More land, less impact on the ponds and a pledge to be better neighbors this time around - those were the promises made to the Martha's Vineyard Commission last night from developers who want to build an 18-hole private, luxury golf club in the last unbroken stretch of woodlands in the town of Oak Bluffs.

From the very start it had all the markings of a political campaign - go heavy on the sales pitch, work the numbers to make them fit the pitch and filibuster to silence anyone who questioned the information.

SSA Board Sinks New Bedford Ferry Plan; Shaky Financial Footing Collapses Proposal

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

In a 2-1 vote that left Vineyard Steamship Authority governor J.B. Riggs Parker visibly seething, the SSA board yesterday killed a trial high-speed ferry project between New Bedford and the Vineyard that would have cost $10 million over the next three years.

"A $10 million investment over three years with no market study? This is not the right deal or the right time," said Falmouth SSA governor Galen Robbins.

The jokes and gritty remarks about trophy houses and the Hamptons have been circulating on the Vineyard for a couple of years, but last week the Edgartown conservation commission got its first real-life glimpse of a starter castle now planned for an unspoiled point of land on the Oyster Pond.

After months of uneven discussion about whether to open up high-speed ferry service between New Bedford and the Vineyard, the Steamship Authority is now set for a crucial vote on a pilot project that will cost the boat line millions of dollars over the next three years, if it is approved.

A house on Starbuck's Neck in Edgartown whose history as a summer home dates back a full century was sold this week for a record $21.8 million.

The home, still known to most Vineyard residents as the former Sharp house, was purchased by a private buyer. This marks the second record sale for the same house in less than two years.