The economic downturn has created a buyer’s market for housing on the Island, and for the first time in decades there are homes selling for under $500,000, and even under $400,000.

These shifts in the market have prompted new questions about a number of projects in the pipeline that are backed by a network of affordable housing groups, including the Island Housing Trust’s project at 250 State Road in West Tisbury.

The questions center on the definition of affordability.

A new ocean management plan being prepared for the state leaves waters on three sides of the Vineyard wide open for development, raising the prospect of large-scale commercial wind generation as close as one mile off shore, the head of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission said yesterday.

MVC executive director Mark London said maps which formed part of a presentation made by state officials at a workshop in Woods Hole last weekend showed waters to the east, south and west of the Island open to unregulated development.

Aquinnah voters will be asked to approve a $3 million budget at their annual town meeting Tuesday and will then face a $100,000 general override on the election ballot the following day, to help pay for it.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the old town hall. Moderator Walter Delaney will preside.

Despite sustained efforts from town leaders to slash the budget over the past several months, fixed costs, including $940,000 in funding for schools, pushed up the bottom line up by more than $100,000 over last year.

Following a last-minute public campaign of staunch opposition, Aquinnah selectmen at a special meeting Monday shelved a proposal to build an outdoor performing arts stage at the Circle, leaving its architects frustrated and the board polarized on the issue.

The proposal is from Ted Cammann, a longtime music producer, and Jim Glavin of Deca Construction, who conceived the plan after organizing last August’s Aquinnah Music festival held at the Circle. The two men are now partners in Circle Productions LLC.