The towns of Edgartown and Tisbury were born as part of New York Colony, fraternal twins that on Thursday this week celebrated their sesquarcentennial anniversaries.
The town hall will get a facelift and Chappaquiddick a new fire truck as the Edgartown board of selectmen Monday approved bids for both projects during a brief meeting.
The town awarded a $540,000 bid to renovate the exterior of town hall to the Paul J. Rogan Company Inc. of Braintree. It was the sole bid the town received. The project, which will use Community Preservation Act funds, was approved by town meeting.
Edgartown voters made short work of the town’s business Tuesday night, easily approving every spending article on the warrant, passing a bylaw that requires buildings in the historic district to be kept up and voting to take ownership of the Edgartown lighthouse — all in under two hours.
Edgartown will be getting two new liquor stores, as the selectmen Monday approved seasonal all-alcohol licenses for package stores on Main street and in Nevin Square.
The 65 Main street store, Edgartown Spirits, will be operated by manager Barbara Courtney. Son Ted Courtney, who spoke on his mother’s behalf because she could not attend the meeting, said his mother planned to open a store with a “bright, welcoming atmosphere” that offers artisanal liquor and microbrews, as well as supplies for outdoor entertaining, including picnic baskets and kitchen utensils.
A few days after hanging the Port Hunter sign on Main street in Edgartown, new restaurateurs Patrick and Ted Courtney received a visit from an old-timer. The man showed the brothers numerous old photos of the space including one that featured the front of the brick building and a sign mounted on steel with white lettering which spelled out First National. The sign was almost identical to their new sign, down to the font size and style.
“It kind of came back around... It was nice,” Ted said. “We felt like we were doing the right thing.”
Edgartown voters easily approved $4.9 million in funding for a new town library, along with dozens of other spending requests during a lengthy annual town meeting Tuesday night.
With a gathering of 305 voters at the Old Whaling Church, town meeting members approved most of the items on the 63-article annual town meeting warrant and a 12-article special town meeting warrant.
Concern over traffic and parking problems in Edgartown’s historic town center has spread all the way to Boston.
To Northeastern University, specifically, where a group of transportation engineering students have tackled the town’s traffic situation as part of their senior project.
