I am writing in support of Navigator Homes of Martha’s Vineyard as proposed on land in Edgartown.
The following letter was sent to the Edgartown planning board.
I am writing in support of Navigator Homes of Martha’s Vineyard as proposed on land in Edgartown.
I am not a resident of Edgartown, but I am a lifelong Island visitor and resident, primarily from Vineyard Haven. I have been active on the boards of the Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation (then known as the Permanent Endowment Fund), Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and Hospice and Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard, as well as having served as an EMT in Tisbury for 10 years. I am currently on the board of Navigator Homes, having agreed to serve because of my strong belief that the community of Martha’s Vineyard owes it to our elders to have opportunities for medical care for them here as they age.
The main opposition I have heard for the project is from people who live near the proposed site. They speak of increased traffic and lights and sirens; however, the 70 proposed Green House residents will not be driving anything other than their wheelchairs or walkers, and only around the gardens and grounds of the complex. Others will walk to work on site. There are few lights and sirens that come to nursing homes, for this is not an emergency facility. We anticipate that there will be occasional visitors to the residents, but there should not be much impact from traffic.
I understand people’s hope that their neighborhood will never change, but that is unrealistic. As our Island population increases, so will the need for places for them to live. If the 28 acres on which Navigator is proposed were to be developed into residences, under current zoning, I believe that the disruption to the neighbors would be more substantial than it will with these clustered buildings with substantial open space set aside.
One of the major and well recognized issues on the Island is affordable housing for our workforce. This project will provide subsidized rental units for employees of both the nursing home and the hospital. In addition, the hospital will benefit from being able to convert the space currently used by Windemere to expand primary care and specialty medical services to serve the community.
The Island needs this project.
I urge you to approve the plans.
Polly Brown
Vineyard Haven
Comments
Neighbors (like myself)
Devon Pope EdgartownNeighbors (like myself) typically would be the people opposed to such a project as it will be in their backyard and affect their quality of life. People like yourself, on the board of the company proposing to do this project, would be in favor of it. That fact should be at the top of your letter and not buried in the body of the letter. Are you compensated for your time as a board member?
Part of your argument is that this is a better alternative than if normal residences were built at this property. Unless you know something no one else does, that has not been proposed and its just a strawman argument. The town changed the zoning rules in order to allow Navigator Homes to even have a chance at getting this project, passed, something the town has never done before.
I will refer to my letter to the paper for my other arguments against this project but would like to point out that your traffic argument is misleading. The nursing home patients may not drive, but families visiting them do (from both on AND off island), the people that work there will have to drive into town, and the 60-70 professional housing units proposed at this site will also add to the traffic congestion as well, less than a mile from the most congested intersection on the island.
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