Commissioners Make It Official

No Southern Woodlands Housing; Developer Says, ‘We'll Be Back'; Courts to Sort Out Issues in Four-Year Dispute

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The latest chapter in the four-year battle between developer Corey Kupersmith and the Martha's Vineyard Commission ended last night when the commission voted without dissent to reject a 320-unit housing plan for 270 acres in the southern woodlands section of Oak Bluffs.

"This has been sold to us as affordability, but I do not believe this is a positive project for the Vineyard," said commission member Andrew Woodruff.

"I feel very, very fortunate that we have the Martha's Vineyard Commission to review a project like this because it does not belong on the Island - it's out of scale," said commission member Megan Ottens-Sargent.

The comments came just before the commission voted 13-0 to turn down the massive housing plan.

This marks the fourth time that Mr. Kupersmith has had a development plan rejected by the commission. The commission has also rejected three plans for a luxury golf and housing project on the site.

"We'll be back - but not here," declared Brian Lafferty, a Bolton housing developer who has been the chief spokesmen for Mr. Kupersmith during the review of the housing project.

A Connecticut businessman who has stayed mostly behind the scenes, Mr. Kupersmith is now suing the commission on a variety of legal fronts.

The housing project was reviewed by the commission as a development of regional impact (DRI).

Crafted under Chapter 40B, a state law that permits affordable housing projects to skirt most local zoning rules, the plan called for a mix of 240 single-family homes and 80 apartment units. Some of the houses and all of the apartments were planned for people with low and moderate incomes.

The commission has the power to review Chapter 40B housing projects.

The vote to deny the project last night closely followed a recommendation last week from the commission's land use planning committee. The MVC subcommittee, which makes recommendations on most DRI projects, reviewed a long list of benefits and detriments and concluded that the detriments of the 320-unit housing project far outweighed any benefits.

Noise, lighting, loss of habitat, loss of scenic values, loss of rural character, threats to water quality and economic stress on the town were just a few of the items on the long list of negatives for the project.

Among other things, the housing project called for virtually clear cutting 270 acres in the southern woodlands - the last unbroken piece of oak and pine forest in the town.

The southern woodlands includes about 400 acres. In 1998 the people of Oak Bluffs voted to declare the entire area a district of critical planning concern (DCPC), using a special section of the commission enabling legislation.

Last night commission member Linda DeWitt read aloud part of the stated goals of the DCPC.

Mr. Kupersmith's land is crisscrossed by a number of ancient ways. With 25 acres of asphalt and many miles of paved roads, the housing plan called for eliminating most of the old trails.

Commission members took special note of the importance that ancient ways hold for the Vineyard.

"We acknowledge that the special ways are not ours to walk on [because they are on private property], but there they are - the old cart trails - and to have them removed by becoming subdivision roads is nevertheless a loss to the Island," said commission member Christina Brown.

Even the affordable housing component of the project drew some criticism.

"Of course any affordable housing is a benefit to the Island - but we have some reservations about the way this project is being offered. It doesn't fit the way the Martha's Vineyard Commission has done other projects," Mrs. Brown said.

"She only wants to take care of people who are semi-poor," called out Mr. Lafferty, whose outbursts have become a part of the landscape at commission meetings in recent months.

In the end the vote took place with little else in the way of discussion - a detailed report from the land use planning committee meeting will accompany the record of the vote.

But before the vote, Mr. Woodruff took a minute to frame a response of sorts to the barrage of criticism that Mr. Lafferty has heaped on the commission in recent weeks and months.

"During testimony by the applicant there was a lot said about how the Martha's Vineyard Commission has done an abysmal job when it comes to affordable housing," began Mr. Woodruff, who grew up on the Vineyard and is the owner of Whippoorwill Farm.

He concluded:

"Five years ago when my property values tripled, I don't think anyone saw how fast this was coming and how much the Island would change. What's happened is a lot of local people have pulled together and tried to come up with some proposals which far exceed this project - and which we should be proud of."