Presently, about 2% of the Island is commercially or industrially zoned. In general, there appears to be adequate building space and land for the current commercial needs of the Island, with the possible exception of home based businesses such as landscaping and construction that require parking for commercial equipment.
As residential growth takes place on the Island, we will need more commercial and industrial space to serve the needs of the growing population, though the percentage increase should not be as great since existing businesses and facilities will be able to absorb part of the growth. For example, it is estimated that with the various Development and Growth Scenarios outlined in section 3, there will be a need for additional commercial space: retail, office space, and industry/warehousing. The currently developed section of the Airport Business Park is largely full; it is estimated that some increase in density in the existing section plus construction of the new section closer to the Airport entrance would provide some additional space.
Over the past generation, many businesses and services have moved from the older, downtown parts of Tisbury and Edgartown to the newer uptown areas (Upper State Road and Upper Main Street / Triangle), attracted by larger parcels of land for bigger buildings and parking lots. There is a danger that the older downtowns will house only visitor-oriented activities and become ghost towns in the off-season. The commercial vitality of both the older and newer town centers would be further eroded if commercial development was allowed to spread to other areas (such as the idea of putting retail at the Airport which has been put forward and rejected several times in the past). The Edgartown and Vineyard Haven town centers could be strengthened by having a free shuttle link the uptown and downtown sections (see strategy T2-3) and by retrofitting the uptown sections to be more mixed use and pedestrian friendly.
Commercially zoned areas.
Objective L6: Locate commercial activities appropriately and ensure that there is sufficient commercial land for future needs.
· Strategy L6-1: Keep retail activities and visitor services concentrated in vibrant, walkable, town centers. Lively, easily accessible commercial districts, each with the anchor businesses that are necessary for the conduct of daily life, are essential components of a healthy community and a strong economy. We should keep these activities in the town centers (see section 2 – Development & Growth) and avoid retail development in other areas including the Airport Business Park or strip development along roads.
· Strategy L6-2: Ensure that each town center has a full range of essential anchor businesses. In order to have a vibrant downtown that offers the basic services needed by nearby residents, each town center should have a grocery store, pharmacy, post office, and bank. Tools that might be used to achieve this include providing property tax incentives for land owners and/or business owners who accommodate these businesses, using publicly owned land or buildings for such activities, and zoning some areas for these uses.
· Strategy L6-3: Ensure that there is sufficient land to satisfy the range of needed commercial activities. We need appropriate in-town places to locate the new businesses discussed in this section, including small manufacturing, service businesses, incubator industries, wholesale and industrial uses including truck storage and construction staging and storage areas. The MVC and town planning boards should prepare an analysis of existing and projected commercial needs and compare this to available and potential commercial space based on existing zoning. The aim is to have enough land for current and projected needs, but to avoid zoning too much land business, in that commercial zoning can undermine the stability of existing residential areas (owners hesitate to invest in existing buildings hoping they will eventually sell for commercial development). A related challenge is to protect desirable, but “weaker” activities from gentrification; for example, working waterfront uses on Beach Road in Tisbury could be squeezed out if higher intensity uses such as restaurants, motels, or bars were permitted. In that there are limited commercial areas on the Island, towns could require that ground floors in these areas be used for business.
· Strategy L6-4: Encourage development of small convenience stores. Ensuring that there are small convenience stores in various locations throughout Island, including within walking distance of denser village neighborhoods, would cut down on car trips to main commercial areas for simple needs.
·Strategy L6-5: Ensure that home businesses are compatible with their surrounding neighborhoods. Most home businesses are compatible with their residential neighbors, but some, especially those involving trucking such as landscaping and contracting, can be disruptive. Regulations should be review, revised if necessary, and enforced. This goes hand in hand with the availability of alternative locations
In order to keep the ecomony leakage down, then a more vertical approach may need to be investigated. Veritical (vs horizontal) approaches are to have many small businesses on island that become the supply chain for other businesses. Producing value-added components used in the construction, boatyard, and other businesses on island would start to mitigate leakage and create jobs.
ReplyDeleteIn this way, only raw materials need to be brought on island. Then a local distributed network of small/micro industries, machine shops, sailmakers, lobster trap makers, forges and black smiths, farm equipment, elctronics, and such, will supply the local business, citizens, vistors, restaurants and others.
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