The Martha’s Vineyard Commission heard plans last week for Edgartown Gardens, a proposed 60-unit condominium complex on Upper Main street restricted to residents 55 and older.

The project, planned for four acres of land used by Donaroma’s landscaping and plant nursery business, drew complaints from some neighbors who worried about an increase in traffic.

As designed, the complex has 36 two-bedroom condos and 24 one-bedroom units, with 88 automobile parking places in all, according to the application from developer William Cumming’s Edgartown Gardens LLC.

Twenty per cent of the condominiums would be deed-restricted to owners earning up to half the median income for Martha’s Vineyard, and the other 80 per cent would be sold at market rate.

Attorney Jay Talerman, representing the applicant at the MVC hearing March 6, said the market-rate units are expected to sell for $950,000 for one bedroom and $1.1 million for two bedrooms.

Proposed area is on land used Donaroma's landscaping and plant nursery business.

Ray Ewing

Proposed area is on land used Donaroma's landscaping and plant nursery business.

Ray Ewing

Edgartown Gardens expects to sell the affordable units at $83,000 for one bedroom and $92,000 for two bedrooms, he said.

Condo fees are expected to be $400 for a one-bedroom apartment and $450 for a two-bedroom unit per month, regardless of deed restrictions, Mr. Talerman said.

Mr. Cumming’s company also is proposing a local preference of up to 70 per cent of the units for Edgartown residents.

The amount of lower-income housing in the plan qualifies Edgartown Gardens to seek a comprehensive permit from the town’s zoning board of appeals under Chapter 40B, a state statute allowing affordable projects to skirt some local zoning requirements.

“There’s a lot of nuances to it, because it is all of the permitting in one spot,” Mr. Talerman said.

The Edgartown Gardens property extends from Upper Main street, between the Bad Martha’s brew pub and the restaurant site formerly home to Sharky’s, to Chase Road.

The proposed subdivision also abuts both the municipal parking lot on Dark Woods Road and the Dark Woods residential subdivision, where the homeowners’ association does not want any vehicle access from and to Edgartown Gardens.

“Such access would overburden Dark Woods Road, create hazards for residents in the event of emergencies, and increase the existing costs associated with maintaining the road,” wrote Robert Schlein, attorney for the subdivision, whose letter made clear that the organization is not against the Edgartown Gardens project itself.

The Dark Woods association does support a locked gate for emergency responders between Edgartown Gardens and the municipal parking lot, Mr. Schlein said at the March 6 meeting.

A peer-reviewed traffic study of the proposed development concluded that it would generate fewer vehicle trips than had been produced by the landscaping and nursery operations, which Donaroma’s is moving to the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Oak Bluffs.

Residents of Chase Road and other nearby streets have expressed strong opposition to the project, saying their neighborhood’s narrow roadways would be overwhelmed by traffic from the condominium complex.

Opponents also voiced concern about congestion at the intersection of Upper Main, Pinehurst Road and the Stop & Shop parking lot.

“It’s mayhem. It makes Five Corners look good. It’s a four-way free-for-all,” Dark Woods resident Fred Fournier said at the MVC hearing.

The traffic at Upper Main street will lead Edgartown Gardens residents to use the Chase Road exit instead, worsening traffic on the winding street, Mr. Fournier said.

“Chase Road at its widest point is 22 feet wide. No sidewalks, no lighting, no [town] restrictions as far as vehicle size or weight, three S-turns … [it’s] extremely, extremely dangerous,” he said.

Longtime Chase Road resident Richard Heller, participating by Zoom, cited a 1980s court case he believes still blocks access to Chase Road from the former Donaroma’s property.

The town building inspector and zoning board of appeals had approved Donaroma’s use of the Chase Road exit for heavy trucks, Mr. Heller said, but a Dukes County Superior Court judge in 1985 annulled the town officials’ decisions.

“Mr. [Michael] Donaroma was instructed to fence that off and close it up. It took him three years and we had to go back to court to get another judgment to force him to finally close the road down,” Mr. Heller said.

Mr. Donaroma, a longtime Edgartown select board member, was present at the March 6 hearing, but did not speak.

Mr. Heller said he would provide the court documents to the MVC.

Nitrogen output from Edgartown Gardens is another area of concern for the commission: While the project site is in the Eel Pond watershed, the development is intended to connect with the town sewer system, which affects the already-impaired Edgartown Great Pond watershed.

Edgartown Gardens’ wastewater would exceed the allowable nitrogen limit, requiring additional mitigation that could see the developer financing advanced septic systems elsewhere in the watershed.

The project design for Edgartown Gardens shows 10 apartment buildings around a central, sunken garden. A community building and a plunge pool area are planned for the west end of the development.

There also will be six charging stations for electric vehicles and parking space for 20 bicycles, according to the plan.

The hearing on the project will continue at the April 17 commission meeting.

Among other business March 6, commissioners closed their public hearing on a proposed demolition on Massasoit avenue in Vineyard Haven and continued to April 10 a hearing on Millers Professionals’ expansion plans at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport business park.

Liz Durkee, the commission’s climate planner, spoke briefly on the $400,000 municipal preparedness grant recently awarded to the MVC by the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

“Each town will get $50,000 in seed money to implement one of their priority projects, or to at least start implementing it,” Ms. Durkee said.

The MVC will use the remaining $100,000 to work with and support the town projects, which are intended to make Island communities less vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Also March 6, chair Peter Wharton reminded commissioners that MVC policy asks them to be present for meetings unless they are unwell or off-Island, and announced the return of the commission’s planning and economic development committee with co-chairs Kate Putnam and Brian Smith.