A controversial housing project in downtown Vineyard Haven was approved by the town’s zoning board of appeals Thursday. 

The Tisbury board voted unanimously in favor of the Cat Hollow 40B development, which, proposed by the nonprofit Island Housing Trust, will add six home ownership apartments within three duplexes off Causeway Road. 

The board’s vote came after about an hour of deliberation, and follows the Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s approval earlier this summer. 

Two of the units in the development are designated for people earning 80 per cent or less of the area median income. Two other units will be set aside for people making up to 140 per cent of the area median income, known colloquially as the “missing middle.” The final two units will be sold at the cost of construction – well below market rate – in order to capture higher earners in the missing middle.

“We are thrilled to have received approval from both the MVC and the Tisbury ZBA to develop a small neighborhood of three duplex ownership homes at Cat Hollow,” said Philippe Jordi, the CEO of Island Housing Trust. “These six homes will be affordable for working Island families to purchase and conveniently located within walking distance from Main street Vineyard Haven.”

As part of the vote Thursday, the board limited construction between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Only interior work would be allowed in July and August to cut back on noise for neighbors in the high season. 

The project has been contentious in town, with people complaining about the location and size. A petition signed by about 50 people raised traffic concerns, environmental impacts and fire safety.

“This will significantly alter the character of the neighborhood,” Simon and Annabelle Hunton, the owners of a nearby inn, wrote to the board earlier this summer. “This high-density development will unfortunately irreversibly change the character of this tranquil, fauna-rich habitat and negatively impact the quality of life for the abutters and neighbors.”

Others cheered on the project.

“Living in my home for [31-plus] years, I have seen firsthand — right out my front door — the growth on the Vineyard and in this residential/commercial zoned area — and the efforts by my Town to maintain the character of the Town and regulate the approved permitted use of single-family structures,” wrote resident Deborah Medders. “We are still falling short in those efforts in meeting the standards and goals. That observation being shared, and based on the information presented to date, I strongly support the goal of this project — to build ownership homes in an already existing neighborhood.”

Though the project now has its major approvals in hand, it will have to clear at least one more obstacle. A neighbor late last month filed a lawsuit in state land court claiming that the Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s permitting process was flawed.

James Bishop, who lives on Causeway Road near the land designated for the Cat Hollow housing complex, argued in a 12-page suit that the commission failed to take neighborhood concerns around the health of the nearby Lagoon Pond, among other things. 

“They did not consider the neighborhood concerns,” he wrote in the lawsuit. “When questions were raised about the health of Lagoon Pond not one person in the Commission meeting had any idea of the exact nitrogen levels of the project.” 

Mr. Bishop, who is representing himself in the case, is asking a judge to vacate the commission’s decision and grant an injunction.

Island Housing Trust officials said at the zoning board hearing that they had just learned of the lawsuit, and Mr. Jordi declined to comment when reached over the weekend. 

A case management conference in the suit is scheduled for Oct. 8.