Despite clearly-stated concern about future precedent, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission agreed last week to shorten a protected special way in West Tisbury in order to preserve vehicle access for a private property owner.
The commission voted to affirm a town meeting vote from earlier this year to remove about 450 feet of the special way designation on Old Coach Road.
In March the commission designated 1,859 feet along the historic road off Old Holmes Road as a special way, protecting it from future development. But an amendment at the West Tisbury annual town meeting in April to truncate the area passed unanimously, sending the decision back to the MVC.
Old Coach Road, which connects Vineyard Haven and North Tisbury, was traveled by mail carriers in the 19th and 20th centuries. The 450-foot section at the eastern end of the designated area cuts through a property that has been owned by the Bangs family since 1862.
According to letters submitted to the commission, the town planning board, which nominated the area as a special way in February, was unaware that the right of way to the Bangs property was over a portion of Old Coach Road. The board quickly proposed an amendment to the town meeting article asking voters to approve the designation.
At the continuation of a public hearing last Thursday night, the MVC, along with town officials and members of the Bangs family, struggled to find clarity in the existing town bylaw that relates to vehicle access on special ways.
“My actual understanding of the bylaw is that it doesn’t deny them access,” commissioner Linda Sibley said after 45 minutes of sometimes heated debate. “But it is also not a very clear bylaw.”
“If vehicles have used the special way, that right continues,” said byways committee member Cynthia Aguilar. “If the area is subdivided, different kinds of access can be permitted by special permit. That’s my understanding.”
But Paul Bangs, who owns the 25-acre property with his two brothers, was reluctant to agree to those terms. “A special permit means I have to beg,” he said. “It’s demeaning. We’re not asking for anything that isn’t ours.” He also pointed out that in areas where vehicles are not allowed, a town permit would allow vehicles to cross the road but not travel along it.
MVC senior planner Bill Veno said he believed most of the special ways in West Tisbury have vehicle access. The town bylaw does mention existing rights of way, but only in relation to gates and bars, which may be built in those areas, and the relocation of special ways.
In 2012 the commission amended its regulations to make it clear that existing vehicle access would continue on special ways. But it is up to each Island town to add the changes to their bylaws. Commission planner Jo-Ann Taylor, who manages activities related to districts of critical planning concern, encouraged the West Tisbury planning board to amend its bylaws to reflect the changes.
Several people argued that the Bangses have always maintained their portion of the road in the spirit of special ways, by encouraging walking, biking, and other public uses. “We have only asked that it be left as found by those who have come across it,” brother Charles Bangs wrote in a letter to the planning board in March.
The family has pointed out that the loss of legal access would lower their property values, and while they have no plans to develop the property, they have been saving it for their children and grandchildren. Paul Bangs is currently the only brother who lives on the Island.
Commissioner Clarence (Trip) Barnes 3rd, who lives near the property, said he was confident that the brothers simply wanted to preserve their property for future generations. “There are no surprises with the Bangses,” he said.
But several people were more concerned about setting a precedent for future special-way designations. James Lengyel, director of the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission, wrote in a letter to the commission in June that the truncation would “drain the special way designation here of its logic and coherence.”
“As with all special ways, the entirety of the way is crucial to long-term planning,” Mr. Lengyel wrote. “A lacuna in the trail will mean that the continuity has been severed.”
MVC executive director Mark London also had concerns. “The commission has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending the designation of various special ways,” he said, noting that he thought it was unlikely that the town would deny a permit for right-of-way access. “Agreeing with something that we have been fighting — and successfully — in court on many occasions over decades would seem problematic,” he added. He suggested not voting right away and seeking legal clarification.
Commissioner Abe Seiman also suggested delaying the vote, to allow the town to clarify its regulations. But commissioner Leonard Jason Jr. saw it as a more straightforward decision: “The planning board supported it, the town meeting voted,” he said. “What else do you need to know?”
Eight of the nine commissioners present on Thursday voted in favor of amending the designation, with Mr. Seiman abstaining. The 450-foot section of Old Coach Road may again be nominated as a special way in one year.
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