Remy Tumin
The Chilmark selectmen endorsed a formal appeal to the U.S. Coast Guard’s rejected insurance claims for the Menemsha boathouse fire Tuesday night.
The selectmen unanimously voted to approve an appeal letter crafted by town counsel Ron Rappaport that questions the outcome of the investigation into the cause of the July 2010 fire and challenges the Coast Guard’s dismissal of the claim due to the belief the fire started on town property.
As erosion inches the Gay Head Lighthouse closer to the edge, the Martha’s Vineyard Museum is moving ahead with a study to assess the urgency of relocating the 156-year-old structure.
The study will take place over the course of three years and provide a “more realistic” prediction of what the long-term needs are for the area, museum director David Nathans said yesterday.
Voter turnout may have been low at the Aquinnah town election and annual meeting this week, but those that did turn out came prepared to approve large expenditures and voice their disapproval of the Oak Bluffs roundabout.
A total of 54 voters, or 14 per cent of registered voters, went to the polls Wednesday to approve a $175,000 Proposition 2 1/2 override for the annual budget. The override passed 33 to 19. Aquinnah was the only town on the Island to seek a general override this year.
Thimble Farm is now expected to go on the market after a community coalition that had formed last year to buy the farm failed to raise enough money.
The group was called the Martha’s Vineyard Farm Project and the goal was to buy the 37-acre farm that is currently leased by Whippoorwill Farm owner Andrew Woodruff.
But farm owner Eric Grubman, a seasonal resident of Katama, confirmed that the coalition was unable to realize a plan to buy the farm and turn it into a nonprofit food-producing operation.
Reports that the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) wants to open a bingo hall in Aquinnah came as a surprise to members of the Island community this week. But documents filed with the federal gaming commission show plans to conduct gaming on the Vineyard have been in the works since at least November.
Tea Lane Farm — the historic but languishing property off Middle Road in Chlimark — has a new tenant farmer.
Flower farmer Krishana Collins was awarded the Chilmark property last Friday in a 5 to 3 vote from the town’s board of selectmen and Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission advisory board. The joint boards had embarked on a long journey to find a tenant for the land who will use it for agricultural purposes and repair the timeworn buildings.