The powers of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission are again being called into question by a developer of two highly controversial housing proposals. 

Edgartown Gardens, a project put forth by developer William Cumming, sued the regional planning agency in Dukes County Superior Court on Jan. 6, submitting arguments over previously aired jurisdiction questions and several other technical considerations. 

In the 13-page complaint, attorney Jason Talerman contends the commission has no right to oversee affordable “40B” housing projects, says the commission did not meet several statutory deadlines and objects to the commission charging the developer for a peer review study.

This is now the fourth lawsuit filed by the developer over the Edgartown Gardens project, a 60-unit senior housing complex that was proposed near the Triangle intersection, and Green Villa, a 100-plus unit project proposed for a lot near the regional high school on Edgartown Vineyard-Haven Road also planned by Mr. Cumming. Several other challenges to the Massachusetts housing appeals committee, a state body that adjudicates affordable housing conflicts, have also been filed by the project backers. 

Peter Wharton, the chair of the commission, declined to comment on the latest suit, citing the ongoing litigation. 

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission rejected the Edgartown Gardens affordable housing proposal unanimously in October. Commissioners determined the three-story development, planned to be built near the current home of Donaroma’s, was too large and did not have the right income restriction mix to benefit the Island.

In response, Edgartown Gardens is continuing to claim the MVC does not have jurisdiction over affordable housing projects; similar arguments have been made by the developer in a pair of lawsuits before the state Land Court. 

Edgartown Gardens is also claiming that the Edgartown zoning board of appeals and the commission did not properly open public hearings on the project in the timeline prescribed by law, and the commission did not render a decision in a timely manner. 

The developer also quibbled with the commission’s reasoning for rejecting the project, which included concerns about adding traffic to an already busy intersection. 

“Contrary to expert review and peer review, the MVC concluded that there would be adverse impact with respect to traffic impacts, notwithstanding the fact that the Project will add less than 1% additional traffic to the surrounding road network,” Mr. Talerman wrote, citing the project’s own traffic study.

Mr. Talerman is calling on the court to rule that the MVC has no oversight of the project and that the project should be refunded $10,000 for one of the studies it paid for. 

This lawsuit likely wasn’t a surprise for officials, as Mr. Talerman hinted at the potential litigation during a hearing in one of the Land Court hearings late last year. 

“We’re going to be introducing another claim,” he told the court at a Dec. 16 hearing.

At that hearing Land Court Judge Sarah Turano-Flores ordered Edgartown Gardens to send notice out to all of the Island towns to see if they would be interested in weighing in on the suit centered on the right for the MVC to oversee 40B projects. 

A similar order was also issued in a case with Green Villa that essentially makes the same argument. 

The different suits may be moved to superior court, where the most recent appeal is located, in order to move things along quickly on a single schedule.

“The goal is, as we all understand it, to get this decision out sooner rather than later, given that there’s an affordable housing project at issue,” Judge Turano-Flores said at the Dec. 16 hearing.