Natural Environment 7.4: Protect and Restore Natural Character

The Vineyard’s overall character is defined largely by its natural environment. Even the casual visitor recognizes the evocative beauty and authenticity of the Island’s landscapes and vistas.  The word “character” can mean many different things. Here it focuses primarily on scenic values, the visibility of the Vineyard's natural environment, especially from public places such as roadside and coastal views and vistas. This visual access contributes to the community’s appreciation and stewardship of natural areas.

In the Visual Preference Survey conducted by the MVC, about half of the favorite images were of nature, and half included buildings.  Of the nature spots, people chose rural farms and fields as particularly important in defining Vineyard natural character.  There was concern for maintaining ocean vistas and viewsheds, particularly narrow view corridors such as the Tashmoo Overlook.  They showed preferences for rural roadside treatments, as well.  Their choices emphasized the significance of maintaining overhead tree canopies, preference for split-rail fencing over expansive stockade fence coverage, and preference for wooden guardrails. 

People’s sense of the Vineyard comes largely from what people see as they drive along the Vineyard’s roads. The Martha’s Vineyard Commission has protected roadside views and vistas to a certain extent in the Island Road District of Critical Planning Concern created in 1975, empowering the towns to adopt special regulations.  There are Major Roads in all six towns and Special Ways in five towns.  Special regulations for the Major Roads Zone include such mechanisms as height and setback restrictions, protections for stone walls, and requirements to bury power lines.  Regulations for the Special Ways include restrictions on paving and widening. 

There is a dilemma in that the public would like the view of roadside fields to be opened up, whereas property owners prefer keeping them shielded from the road. The degree of openness depends on whether they are privately or publicly owned. 

Also of concern is the view from public waters, especially the ponds and ocean. There is concern that development highly visible from the water is undermining the natural character of the Island.

The aims are to preserve the appearance of openness and great space, to foster the maintenance of existing vistas and the creation of new vistas, as well as the restoration of vistas that have been lost over time from plant succession, to match the use of land to the land’s natural and visual qualities, to manage change and growth to enhance the traditional and natural landscapes of the Vineyard and to require that development plans fit the scale and quality of the inherited landscape so that generations to come will have views and open vistas to enjoy.

Objective N6: Protect roadside and coastal vistas and viewsheds.

The highest priority is to protect the scenic roads that are still relatively intact. However, all the public roads on the Island should be scenic, and the measures outlined below should apply to all major roads. In the longer term, roads that were excessively widened and straightened should be restored to their traditional configurations, which would also serve traffic calming objectives.

Strategy N6-1: Revise regulations to protect scenic roads. Over the years, the character of our scenic roads has been gradually, but steadily, eroded with the construction of highly visible buildings, the erection of roadside fences (especially stockade), the clearing of natural roadside vegetation to create lawns or commercial displays, installation of exterior lighting, and the proliferation of commercial and road signs. The Island Road District DCPC can provide the framework to ensure that the natural and historic character of our scenic roads are preserved, by requiring preservation of a no-cut zone to buffer new development, ensuring that fences close to the road be low and open, and regulating signage and lighting.  Official designation under the Island Road District or as a “scenic road” provides additional public review of proposals to modify the road or to cut trees. It is important to identify and protect scenic vistas, and to be vigilant for opportunities to re-open critical lost views of the Island landscape and for possibilities to open up views of roadside fields or other natural features. The impact on roadside vegetation and vistas should be considered in the design review of new projects by the MVC or town boards. Consider adding roads to the Island Road District.

Strategy N6-2: Set up a Roadside Vegetation Initiative to protect and enhance rural road character: A multi-faceted effort could take on a series of actions to protect and restore the character of our scenic roads. A public awareness campaign could make the community more aware of the importance of our scenic roads and how they should be protected. Roadside property owners could be encouraged to re-vegetate the roadside in front of newer buildings and fences, or to open views onto roadside fields and vistas, as well as to reduce lighting visible from the roads; the first priority would be to work with public and institutional properties – such as town buildings, schools, utility company buildings – which are often the worst offenders. Town DPWs and MassHighway should implement a program to restore scenic road treatments to roads that were excessively widened and have inappropriate road “improvements”, removing unnecessary signage and eventually narrowing the roads and replacing steel guardrails with wood ones. Roadsides should  be planted with hardy, attractive natives (e.g. butterfly weed), to not only add character to long stretches of road, but  also to provide useful corridors for butterflies and other pollinators. Identify the key views and vistas from public spaces, prioritizing those most vulnerable to development, and ensure that new construction or inappropriate vegetation doesn’t block or disrupt them; consider purchasing key parcels (outright or conservation easements).