 70% of the pollution, of the carbon that we’re
throwing into the air, comes from three industries.”
—Sen. Elizabeth Warren at CNN's "Climate Town Hall"
TV event, responding to a question about whether the federal government
should dictate what type of light bulbs Americans are allowed to use.
(The 3 big emitters she references are the electric, oil, and building
industries.)
At
VCS, we absolutely believe that individual lifestyle decisions matter,
and there are plenty of good reasons to talk about light bulbs, straws,
and meat (in fact, reduced meat consumption ranks very highly among climate solutions). But when it comes to climate change and national politics, the Senator's admonition to KISS and not get distracted is a point well taken.
Conservation Calendar
Meeting: Island Climate Action Network
Monday, Sept 16, 3:30 pm, West Tisbury.
Are
you interested in taking action to address climate change? Join the
Island Climate Action Network! The next meeting of the recently-formed
grassroots advocacy organization is open to all who are interested in
learning more about what each of us can do to make a difference for our
Island—and the planet. At the West Tisbury Library, for more info visit the ICAN website or contact them via email.
Public Hearing: Improving Local Waste Management
Thursday, Sept. 19, 7:00 pm, Oak Bluffs.
The agenda for next week's MV Commission meeting includes a hearing on a proposed expansion of the MV Refuse District 's Edgartown Transfer Station (technical documents here; newspaper coverage here).
The project presents a critical opportunity to move forward with plans
currently being developed to improve the management of food waste on our
island. VCS is currently preparing testimony in support of the
project's potential to create a home for a central composting facility,
as well as improved sorting of recyclables. If you would like to support
this initiative, please attend Thursday's hearing, or send written
comments via email.
For background on the problem of food waste, and the solutions that the
Island-Wide Food Waste Committee (which includes VCS) are working
toward, please read this briefing document.
Film: The Biggest Little Farm
Thursday, Sept. 19, 7:00 — 9:00 pm, Chilmark.
Island Grown Initiative and the Martha's Vineyard Film Festival host a free outdoor screening of The Biggest Little Farm,
a story of one family's experience in regenerative farming. Special
guests include the farmers featured in the film, John and Molly Chester,
as well as the film's producer Laurie David. Come meet them and ask
questions, while enjoying a beautiful and heart-lifting movie about the
positive potential of agriculture. BYO picnic with live music on the
lawn outside the Chilmark Community Center begins at 5:30. For more
info, contact IGI.
Electric Vehicle Day
Saturday, Sept. 21, 10:00 am — 1:00 pm, Oak Bluffs.
Do you own an electric car? Are you curious about driving one? As part of National Drive Electric Week, the Oak Bluffs Library and Vineyard Power are teaming up for Electric Vehicle Day. Vineyard Power members and others in the community will be bringing their EVs for others to test drive. Register to attend the event, and then sign up for a test drive! Meet at the Library's back parking lot, for more info contact Vineyard Power.
Strike with Free Climate Films
Saturday, Sept. 21, 1:00 — 4:00 pm, Edgartown.
To kick off the upcoming Global Climate Strike week, the Edgartown Library will be showing two free films. Burned: Are Trees the New Coal? begins at 1:00, followed by The Age of Stupid at 2:30.
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Meetinghouse Place
The Suburban Subdivision Returns
Perfectly
timed to capitalize on—and exacerbate—the growth promised by recent
plans to bring ever more traffic to the Island (both by air and by sea),
last year a familiar threat re-emerged: the suburban-style subdivision
development. “Meetinghouse Place,” a proposal to build dozens of luxury
homes on 54 acres near the Edgartown Great Pond, is currently under
review by the MV Commission as a Development of Regional Impact (DRI).
VCS attended the first of the public hearings for DRI 682 on February 7, testifying in opposition to the plan. Since that time, we, along with colleague organizations BiodiversityWorks and the Great Pond Foundation,
as well as concerned neighbors, have continued to weigh in. The public
opposition has led to incremental changes in the proposal, gradually
softening its more egregious aspects. The number of bedrooms per house
has dropped from seven to five; the square footage from 9,000 to 5,000,
and then again to 4,800 (not including a garage with detached bedroom on
top). However, the developer’s reading of the writing on the wall must
not have changed much, as they ultimately submitted a more substantial
revision, which the MVC has given an updated DRI#, 682A.
The
newest, and possibly final, plan proposes 28 large houses (instead of
35 or 34), plus ten 1,000 sq.ft. townhouses. The simple interpretation
is that they have merely substituted 10 small houses for 6 large ones,
but we must admit the new plan is a meaningful improvement. The
townhouses are deed-restricted to ensure some degree of affordability,
and the new design is the first one proposed to make any effort at
clustering the buildings to reduce habitat fragmentation. However, our
primary concerns remain, including overall density of the development,
house size, energy and materials consumption, wastewater, nitrogen
runoff from lawns and landscaping, and habitat loss. Fundamentally, this
remains a dense development that threatens further harm to the Great
Pond's already-imperiled ecosystem.
"I am a resident of Edgartown, but I
feel that I am more of a citizen of Martha’s Vineyard. This is one
subdivision, but not the only one. Taking the whole Island view, these
subdivisions appear shoulder to shoulder. Look at the Island Plan and
its survey results: 95% of people asking for a future with more open
space, 5% for more development. This is just one more of the tiny insults making us less of a ‘place apart’ . . . This is where it stops." — VCS President Jim Athearn, addressing the MV Commission
Zoning Diversity and Historical Background at Meetinghouse Way
In
1986, the land we today know as the Land Bank's Waskosims Rock
Reservation was acquired by a developer. Only after 17 consecutive
defeats of subdivision plans like this was it permanently protected via
purchase by the Land Bank. A public treasure many may take for granted
today is in fact a powerful example of the importance of persistence and cooperation in land protection.
In the more recent context of second-home development on Martha's
Vineyard, what Meetinghouse Place proposes—large, luxurious houses on
small lots in a rural (for the time being) setting—is somewhat unusual.
Over the past few decades, land appraisers have determined that the the
most profitable use for most undeveloped land on Martha’s Vineyard was
the creation of large estates on large lots (so-called “kingdom lots”).
On an island where nature is prized, and for a clientele inclined toward
privacy, creating fewer building sites could actually produce more real
estate value than subdivision into as many lots as allowed under
zoning, particularly when costs of improvements (road construction,
sewage, power, etc.) are included. Only time will tell whether the
Meetinghouse Place proposal is more of an aberration or a harbinger of
things to come.
In many towns, zoning alone would prevent this proposed subdivision, due
to the large minimum lot sizes required (outside of town centers). But
not so in Edgartown, where a diversity of zoning exists, intended to
provide people of more modest means the opportunity to own a home.
Zoning there ranges from a 3-acre minimum lot size down to
one-half-acre, or 20,000 square feet, aka “R-20.” This zoning persists
today in areas near the Edgartown Great Pond. However, instead of
providing affordability, one of the last large R-20s in town has been
acquired by a Utah-based developer for the purpose of building out
luxury houses. Story continued here, second column
Content adapted from our summer newsletter. To receive the next issue fresh off the press, join VCS today!
Timber!
Storm-Damaged Trees Soon to Become Outdoor Classroom
This
ancient tile-roofed marketplace pavilion in Monpazier, France is the
inspiration for a soon-to-be-built outdoor classroom at the State
Forest. (Photo by Bob Woodruff)
An exciting new project is underway at the Island’s largest conservation
property, where the Friends of Correllus State Forest are working to
create a beautiful outdoor classroom space. Inspired by the ancient
marketplace pavilion pictured above, and built with timber salvaged from
storm-damaged pitch pine, white pine, and spruce, a new shelter
measuring 36 x 24 feet ( see drawing) will soon provide students the chance to learn about and experience firsthand the sandplain ecology of the State Forest.
There are many to thank for this truly collaborative project, including:
engineer Michael Granger for design work (including the drawing linked
above), Michael Berwind for milling work, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation
for assistance with logging and milling, the state Dept. of Conservation
and Recreation for cooperation throughout, and last—but certainly not
least—Bill Seabourne and his Building Arts students at the high school,
who will be cutting and shaping the timbers for the pavilion.
The Friends are still seeking financial support for the pavilion
project, as well as a planned Interpretive Center to follow. If you
would like to contribute, please contact the Permanent Endowment at
(508) 338-4665 or via their website.
The Power of Organic Turf Management
Over the summer, the Toxics Use Reduction Institute of UMass Lowell released two new case studies
demonstrating the power of organic turf management to eliminate the
need for pesticides while providing excellent playing fields. The
studies from Springfield and Marblehead, Mass. provide data on total
hours of usage at the fields, allaying concerns that organically-managed
natural grass could not support heavy usage.
Locally, the Field Fund
has been applying many of these methods in their ongoing efforts to
build and sustain healthy grass fields. Working in partnership with
local schools and town officials, the Fund has now helped improve fields
at six locations across the Island, with the goal of ultimately joining
with every town and school. For their efforts in making our environment
a safer place, this summer the Field Fund were honored as “ Champions of Toxics Use Reduction” in a ceremony at the State House – thank you, and congrats!
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