Island developer William Cumming has dropped the retail element of his proposed Green Villa condominium complex on Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Oak Bluffs.
Island developer William Cumming has dropped the retail element of his proposed Green Villa condominium complex on Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Oak Bluffs, adding 16 more dwelling units instead of the four commercial buildings in his previous plan.
Mr. Cumming’s proposal now calls for a total of 116 residential units in 19 buildings, with 148 bedrooms in all.
Where the application previously was for all of the units to be deed-restricted with income limits to make them affordable to Islanders, the revised plan includes 12 condominiums to be sold at market rate.
Mr. Cumming still intends to designate nine income-restricted apartments for Oak Bluffs teachers or other municipal employees, he said during a continued public hearing before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission Thursday night.
Architect Jessica Wilcock showed drawings of the revised design, with 11 apartment buildings, eight duplex houses and 130 parking places.
Landscape architect Barbara Lampson outlined a tree-planting plan that is heavy on native species, with an 80-foot-wide buffer of vegetation between the complex and Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.
Commissioners and staff asked for more details about the updated plan, saying they need specific information in order to review the project as a development of regional impact (DRI).
“One thing that we have not received yet is a thoroughly updated, dimensionally accurate site plan, and that’s necessary for staff to properly evaluate the project and for commissioners and the public to fully vet on the project,” said DRI coordinator Richard Saltzberg.
“We could also use a more comprehensive assessment from the applicant of the project’s impacts on municipal services [and] taxpayers,” Mr. Saltzberg said.
Other missing materials include condominium documents, which would spell out the terms of ownership and occupation for Green Villa units, and a listing of income limits for the deed-restricted apartments.
It also remains unclear whether Oak Bluffs will allow Green Villa to join its municipal sewer network, or if the development will need to install advanced nitrogen-reducing septic systems.
Mr. Cumming, who last month filed a lawsuit challenging the Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s jurisdiction over affordable housing projects, said he would be able to fill in the blanks after upcoming meetings with the Oak Bluffs affordable housing committee and town wastewater commission this month.
“I don’t want to waste your time until we have an answer,” he said.
The Green Villa hearing will continue Nov. 6.
Also Thursday, the commission reset the clock on its review of a special way designation for Mud Puddle Road and Old Sailors Burying Ground in Tisbury. Because the commission did not vote within the statutory 60-day window for action after beginning its review, the designation failed by default, commission chair Peter Wharton said.
Commissioners voted to restart the 60-day clock on Thursday, setting a hearing for Nov. 6. All previously-submitted testimony on the matter will remain on the record as part of the review, Mr. Wharton said.

Comments
Questions need answers. How
Ken Rusczyk OBQuestions need answers. How will the wastewater be treated? Our treatment plans is already strained. How will taxes be levied? The strain on the town's infrastructure will be obvious, as well as traffic issues. Details please.
The Island is being overbuilt
Carol Oak BluffsThe Island is being overbuilt, period. One aquifer, overloaded sewers, loss of habitat for wildlife, parking, congestion and pressure on schools and other resources. We have to think of "affordable" in broader terms.
So many regional issues here.
Jose Oak BluffsSo many regional issues here. The parking seems inadequate. Most households have at least 2 cars these days. Most traffic studies for this kind of development would assume that there are 7 or so trips per day per household. which includes traffic from Amazon deliveries, contractors, etc., and normal commutes and household trips. One can imagine what "rush hour" will look like around this development as virtually every resident will need to get on Edgartown Vineyard Haven Rd. road at the same time - between 730 AM and 9 AM. Our roads are just not built for this kind of volume, especially since the impact from this development will interact with high school traffic volume (cars and school buses) which will intensify the morning commute While public transportation may help with the traffic volume, will it be enough to matter? Does the Island have the bus capacity to handle the incremental volume that will be coming from this very dense development? And even if it does, count on the buses sitting in traffic along with the rest of us.
One development next to the
James Oak BluffsOne development next to the ice rink underway and this one in the Works, yet we couldn't have a Turf field across the street because opponents cried that it would ruin the watershed!! Expansion at community services, expansion at the Y, Two affordable housing developments, and there will be 1/100th of the meetings and outrage as there was for a HS athletic field. MV is special
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