Questions Continue to Pile Up for Cozy Hearth Housing Plan

By IAN FEIN

The Martha's Vineyard Commission last week stepped up its
scrutiny of an unusual affordable housing subdivision proposed for
Watcha Path in Edgartown.

After taking almost two hours of testimony in its third public
hearing session on the project, the commission sent applicant William
Bennett of Chilmark away last Thursday with a growing list of questions
and asked him to return with more detailed answers at another public
hearing next month.

The project is under review by the commission as a development of
regional impact (DRI).

"I think this is an ample demonstration that the angel, or
perhaps the devil, is in the details," said commission member Paul
Strauss of Oak Bluffs, who asked Mr. Bennett to better address
wastewater and traffic concerns raised by the project. "It needs a
resolution that we can live with. Because I don't see clear
solutions that enable me to support the project as currently
designed."

The project aims to create 11 one-acre lots in a three-acre minimum
zone through Chapter 40B, a state law that allows affordable housing
projects to skirt most local zoning regulations. This chapter 40B
proposal is unusual in that the applicants - led by Mr. Bennett as
president of the Cozy Hearth Community Corporation - intend to
occupy most of the subdivision.

The Cozy Hearth corporation is composed of Mr. Bennett's
friends and family members - five potential homeowners that live
on the Vineyard and three that presently do not.

At previous public hearings in May and July, supporters of the
project called it a model grassroots effort that would allow working
class residents to stay on the Island. Opponents warned that it could
set a dangerous precedent for development density in an
environmentally-sensitive area.

Commission members last week aggressively questioned Mr. Bennett
about the financial aspects of the project and any potential for profit.
Some questioned whether the project is actually an affordable housing
development.

As required by Chapter 40B, three of the 11 lots will be set aside
in perpetuity for qualifying Edgartown families earning less than 80 per
cent of median income. The project also proposes to put 30-year resale
restrictions on five of the remaining eight lots, but Mr. Bennett
explained that the original occupants will not have to qualify under the
income restrictions.

"Families moving in initially are not necessarily affordable
housing candidates," said commission member Carlene Condon of
Edgartown. "If they sell - and only if they sell within 30
years - would those lots be affordable. So initially this is not
necessarily an affordable housing project."

In response to the questions, Mr. Bennett also reaffirmed that the
corporation is not at this point willing to extend the resale
restrictions on the five lots beyond 30 years.

Commission executive director Mark London queried Mr. Bennett about
the three unrestricted lots, wondering who they are for and why they are
not restricted.

Mr. Bennett replied that he wanted the overall Cozy Hearth community
to reflect the variations in the overall Vineyard community.

"Here's the thing: there's two ways to do these
projects," Mr. Bennett said. "If you're a nonprofit,
you have someone give you a big subsidy and make them all restricted. In
this case, three individuals made this whole thing possible - two
people with money, including myself."

Mr. Bennett acknowledged that the three unrestricted lots could be
sold for profit soon after the project is approved.

"There could be a windfall there," he said. "But
all of us want to live here."

Mr. Bennett said he intends to keep his unrestricted lot for his
daughter, while another unrestricted lot will go to his father-in-law,
and the third is for his friend James Tuck, who grew up on the Island
but practices medicine in Ontario, Canada. Mr. Tuck gave $100,000 to the
Cozy Hearth corporation early in the project development stage.

While much of the discussion on Thursday focused on the complex
financial aspects of the development, chairman Linda Sibley noted that
the commission's review up to this point may have overlooked some
of the more standard project details - such as parking,
landscaping and other ways to reduce visual impact.

"The financial stuff is so confusing and we have become so
bogged down, myself included, that we seem to have forgotten about other
issues," Mrs. Sibley said. "For other high-density
affordable housing projects we have had a lot more detail about a lot of
things."

Two of the commission's major concerns with the project so far
- traffic and wastewater - resurfaced at the hearing again
last week. The commission staff report notes that the project would
increase traffic by 65 per cent on Watcha Path and the dangerous
intersection with Edgartown-West Tisbury Road; the staff report also
found that the 11 homes pose a nitrogen-loading threat to the Oyster
Pond watershed.

The Cozy Hearth corporation has proposed to set aside $5,000 to go
toward traffic intersection solutions if the project is approved, and to
use composting toilets in at least eight homes. But some commissioners
appeared unappeased by the offers.

"I want to return to your comments about your so-called
solution to the intersection," said commissioner Douglas Sederholm
of Chilmark. "What have you done to explore actual solutions? Have
you had conversations with [property owners near the
intersection]?"

"I have not," Mr. Bennett said.

"So you've got the money, but you're not sure
whether it's going to do anything?" Mr. Sederholm asked.

"Well, I'm hoping it will," Mr. Bennett replied.

Mr. Sederholm then questioned Mr. Bennett about the wastewater
issue, and on at least one occasion asked Mr. Bennett to stop
interrupting him. The two had different interpretations of a recent
letter sent to the commission by Edgartown health agent Matthew Poole,
who has urged commissioners to not grant nitrogen removal credit to
composting toilets.

Mr. Poole said in his letter that composting toilets are only
effective in keeping nitrogen out of the watershed when the byproduct is
taken to a proper disposal site, something you cannot rely on a human to
do over the long-term. A number of commissioners have questioned whether
they can effectively require and regulate the Cozy Hearth development
byproduct disposal.

Project abutter and Watcha Path resident Geoffrey Patterson reminded
commissioners that they must think about wastewater as a long-term
issue.

"I have a daughter who's eight, who might have children
and grandchildren," Mr. Patterson said. "I hope that in 100
years they can still go oystering in the pond."

A number of neighbors attended the hearing again last week to
provide testimony opposing the project. Tension between Mr. Bennett and
the neighbors was visible.

The commission is compiling its list of questions for Mr. Bennett
and will accept submissions from the public until noon on Thursday. Mr.
Bennett will then be asked to provide written answers one week prior to
the next public hearing session, scheduled for Oct. 20.