Martha's Vineyard’s beautiful, historic, and cohesive built environment – everything man-made – is among the most remarkable in the country and is an important part of the scenic beauty at the heart of the Island’s character, identity, and visitor-based economy.
It is made up of historic town and village centers, each with its own distinct character such as the white clapboard public buildings and grand residences of Edgartown, the fanciful multi-colored Victorian cottages in Oak Bluffs, and the fishing shacks of Menemsha. These are surrounded by traditional neighborhoods and linked by rural roads lined with stone walls and dotted by roadside farmhouses.
The fact that, throughout the 20th century, we continued to use mostly traditional local forms and materials has resulted in a cohesive built environment that sets the whole Island apart from the rest of America, with its cookie-cutter suburban sprawl and its “Anywhere USA” strip commercial development.
Recent construction usually follows traditional local forms (typically a combination of several simple volumes with steeply sloping roofs) and materials (typically white siding in some towns, cedar shingles elsewhere), though there are some newer buildings, especially in suburbs, whose size, style, and materials are not in the Vineyard tradition.
Several factors now threaten this unique, coherent, high-quality built environment. Skyrocketing real estate costs lead some people to maximize use of their property by demolishing older structures and erecting buildings with that go to the limits of zoning regulations, that are too big or otherwise don’t fit their surroundings, or that are not environmentally sound. This is exacerbated by a growth in the number of people with few ties to the Vineyard who buy properties and hire architects or builders from different part of the country who come up with designs that have little relation to the Vineyard tradition or context. Just a few poorly designed buildings in highly visible locations can seriously undermine the Island’s character.
Objective B1: Increase public awareness of the Vineyard’s built environment.
On Martha's Vineyard, much attention is focused on our exceptional natural environment, while less attention is given to the Island’s outstanding built environment. This proposed strategy deals with all topics in the Built Environment section.
· Strategy B1-1: Produce a publication for property owners and building designers on what defines the Vineyard’s distinct built environment and how to protect it, on historic areas, and on green building. A guidebook on Building the Vineyard Way should be published that deals with all the issues discussed in this section, including the special features of each historic area, what defines Visually Critical Areas, and the general character of Vineyard buildings, roadscapes, public spaces, and landscaping. It should include guidelines about how protect existing buildings and features, and how new development can fit in, as well as information about green building and how to reduce environmental impacts including dark-sky compliant lighting. The key is identifying the defining characteristics of each area on the Island – typical siting, relationship to street (setback, orientation), scale, and massing, and sometimes style – and educating people so they know what they are buying into and are sensitive to the context when planning their building projects. The information contained in this document could also be made available in other ways, such as on the Internet, on community television, in information sessions, with walking tours, and in a travelling exhibit. The MVC could coordinate this with input from planning boards, historic districts commissions, and Island architects.
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