Edgartown Grants Land Owner Choice on House Size Plan

By MANDY LOCKE

The Edgartown conservation commission Wednesday night drew a line in
the sand - forcing an Edgartown Great Pond property owner to
reduce his house proposal or take his case to the Martha's
Vineyard Commission.

"The scope of this house will have numerous impacts on the
pond - views and vistas, vegetation, wildlife and the pond itself,
all things we protect under the Wetlands Protection Act," said
Peter Vincent, the conservation commission chairman who led the move to
cap the house proposal at 5,000 square feet, 60 per cent of Scott and
Laurene Sperling's request.

Two massive home projects have been proposed for the undeveloped
parcels remaining on Kanomika Neck, a thin strip of land jutting into
the northern side of Edgartown Great Pond. The parcels measure 4.9 and
6.2 acres. The other applicant, who has an option to buy the smaller
property, suspended review of their 10,800-square-foot house by the
conservation commission earlier this month to watch how the Sperling
family's request fared.

"It's a very sensitive point. Houses probably
shouldn't have been built out there to begin with," Mr.
Vincent said moments before the unanimous vote to allow only a
5,000-square-foot house.

The Sperlings' six-bedroom family retreat would have dwarfed
the four homes - ranging in size from 3,000 to 3,700 square feet
- already built on Kanomika Neck.

"The pattern of size has been established by the other houses
already there. And the pattern of impact has been determined by the
amount of land they are using," said conservation commission
member Christina Brown.

The board stopped short of an outright denial - forcing a
substantial reduction in size before granting permission to build.

"Having said all this, I think the applicant has a right to
have a house on his land," Mr. Vincent said.

But the conservation commission said that's as far as they
would go - informing the applicant's architect Joanne Gosser
that any attempts to bypass their size limitation will result in a
discretionary referral to the Martha's Vineyard Commission as a
development of regional impact.

The conservation commission refused to further entertain the
Sperlings' request to build a swimming pool on their property.
Tests performed in August of 1993 indicate the water table is just eight
and a half feet below ground level, and the Sperlings' pool would
reach eight feet in the deepest end.

"A pool should simply not be allowed this close to the water
table," said Mr. Vincent.

At least one conservation commission member wished that the board
could have given the Sperlings some indication of the size hurdle when
they first applied for a 30,000-square-foot building envelope on the
property last summer.

"I feel a little troubled that when the applicant came in
[last summer], we didn't let him know this was coming," Mr.
Lollis said.

"He knew it was an area protected under the Wetlands
Protection Act and under a district of critical planning concern. He
knew he was going into a sensitive area, and if he didn't know
that, he was ill-advised," Mr. Vincent said.

The conservation commission flexed muscle Wednesday night that
they've doubted they had for more than a year. Over the last year
and a half, the board reluctantly waved enormous homes through their
wetland bylaw review, while expressing frustration at the
regulations' lack of clarity on house size limits.

But Wednesday night, it seemed the conservation commission had seen
enough of massive homes on the shores of Edgartown ponds.

"How are we supposed to mitigate impacts if we don't
limit size of houses?" asked Steve Ewing, Edgartown conservation
commission member and chairman of the ponds advisory committee that
recommended referring the project to the MVC.

"But there aren't firm guidelines [about size],"
Mr. Lollis said.

"We've allowed certain sizes up until now," Mr.
Ewing said.

"It doesn't mean we can't learn from our
errors," said Mr. Vincent.

"And we've screwed up a lot over the years," Mr.
Ewing replied.

Edgartown voters will be asked to give the Edgartown ponds advisory
committee - an advisory arm of the conservation commission
established to review projects within 700 feet of ponds - more
teeth at the annual town meeting. By placing a description of their role
under DCPC bylaws instead of just under town wetland bylaws, the
town's legal counsel feels the committee's recommendations
will have more standing in the courts.

Conservation commission members Mr. Vincent, Ms. Brown, Mr. Lollis,
Mr. Ewing and Lil Province voted to approve a 5,000-square-foot house on
the Sperling property. Mr. Vincent, Mr. Lollis, Mr. Ewing and Ms.
Province voted in favor of a tentative Martha's Vineyard
Commission referral if revised plans or an appeal seeks more than 5,000
square feet. Ms. Brown abstained because she is a member of the MVC.