In December concern about pending tax changes because of the so-called fiscal cliff led to a flurry of transactions and a sizable windfall for the land bank.
The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank reported revenues of $226,754 for the business week ending on Friday, June 28, 2013. The land bank receives its funds from a two per cent fee charged on many Vineyard real estate transactions.
A 105-acre greenbelt area around the town of Tisbury will see a small expansion thanks to a purchase by the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank. The land bank announced this week that it has bought a three-acre lot in Tisbury abutting its Wapatequa Woods Reservation.
The pastoral sheep pastures and hayfields at Flat Point Farm will be placed into conservation after the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank announced plans to purchase a large piece of the West Tisbury farm.
The land bank is set to purchase 12.9 acres of land and an agricultural preservation restriction on an additional 25 acres of abutting pastures for $3.45 million from the Fischer family, who has owned the property since 1939, land bank director James Lengyel said this week.And although money is coming in, executive director James Lengyel said the lank bank is not in the position to be acquiring new properties, with a still slumping real estate market. Last week, the land bank reported revenue of $0. Mr. Lengyel said a week without revenue is infrequent for the land bank, though it has happened before. The last time, he said, was within the last year.
A trail-widening project by the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank on its properties has sparked strong reaction from a small group of bikers and horseback riders, who took their concerns to the land bank this week.
Laura Bryan, an off-road biker who lives on Chappaquiddick, said she and her friend Michael Berwind were biking through Pennywise Preserve last week when they came upon a land bank crew working with a brush cutter and a freshly-cleared trail.
