Land Bank Authorizes Beach Management Plan Despite Neighbors' Doubt
By IAN FEIN
Longtime Tisbury Great Pond beach owners told the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank this week that its plans for the barrier beach will drastically alter the traditional use of that stretch of the south shore.
Island residents have long enjoyed casual use of the Great Pond beach, but the land bank plan will create the first formal public access.
Land Bank Acquires Aquinnah Oceanfront, Scenic Chilmark Field
By IAN FEIN
The Martha's Vineyard Land Bank this week added another 400 feet of Aquinnah white sand beach to its oceanfront holdings, and also acquired a scenic field on South Road in Chilmark. Both up-Island properties are roughly eight acres. The purchase prices were $2.25 million and $875,000, respectively.
West Tisbury Assessors Return to Tax Board
by IAN FEIN
The sense of deja vu was unmistakable at the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board in Boston this week.
West Tisbury assessors and their attorney were back before the tax board on Tuesday to defend the values they had placed on north shore properties near Paul's Point.
Momentum Builds For Energy District
by IAN FEIN
Island voters this spring will be asked whether they wish to take the Vineyard's energy future into their own hands.
Aquinnah selectman James Newman this week authored a nonbinding referendum for the coming town meeting season aimed at creating an overlay district to promote and regulate energy efficiency and renewable energy across the Island.
Danish Study Is Boost for Wind Farms
By IAN FEIN
In the most comprehensive scientific analysis on offshore wind farms to date, a Danish government report released last week found little or no environmental impacts from the world's two largest offshore projects.
The findings are significant for the Nantucket Sound wind farm proposal because they address many of the environmental concerns raised about Cape Wind - the first offshore project proposed in the United States.