Note: The projections in this section are preliminary and will be revised when the development and growth scenarios are re-run in September. Check the Island Plan website for the latest version.
The current zoning across Martha's Vineyard is a reflection of a series of decisions made over the past forty years. This was done without little or no comprehensive analysis of what kind of development could result on the Island, and what the implications of this development might be. The Island Plan provides our community the opportunity to step back and ask ourselves if this is what we really want.
Today there are about 17,100 homes and other principal buildings on the Island (about 15,600 main buildings and 1,500 guest houses). With current zoning and available land, as many as 11,800 more homes and main buildings could be added (7,400 main houses and more than 4,400 guest houses), an increase of 74%. This would translate into a year-round population that mushrooms from the current 15,444 to about 27,000 people, if the portion year-round homes remains at 44%. (The Island’s population could theoretically go to about 62,000 if all allowed homes are built and all seasonal homes became year-round.)
Public input into this plan indicates that most of the Vineyard community wants the Vineyard to stay much as it is today; or go back to the way it was in the years when they were born or first moved here, if this were possible.
Most people are generally unhappy with the recent pace and type of development on the Island, or with the future that present growth trends would take us to. They feel that continuing growth is undermining the Island’s character and environment – key to our visitor-based economy – and that excessive development could kill the goose that laid the golden egg. It was noted that growth for growth’s sake is the philosophy of a cancer cell. In surveys, forums, and meetings, most people say that they want limited growth, which is carefully managed as to amount, location, pace, and design. They want development that is especially restricted in critical natural areas, that doesn’t exceed the carrying capacity of the Island, and that better serves the needs of the year-round population. Almost everyone who responded to surveys or participated in Island Plan forums, said that the Vineyard should move to a more sustainable economy, less dependent on growth.
| In surveys of almost 3,000 Vineyarders and visitors in 2003 and 2004: § 95% said protecting the Vineyard’s environment and character was a high priority; 7% said promoting development and growth was a high priority; § 76% said the summer population should not grow very much; 7% said it could grow without problems, § 65% said controls over the quantity and quality of development should be strengthened; 7% said they should be relaxed. |
At the other end of the spectrum, some believe that growth is intrinsically good. They feel that continuing growth is vital to our economy, allowing business to expand and profits to rise, especially for the construction industry that accounts for 13% of Vineyard jobs and 17% of businesses.
It may well be impossible to get everyone in the community to agree which philosophy is correct. Fortunately, we don’t need unanimity about this, as long as we can agree that certain kinds of development are inappropriate in certain locations, and other kinds of development are desirable, or at least acceptable, in other places. The focus of the Island Plan, and especially this section, is to identify what kinds of development are appropriate, and where.
Several of the Island Plan’s Overall Goals (page 1-9) reflect what people favored with respect to growth, namely concentrating future development in town and village areas and limiting building in environmentally sensitive areas; reinforcing compact, mixed-use, walkable town and village centers; ensuring that a significant portion of the development that does takes place serves the real needs of the community, and ensuring that new building is compatible in its scale, siting, and design.
It should be noted that there is some reluctance to change the way we manage growth or run the community, for several reasons.
· There is strong pressure to build more houses to accommodate a continuing desire of people to live here. One survey indicated that over half the seasonal residents and even a fifth of one-week visitors anticipate living here in the future. Is it possible to accommodate everyone who wants to be here and still maintain those characteristics of the Vineyard that people want to preserve?
· There is inertia when it comes to changing zoning or other regulations, a reluctance to revise them even if existing regulations would lead the Vineyard to the very future that people say they don’t want.
· Perhaps most importantly are the enormous property values that reflect current zoning. Each possible future house or guest house is seen as potentially worth a considerable amount of money, sometime in the future. This could translate into a difference between what people feel is best for the Island, and how willing they are to limit what they might do with their individual properties.
Also, there is a phenomenon of shifting expectations. As new waves of people move here who are not familiar of what the Vineyard was like before, the community becomes more accepting of a more developed place, more similar to suburban, off-Island America.
Note that this section mainly discusses residential development, because 98% of the Island is zoned residential; however, most of the recommendations also apply to land used for commercial and other uses. (See section 5.4 for a specific discussion of commercial and industrial development.) The section looks primarily at new buildings that increase the total number of buildings on the Island, though many proposals also affect modifications or replacements of existing buildings.
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