The Tisbury planning board’s quest for a special designation to protect the remains of a historic pathway drew both support and opposition at a public hearing before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission Nov. 6.

At the request of a group of residents along Mud Puddle Road, a meandering, unpaved path that leads from Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road to the Sailors Burying Ground at the end of Upland Drive, the planning board asked the commission in April to grant special way status to three segments of the route.

“These old cart paths are an important piece of Island history dating back to at least 1808 and are likely formed over existing indigenous paths. Residents of this area believe very strongly they should be kept intact and preserved for now and for future generations to enjoy,” the planning board wrote in its nomination.

A map shows the stretches of the dirt road.

Courtesy MVC

A map shows the stretches of the dirt road.

Courtesy MVC

Special way status — which applies equally to both private and public property — would prohibit clearing, widening or paving the three stretches, which now are used by vehicles entering the neighborhood and pedestrians hiking the rural pathway.

Mud Puddle Road residents Jen Aniskovich and Bill Aniskovich-Albertus told the commission Nov. 6 that the designation is essential to preserve the path.

“Without these protections, there is nothing to stop this road from being widened, paved, turned into Anywhere, America, and … eventually become a cut-through from State Road,” Ms. Aniskovich said.

“The special way designation will give you and give us all some ability to balance the preservation of something that’s important to the Island with the property rights of those who live along that way,” Mr. Aniskovich-Albertus said.

After failing to decide on the designation within the statutory time limit early this year, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission agreed this summer to restart the process and renew a moratorium on any changes to the path until the matter is resolved.

That decision has spurred legal action from Mud Puddle Road landowner Paul Bettencourt, who opposes his neighbors’ desire for special way status because he says it will limit his right to develop the property.

Mr. Bettencourt filed litigation Nov. 5 in Dukes County Superior Court, challenging the commission’s decision to restart the special way hearing and reinstate the construction moratorium.

His appeal argues that the commission’s previous failure to act on the designation should have been considered a denial by default and that the MVC restarted the hearing process illegally.

Mr. Bettencourt has been feuding with at least one of his neighbors who support the special way designation, according to documents on file with the commission.

“If they are successful, they will essentially remove my ability to access the upper portion of my own land [and] I am the only one that this affects,” Mr. Bettencourt wrote to the MVC in July, noting that he has a building permit for the property that will be harmed by lack of access if the designation goes through.

“[M]y neighbors have been very resistant to me building on my lot and some have even spread malicious lies about me personally,” he wrote, attaching a police report detailing a series of back-and-forth complaints with his next door neighbor.

At last week’s hearing, Mr. Bettencourt’s attorney Nathan Andrews argued that the MVC should never have been involved in the first place because there is no regional impact.

“This is a town issue. This is for the town of Tisbury to decide. This is for local planning,” Mr. Andrews said.

The proposed special way has also run into headwinds from the Tisbury fire department, whose chief Patrick Rolston told the commission that his emergency equipment has trouble getting to the residences on Mud Puddle Road that have no other vehicle access.

A call to the area last year left an ambulance damaged, Mr. Rolston said.

If the commission grants the planning board’s request, he said, he will not sign off on most building permits that require fire department approval because town bylaws limit special ways to 12 feet in width while the fire code stipulates 20 feet.

“So if someone wanted to put solar, someone wanted to do an ADU [accessory dwelling unit] or add something to their house that involves a fire permit [and] the road doesn’t meet the fire code, I can’t grant that permit, so it would be denied,” Mr. Rolston said. 

“There’s certain ones that I’m required to, like heating … I can’t stop that, but [other] permits I would have to stop,” he said.

Lauren Evans, Mr. Bettencourt’s neighbor, was skeptical that neighborhood safety is at risk.

“If we all have occupancy permits, how did we get them if this road isn’t accessible for safety vehicles, and what about all the other roads that are the same size?” she asked.

After closing the public hearing, commissioners asked MVC staff to rewrite the designation proposal with attention to the safety issues raised during testimony, with deliberations expected Nov. 13. The written record remains open until 5 p.m. that day.

Also on Nov. 6, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission closed its public hearing on the Metcalf House, a vintage home on East Chop’s Prospect Park whose owners are seeking to expand and reorient the structure on its lot.

The commission’s architectural preservation consultant, Eric Dray, testified that although architect Angie Francis has made some changes to the design, it still falls short of MVC requirements.

“The revised alteration plans… do not yet, in my opinion, adequately adhere to the MVC preservation policy and the rehabilitation standards,” Mr. Dray said.

His chief objections were to changes in the original structure, but Ms. Francis noted that the house, now owned by Sengal and Lynn Selassie, is not considered historic by most measures.

“We’re not in a historic district. We’re not on the National Register. No person or event of historical significance is tied to the property. Yet we’re treating it with full preservation care, because we value the architectural legacy [of] the neighborhood,” she said.

Commissioners heard once more from abutter Michael Chapman, whose longtime family home stands to lose its sweeping water views as a result of the proposed development.

“They basically want 99 per cent or 100 per cent of everything I have,”  Mr. Chapman said.

The owners, however, are unwilling to cut back on the plan to maximize their own water view, Ms. Francis said.

“That would create such an imposition on the Selassies to give up that much of their buildable lot to preserve a view where there’s no legal right to it, it would effectively amount to a de facto taking without compensation,” she said.

Mr. Selassie also spoke, saying he and his wife wish to winterize the home and add a downstairs bedroom for her 87-year-old father.

The commission continues to accept written testimony on the Metcalf House until 5 p.m. Nov. 13, with deliberations to be scheduled.

A planned continuation of the commission’s hearing on the Green Villa subdivision in Oak Bluffs was postponed by the applicant.