The Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s executive director has declined requests from the Tisbury planning board for the commission to take up two controversial building projects, saying they don’t meet the MVC’s threshold for developments of regional impact (DRIs).

The planning board had asked the commission to take up both developments, a single-family house at 97 Spring street and a mixed-use property at 123 Beach Road, as DRIs. 

The projects have drawn criticism from the planning board and some neighbors; but neither rises to the level of needing to be reviewed by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, according to Adam Turner, the commission’s executive director.

“[N]o further action by the Commission is necessary on any of the … referrals you transmitted,” Mr. Turner wrote in a Sept. 3 letter to the board.

Planning board member Ben Robinson, who also is a member of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, said he is disappointed with Mr. Turner’s decision not to let commissioners weigh in.

“The commissioners could have voted not to concur [accept the referrals] and send it back to the town,” he said at an online planning board meeting Wednesday.

“Preemptive action by the MVC really took that voice away from what is the elected body that represents the Island on regional issues,” Mr. Robinson said.

Tisbury health agent Drew Belsky also sought a referral for the Spring street project because he expects greatly increased nitrogen in wastewater from the 9-bedroom, 9.5-bathroom house.

“It’s not in one of our endangered watersheds, but all of our water … goes somewhere on this Island. It’s not like it’s just dissipating,” Mr. Belsky said Wednesday.

Both properties are being developed by Island landlord Xerxes Aghassipour, also known as Xerxes Agassi, who works with Vineyard Wind, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and other businesses to house their employees.

The planning board, as well as neighbors of the Spring street house, say that Tisbury building commissioner Gregory Monka should not have issued building permits for either project without seeking review.

Planning board members have cited several items on the MVC’s DRI checklist they believe should trigger an automatic referral, including the demolition of a house more than 100 years old on the Spring street site and intensified use of the Beach street property, where Mr. Aghassipour wants to increase the number of bedrooms.

Mr. Turner, however, maintains that the projects do not meet the checklist’s triggers and were improperly referred to the commission.

“It is important that we take only items that meet our standards. We have a checklist for a reason,” he said at Thursday night’s MVC meeting. 

“If you have any questions, call me,” Mr. Turner told commissioners and the public.

At Wednesday’s planning board meeting, members voted unanimously to send the MVC a discretionary — rather than checklist-based — referral for the Spring street development.

“I understand that that is coming. When we get it, we’ll go through that process,” Mr. Turner said Thursday.

The planning board voted to handle the Beach Road project inside the town.

The controversy over Mr. Aghassipour’s developments is casting a harsh light on the Island’s lack of workforce housing policy. Only Edgartown has a zoning bylaw specifically covering employees. 

Neighbors of the Spring street house say they fear it is destined to be a dormitory for nine or more unrelated workers, despite a Tisbury bylaw prohibiting more than five unrelated people from renting rooms in a home.

But Mr. Aghassipour and town administrator Jay Grande both have noted that the bylaw is generally unenforced and that an unknown, potentially large number of individuals already are living in households of more than five without kinship ties.

“Tisbury cannot be inconsistent and selective in the application of zoning regulations,” Mr. Grande wrote in a July 23 letter to Mr. Turner and MVC housing coordinator Laura Silber.

“If … applied to 97 Spring Street and then applied town-wide in Tisbury, then I would be concerned about other properties and the displacement of individuals.  Where would they have to go?” Mr. Grande wrote, adding that he also worries about the economic impact on businesses if employees lose their housing. 

Although Mr. Aghassipour provided the town with a draft master lease for the Spring street house, he also says he has no confirmed agreement to rent the Spring street house to Vineyard Wind, General Electric or another employer for worker housing.

“We’re not necessarily tied to workforce use,” he told the Gazette by phone Thursday.

“I like to do workforce becauseI know it’s so necessary and needed, but that seems to be what everyone has an issue with,” Mr. Aghassipour said.

“There are plenty of other by-right uses [for the property],” he said. “If that’s all we’re allowed to do, that’s all we’re allowed to do.”