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Public Testimony

The Voice for the Island

The Vineyard Conservation Society is the Island’s most respected voice for environmental advocacy, speaking for the flora and fauna of the Vineyard and the ecosystems they inhabit. Our broad concept of environmental stewardship encompasses a variety of issues including clean air and drinking water, climate change, health of coastal estuaries, biodiversity and habitat fragmentation, waste disposal and composting, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, land use planning and regulation, and much more.

One of the longstanding activities of the organization is to provide input to public reviews of proposed developments and to other government processes on the relevant environmental issues. We do this via the submission of written testimony to the public record and/or by speaking at hearings. Below is a sampling of the some of the recent matters on which we have testified.

Big Houses

The scale of the built environment — the relationship between structures and the natural landscape — is a defining component of Vineyard character. As house sizes on the Island have grown ever larger in recent years, VCS has been working to further a community conversation on this challenging subject, and to support measures that would place reasonable limits on scale.

One such measure was adopted by West Tisbury Town Meeting voters in 2022. VCS, through our membership on the “Preserve West Tisbury” committee, helped advocate for passage of what is commonly known as the “Big House Bylaw,” which limits the size of residential buildings relative to the environment. Click here for more background on the issue and the campaign; details of the new law can be found in this flyer.

Since passage, VCS has been tracking the effects and, where appropriate, weighing in on the early permit reviews (see testimony here). We are happy to share that, according to feedback from builders, architects, conservationists, and surveyors, the new measure is already making an important difference, giving the planning board a much-needed tool to keep development from overwhelming the town’s rural character, habitat, and quality of life.

Artificial Turf Sports Fields

VCS has been involved for more than six years in advocacy around a proposal to install one or more artificial turf playing fields at the Regional High School. Joining with colleague groups and concerned citizens, VCS has submitted numerous letters and oral testimony to various boards and committees, including:

Habitat Take Mitigation

VCS is monitoring a recent development at the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP), the agency tasked with enforcement of the Mass Endangered Species Act (MESA). Under MESA, development that results in destruction of habitat for state listed species (a “take”) must be compensated for. Recently NHESP has begun allowing cash payments to be used as compensation for takes in certain situations, rather than the historical practice of requiring an offset in the form of putting habitat into permanent conservation. This change is particularly concerning on Martha’s Vineyard (and Nantucket, where colleague groups are joining us in opposition) because of the unique ecological value of Island populations, and the extraordinarily high real estate gains to be realized from habitat takes. In short, “pay-for-play” is not a reasonable approach to habitat protection here.

Navigator Homes

VCS submitted written testimony (Oct 20, 2022) to the DRI review of the “Navigator Homes” development, in support of mitigation measures to address nitrogen pollution, light pollution, and disturbance of Priority Habitat.

MV Housing Bank

In 2022, voters in all six Island towns passed warrant articles endorsing the creation of a Housing Bank for Martha’s Vineyard, along with a Housing Bank Review Committee tasked with refining the language of a draft bill for delivery to the state legislature. VCS submitted written testimony (July 6, 2022) to the HBRC advocating for stronger environmental protections, including: (1) requesting that the 25% portion of the funding stream intended for building on undeveloped parcels by steered toward the already built environment, in particular town centers; (2) asking for an expanded definition of what is meant by “local ecology”; (3) requesting a prohibition on new construction in state-designated Priority Habitat and on prime agricultural soils; and (4) calling for enhanced energy efficiency standards not just in new construction, but for renovation projects as well.

Note: earlier in 2022, the VCS Board of Directors approved a policy on residential development, which informed our HBRC testimony.

West Tisbury Cell Tower

VCS submitted written testimony (Dec 15, 2021) to West Tisbury Zoning Board of Appeals regarding efforts to reduce microplastic pollution arising from a “monopine” cell phone tower.

Shipyard Expansion

VCS submitted written testimony (Feb 20, 2020) to the DRI review of a proposal to expand the MV Shipyard facilities, with particular emphasis on issues of climate change adaptation.

Special Ways DCPC

VCS submitted written testimony (Dec 18, 2019) in support of the protection of two Special Ways (aka “ancient ways”) in Tisbury, Red Coat Hill Road and Shubael Weeks Road, via the MVC’s Special Ways District of Critical Planning Concern.

MeetingHouse Way Subdivision

VCS opposed an ambitious, and inappropriate, development proposal that would have created a suburban-style subdivision on 54 acres of open space near the Edgartown Great Pond, which among other environmental harms would have greatly exacerbated the nitrogen pollution threatening the health of the Pond. Across a multi-year review process, VCS submitted written testimony to the MV Commission twice (June 2020 and Feb. 2019), and commented numerous times in our email newsletter (e.g. here, and here) and in Island newspapers.

For some interesting background on local history and how we got to this place, please see: Zoning Diversity and Historical Background at Meetinghouse Way