Endangered Arethusa orchid, Moshup Trail


by BRENDAN O’NEILL

Environmental legal defense is a necessary part of the Vineyard Conservation Society’s mission. For more than a decade, VCS has fought to defend the wild moorlands of Moshup Trail against developers intent on building a subdivision access road through this fragile and rare resource. That case is moving forward in the Massachusetts Land Court.

Most recently, in a related case, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held in February that the developer’s land is NOT exempt from zoning changes adopted by the Town. The high court rejected the developer’s challenge to special zoning overlay district regulations, called Districts of Critical Planning Concern (DCPC), regulations promulgated by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and adopted by the Town. The decision strengthens VCS position in the Land Court road-access litigation. We welcome the court affirming that the area clearly contains natural and cultural resources of regional and global significance, and that the Aquinnah DCPCs  serve a critical purpose in protecting the Island of Martha’s Vineyard.

VCS has led the fight to preserve the wild moors of Moshup Trail in Aquinnah since 1980, when VCS facilitated the purchase of a strategic parcel near the Gay Head Cliffs, and worked to designate the area as a Critical Planning District. The conservation land through which developers seek access was preserved over a ten-year period starting in 1995 at a cost of more than three million public and private dollars.

It consists of rare coastal heathland habitat—more than 90% of which has been eradicated worldwide. “Fragmentation effects” – road building and house development – are primary threats to the integrity of these heathlands. The conservation work at Moshup Trail is far from complete. The interest and cooperation of owners of undeveloped parcels in the area will be critical. Ultimate success will depend on their willingness to consider gifts or sale of land or Conservation Restrictions (CRs) on their land. VCS stands ready to facilitate that process.

EXCERPTS FROM THE DECISION

The reason of (the MVC’s enabling statute’s) being is to import regional – island-wide and Statewide – considerations into the protection of the land and water of Martha’s Vineyard, consideration which, the Legislature could believe, the towns themselves had not and would not severally bring to bear.

Nothing in the (MVC enabling statute) permits a landowner to appeal from the commission’s designation of specific areas on Martha’s Vineyard as DCPCs. An action in the nature of certiorari may be brought…(but) plaintiffs action was untimely.

The plaintiffs argue that the impact of the DCPCs is to restrict the use, enjoyment, and development of their property. While this may be true…we conclude that (the statute allowing challenge of a municipal ordinance) does not serve as a mechanism by which a landowner can challenge the designation of a DCPC.