Preservation of the iconic harbor view from 81 South Water Street, the site of Governor Mayhew’s 17th-century homestead, is once again before the Edgartown Historic District Commission (HDC). A public hearing on Jan. 8, 2026 will consider new plans for demolition, renovations and additions to the existing house filed with the HDC by Edgartown resident Edward Jepsen.

Unfortunately, those plans would materially diminish the last remaining public view of Edgartown Harbor from South Water Street. When this issue arose in 2023, town residents mobilized and persuaded the HDC to scale back the prior owner’s plans and, in so doing, saved the historic property and the iconic harbor view.

Edgartown residents must mobilize once again and urge the HDC to preserve the harbor view as it exists today. The new plans were described to the HDC as largely adhering to the prior owner’s scaled-back plans which the HDC approved, but the prior owner did not pursue, and the HDC was told Mr. Jepsen would take steps to ensure the view corridor would be preserved in the future.

As so described, the Jepsen proposal was welcomed by many residents. Closer examination, however, reveals the Jepsen plans are far more aggressive. They substantially reduce the view of the harbor the HDC protected in 2023; significantly up-size the house beyond what the HDC permitted in 2023; demand the right to build a swimming pool and spa without the HDC’s approval, which the HDC previously rejected; and covertly propose to alter the grade of the property in an effort to hide the swimming pool from public view.

According to a Dec. 15, 2025 letter to the HDC from Mr. Jepsen’s attorney, the promised measures to protect the harbor view would be undertaken only if the HDC approves Mr. Jepsen’s plans “substantially as presented.”

Moreover, those measures — a “permitting condition” to be included as part of a permit Mr. Jepsen would seek from the Conservation Commission to excavate and construct his swimming pool on environmentally protected land — would not provide permanent protection of the view corridor. Such a “permitting condition” can be terminated at any time upon application to the Conservation Commission, acting within its discretion.

Worse still, the proposed “permitting condition” would give Mr. Jepsen the unrestricted right to landscape and plant vegetation on the property, potentially obstructing the harbor view.

The Island deserves better. The HDC should engage with Mr. Jepsen, as it did with the prior owner, to fully preserve the present view corridor and implement true protection of that corridor for future generations.

Michael Hirschfeld

New York and Edgartown