Citing pointed concerns about the financial stability of the Island Affordable Housing Fund in the wake of recent events, the Oak Bluffs Community Preservation Committee on Monday voted without dissent to deny a $400,000 request from the fund for the Bradley Square project.
Amid ongoing questions about transparency and possible conflicts of interest among its board members, the Island Housing Trust on Saturday agreed to draft new selection criteria for all future affordable projects, in the process throwing out a pair of bids for the design phase of the Lake street affordable housing plan in Vineyard Haven.
For the third year in a row, Oak Bluffs is facing another large budget shortfall for the next fiscal year — around $1.4 million this time — and town leaders are already considering ways to radically cut costs and boost revenue.
The Oak Bluffs affordable housing committee has hired a contractor for a project to convert the old town library at the corner of Pennacook and Circuit avenues into a mixed-used commercial building with a pharmacy and affordable housing.
Although project backers had hoped to hire an Island contractor to build the project, the lowest bid of $957,369 came from the Haynes Group of South Easton. The next two bids were $1,016,320 from John Jones, and $1,435,271 from Coastal Engineering, both local contractors.
Chilmark voters on Monday easily approved several spending articles, including a $2 million plan to build three rental duplexes on Middle Line Road for affordable housing. A light turnout total of 80 voters attended the meeting at the Chilmark Community Center.
The Middle Line Road article passed by a vote of 60-3.
A man deer hunting on Chappaquiddick Saturday morning was accidentally shot by a member of his own party, marking the second time in a less than a week that someone was mistakenly shot in a hunting season that has been marked by minor mishaps.
The accidental shooting last Saturday occurred just before 11 a.m. at a remote private property adjacent to the Cape Pogue Wildlife Refuge owned by The Trustees of Reservations.