To the Editor: 

(This letter was also submitted to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.) 

Dear Commission members, fellow Islanders, and friends: 

“Nice island you have there. We would like to exploit its amenities for our own profit.” That is a bald way of describing what real estate development schemes are.

We who are submitting comments opposing Katama Meadows are requesting that you as MVC members do the upstream thinking, and visualize the downstream effects of development.        

Please, reflect on the strains that previous developments have imposed on us Islanders. Combined, Katama Meadows and Green Villa are equivalent to two whole new Island villages.

These developments are intended to pull more people here, not to provide any solutions to preexisting issues of affordability or housing shortages. 

Please, can you imagine the strains the combined scale of these proposed Developments of Regional Impact (DRIs) would impose on our finite Island’s finite infrastructure and institutions –– such as MV Hospital, Navigator Homes (ex-Windemere), EMTs?

In stoking the real estate boom, it becomes more and more necessary to lure and house the low-wage workers required to service the luxury McMansions. It creates a two-tier social fabric and leads to the egregious housing, zoning, and septic abuses that have become so common.

In stoking the real estate boom, it becomes less and less possible for Islanders to inherit family real estate that is skyrocketing in value. (And yet we must listen to the emotional stories about Islanders priced out, or forced to the mainland.)

Due to exponential growth, Island towns and institutions continually need more professional staff, all expensive to hire. Due to growth and development, Island costs of living continually climb. Nowadays, many skilled applicants cannot afford to locate here.

Everywhere more: more infrastructures proposed and required. Everywhere more: more irritations — serious ones and minor ones — as daily Island life becomes more unworkable. Everywhere more: more losses of what is valuable and irreplaceable about our Island home.

Meanwhile, the finite Island’s assets and amenities, our way of life, upon which projects such as Katama Meadows are based –– and which were not created by those wanting to exploit them –– are actually diminished and lessened by over-growth.

Over-growth: The costs it imposes are not paid for by it; the costs always outpace it, while stakeholders (you and I) cover the tab. The profits land in tax havens and pockets elsewhere. 

Real estate speculation could be described as predatory: Take profits from real estate ventures, and then move on to the next desirable, often undefended, target.

However, here we are not undefended. The MVC’s mission is to protect the Island’s assets, amenities, quality of life, and yes, a sound economy.

In my opinion, respectfully submitted, your job as commissioners is to see that those dollars and profits remain and circulate here, along with the Island’s assets and amenities.

 

Abigail Higgins
West Tisbury

6 replies on “Islanders will pay for overdevelopment ”

  2. what is your proposal
    where do you want people to live
    are unsafe basement dwellings, overcrowded converted sheds, and tents in the woods the better choice
    should nurses, teachers, blue-collar workers be delegated to daily ferry commutes
    who’s going to mow your lawn

  4. Islanders profit from development.
    Overdevelopment is a matter of opinion.
    Dukes County has nearly the lowest population density in the state.
    Even in August.

  5. May I ask are you living in a home or neighborhood that was built by a developer? If so, why is your home or neighborhood more sacred than any new one proposed?

    I think engineered affordable homes are more detrimental. Those are the homes that add year round population and fill our schools. Luxury homes pay high taxes and use very little of our infrastructure as they sit empty 9 months a year, and are situated on a large parcel of land.

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