Huge Housing Plan Moves Toward MVC

Affordable Housing Project Is Pushed by Golf Developer and Partner in Oak Bluffs Woodlands

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Against a backdrop of quiet maneuvers to develop yet another plan for a private luxury golf club in the southern woodlands, a massive affordable housing project planned for the same property in Oak Bluffs is now on track for review by the Martha's Vineyard Commission.

Three weeks ago, West Tisbury selectmen demanded concessions and route changes, seeking to reduce the impact of transit buses on their historic town center.

An insect species never before recorded on Martha's Vineyard has attacked spruce trees Islandwide, damaging many and even killing a few, say area scientists and tree experts.

The pest was identified this month as a Spruce aphid (elatobium abietinum) by a cooperative effort of scientists at the University of Massachusetts.

Harbor Festival Sets Stage for Summer

By ALEXIS TONTI

There is no single event that signals the start of summer on the Island. Something different moves each person to say the season is finally here: the ripening of strawberries and sweet peas, the first farmers' market or maybe the first true beach day. That something could also be the Oak Bluffs Harbor Festival. Falling the day after the official start of summer, the festival's timing qualifies it as another sign of the season.

The Martha's Vineyard Commission backed away Thursday night from a push to redraw the Vineyard Golf Club's Island membership plan.

Union Wins Key Election to Represent Employees at Community Services

By MANDY LOCKE

Hospital Workers Union gained a seat at the negotiation table at Martha's Vineyard Community Services Thursday evening after two-thirds of Island Counseling Center and Visiting Nurse Service professional employees voted the union into the health and human service agency during the closely watched election.