Preservation efforts at Flat Point Farm topped the list of activities for the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank in 2023, followed by partnerships in affordable housing.
With only a handful of major acquisitions, it was a relatively quiet year, but revenues remain robust, a draft year-end report shows.
The draft annual report was approved by the land bank commission at its meeting early this week, pending the completion of a few minor items.
Two projects last year included partnerships for affordable housing, the report notes. Up-Island the land bank expanded its Gay Head Moraine property by purchasing a 4.5-acre shrub swamp owned by the Island Housing Trust. In a down-Island transaction that had been years in the making, the land bank and the town of Oak Bluffs exchanged 24-acre properties at the Southern Woodlands Reservation, allowing the town to have access to a public road.
The long-term lease for the northern field at Flat Point Farm is also highlighted in the report.
“Islanders knew their priorities when they established the land bank thirty-seven years ago. One was the protection of old family farms,” executive director James Lengyel writes in the report.
More farmland protection efforts are expected to come in 2024 with the preservation of Pimpneymouse Farm on Chappaquiddick, a joint effort between the land bank and Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation. At year end, final fundraising efforts remained ongoing for that project.
The report also takes note of land bank efforts to mitigate the devastation caused by the southern pine beetle at Ripley’s Field Preserve, where infested trees had to be cut down.
The annual cross-Island hike in June attracted a large number of hikers; 75 people started and 45 of them completed the 17.5-mile trek, a record number, the report notes. The hike has been hosted for 31 years.
And the land bank offices have moved to a new location, at 40 Meetinghouse Way in Edgartown, abutting the Quenomica Preserve North. An agreement to sell the old office on Main street will be decided by Edgartown voters in the spring. The final report and the land bank budget will be posted on the land bank’s website.
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