A proposal to expand a historic property in Edgartown drew public scrutiny last week from neighbors who fear the additions could block one of the area’s last remaining views of the harbor. 

Residential designer Sasha Robinson-White, who represents the owners of the former Mayhew cottage property on South Water street, came to the town historic district commission meeting last Thursday to propose adding a wraparound porch, raising the height of the home, and building a pool, spa and connection to the garage.

The renovation would add 604 square feet to the property.

The home has been controversial with neighbors in the past when a limited liability company connected to hedge fund manager David Malm purchased the historic property in 2023 and floated several changes. Mr. Malm sold the home last year to Edward Jepsen. 

At last week’s meeting, abutters mainly took issue with the wraparound porch and said it would obstruct views to the Edgartown harbor. Many argued that the proposed features, such as windows and a dormer above the front door, were out of character with the historic property. 

“Although [the porch] looks nice, I think it’s a permanent, substantial diminishment of the view,” John Tankard, who lives on School street, said.

The historic district commission is charged with preserving the historical character in town and members said this application garnered some of the most robust public input the commission has seen in years.

“We received an 82-page document of public comment,” said commission member Susan Catling. “I’ve been on this board for a long time and I’ve never, ever seen that much participation and I think it’s great.”

The commission had mixed reviews of the plans and unanimously voted to postpone the hearing to Jan. 22.

The historic home at 81 South Water street is the former site of Governor Thomas Mayhew’s homestead. It was purchased by Edward Jepsen from Goldeneye LLC in November for $17.25 million and was the highest ever recorded sales price for an Edgartown inner harbor property.

The property drew similar pushback in 2023 when Mr. Malm proposed expanding the porch and building a pool with a retaining wall. The plans were scaled down and later approved by the commission in a 4-2 vote.

Mr. Jepsen said Mr. Robinson-White and contractor Gery Conover worked hard to design plans that preserve the view of Edgartown harbor. Before public comment, he said he was not willing to change much of the plan.

“I feel very privileged to be able to have this wonderful property and [am] committed to making this something that the neighbors, the town, everyone’s going to be proud of because it’s certainly been neglected for a number of years,” Mr. Jepsen said. 

Mr. Jepsen’s original plans for the house included creating a 10-foot basement but the piece was later eliminated from site designs. 

Mr. Jepsen said he would offer a no-build permitting restriction on more than half the property where the lawn is. Attorney Robert Moriarty said it would prohibit construction of any permanent or temporary structure if approved by the town’s conservation commission.

The historic commission supported the no-build zone proposal but members differed in their opinions on the designs. 

Commission member Cari Williamson expressed concern for the size of the porch, particularly on the north side where the view would be inhibited.

“This is an iconic property and this is a very prominent spot,” Ms. Williamson said. “It doesn’t need to look suburban or massive.”

Ms. Williamson said the connection between the house and garage, along with sliding doors, are suburban features not in line with Edgartown’s history. 

Historic district commission member Peter Rosbeck said the wraparound porch considers the view and concerns about vegetation near the porch would block the view aren’t able to be addressed by the commission.

“What this porch does is it allows us to have a visual channel through that end of the house where there is an existing bush or could be other bushes in the future,” Mr. Rosbeck said.

Mr. Rosbeck said he’d be in favor of the plans with more clarification about the no-build zone.

Ms. Catling was strongly against the proposal. She said the plans were massive, the additions aren’t in line with the history of the building and the commission  already rejected Goldeneye’s plans for a pool at the property due to its visibility.

“We have already denied the pool based on the fact that it can be seen from the Collins Beach area, from the Chappy Landing [and] from the harbor,” Ms. Catling said. “Are you saying that there’s been a change in the geography since 2023?”

“I still believe that the pool area is visible from several locations, so I would not be in favor of the project as presented,” Ms. Catling said. 

Member Byron Lynn said he didn’t have issues with the plans as presented and would approve it with adjustments to the porch.

Mr. Conover stressed that the pool, which is designed to be 14 by 28 feet, would not be visible to the public due to surrounding vegetation. He said he would give anyone $10,000 if they could see a tarp he’d laid out where it would be installed.

Mr. Conover also said that the porch would not interfere with the harbor view.

“I’ve been walking around all these yards for over 50 years, and I’ve seen, one by one, every single view get taken away and it doesn’t feel good, I’ll be the first to admit,” Mr. Conover said. “We’ve really tried to honor this view and preserve it specifically. I really think that needs to be appreciated.”

Debate surfaced over the plans’ windows with six panels over one, which many abutters argued were not historically accurate to the neighborhood. Some suggested using six by six windows instead.

“I think if you’re going to uphold the highest standards for this site, which is probably the most important site in Edgartown, you should uphold the standards of six over six,” said Jean Brady.

During the meeting, which was held over Zoom, Mr. Conover disconnected and later rejoined, announcing he’d driven around the neighborhood and counted several houses with six by one windows. 

Later Mr. Conover and Mr. Jepsen said they would be willing to change the window plan in order to get the renovations approved.

“If that was really [in] favor, I think we could just say that here and now, that we would switch to six over six windows,” Mr. Conover said.