Shade Tree Concerns Send Yellow House Plan Back to Drawing Board

Edgartown is going back to square one in its effort to lease out the so-called Yellow House on Main street amid concern about a shade tree on the property.

Edgartown is going back to square one in its effort to lease out the so-called Yellow House on Main street amid concern about a shade tree on the property.

A town subcommittee charged with evaluating proposals for the property was scheduled to reconvene Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. to work on a new request for proposals to lease and renovate the run-down property next to town hall.

The town took the property for $3 million by eminent domain from the Hall family last year.

In early February selectmen signed off on a plan to lease the property to a team including Vineyard Haven contractor Mark Nicotera, who proposed renovating the property and turning it into retail space and apartments.

On advice of town counsel selectmen added conditions requiring Mr. Nicotera to hire arborists to make sure a public shade tree on the property was not harmed by construction. The shade tree was the subject of legal wrangling between the town and the former owners of the property, the Hall family.

According to a written statement by selectmen that was read aloud at the board’s weekly meeting Monday, lease negotiations with Mr. Nicotera revealed that the town would have to establish restrictions for the building so that the large linden tree on the property would be protected. Those restrictions would have altered the proposal approved by the yellow house subcommittee, selectmen said.

In fairness to other bidders and to comply with due public process, selectmen said they determined that an earlier request for proposals should be changed to include the tree and re-issued.

“We have a very strong committee. We’re prepared to work with the procurement officer and town counsel to re-draft the RFP and re-issue it as soon as possible,” Yellow House committee chairman Chris Scott said Monday.

Selectman Michael Donaroma said he thought the delay would not be a major setback to the project. “We’re all hoping that we should be able to get through this process again in time again for the applicant to start in the fall, so we’re not losing a lot of time,” he said. “So hopefully we’ll get back on track.”

The town originally issued a request for proposals in November, seeking bidders to agree to restore and lease the property for up to 30 years. There was wide interest in the early stages of the process but in the end two developers submitted proposals by the January deadline. One group was disqualified because of technical issues with their proposal, and Mr. Nicotera’s group was the winning bidder.

At the last minute one of the former property owners, Benjamin L. Hall Jr. raised concerns that construction or expanding the building’s footprint might damage a linden tree on the property. The tree’s fate was the subject of a legal back and forth between the Halls and the town, with the Halls arguing that renovation options were limited because of the tree, and the town arguing that the tree was not an impediment to redevelopment and should be saved. A superior court judge ruled that Mr. Hall could not remove the linden tree because it had been declared a public shade tree by the town tree warden.

Comments

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/20/2018 - 16:32

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Mary Edgartown

How can this happen? This is a bad deal for the Town... Just cut the tree down and move on, this tree has delayed progress for years. Plant a new tree (s). The Hall's have a good argument here.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/20/2018 - 18:30

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deshandra brown Edg

I'm sure the advice of town counsel is well thought out. If the town held up the halls for years because of the tree, they can't take the property by eminent domain and let a subsequent developer chop it down unless they want the town to get sued for big $$$.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/20/2018 - 19:03

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Ken Edg.

If you remove the tree then the Halls should have their house back and the town their money.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/20/2018 - 21:26

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Adrienne downeast

What a haven of integrity you have there on the Vineyard. What a marvelous community.
Very few places in the world would bother for appreciation of a venerable witness tree.
The fragrance from such a Linden tree makes every past summer live again.
Treasuring old trees are how we make a stand for continuity in life.
Good for you. A consideration like this is a bright spot in a dark time.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 10:11

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The inevitable Martha's Vineyard

After all the wonderful things said about the Linden tree, it's fragrance makes every past summer live again, how we treasure such trees, we make a stand for continuity in life and the consideration is a bright spot in a dark time (a reference to our political climate perhaps?) yada yada yada. I will make a bold predicament.

In a storm of usual happenings on the island, a non named storm, a high gust of wind, a deluge of rain or something else of minor thought, will take this tree down. Trees are old on this island, they're not cared for until it's to late or not at all. While some praise the stoppage of time on this island Mother Nature always rule.

You heard it here first.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 10:35

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Mike Edgartown

Another debacle by the town. Who doesn't remember the town's acquisition of the house beside the old library?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 11:40

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Bill OB

Cut the tree down! Enough already...
Haven’t we seen enough tree damage on the island this week.
Trees do not belong looming over power lines or homes.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/22/2018 - 11:12

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William T Oyster Bay Cove

This is ridiculous - either cut down the linden tree, renovate the yellow house with improvements and then plant a couple of new linden trees - or - tear down the yellow house which has no historical or architectural significance and then construct a building accommodating the tree - or- tear down both house and tree and renovate the property correctly. At this point, I'd go with tearing down both.

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