Affordable housing gets cool reception on Vineyard

Residents agree it's essential, but worry about land values

Vineyard resident Greg Blaine opposes the Cozy Hearth project. (Julia Cumes for The Boston Globe)

EDGARTOWN - Islanders were outraged when a wealthy summer resident clear cut land last year next to an affordable housing development so he could land his helicopter.

But another fight brewing on Martha's Vineyard is not about the excesses of the rich in their summer houses. This one pits year-round residents against one another.

On one side is Bill Bennett, a Vineyard electronics contractor, who raised $1 million to buy land on the island's southern edge to build 11 houses costing $350,000 each - about half the island's median house price - so his employees and family can afford their first homes. Opposing the project, Cozy Hearth, are its neighbors whose understanding of how badly the Vineyard needs affordable housing to retain the island's working class is as keen as their desire to protect their privacy and property values.

"I was a working guy. I know we need workers," said Geoffrey Patterson, a building contractor who said he stretched financially in 1994 to buy his property, which is adjacent to Bennett's proposed project. "I don't want 11 houses in my backyard - I don't care if it's Jay Leno."

Fights over affordable housing on the Vineyard are different from disputes in other places, where such projects can improve blighted neighborhoods. On the island, where land costs start at $500,000 an acre, opponents often object because such projects can bring down property values.

Bennett's plan for Cozy Hearth, a nonprofit development, were initially approved in 2005 by the Martha's Vineyard Commission, a planning agency that extracted unusual concessions. It required Bennett to install composting toilets to reduce sewer run-off to nearby Oyster Pond. It also increased the number of houses set aside as affordable from three to eight, far exceeding state law, which requires one-quarter of houses in a project be affordable.

Bennett agreed to give three houses to Edgartown to award to residents as affordable. Another three would be for construction of market-rate houses: One for Bennett, who plans to give his property away; one for his father-in-law; and one for a Canadian doctor whose family lives on the island, he said.

The remaining five would go to family and friends of Bennett, who could not earn a profit when they resell them to another family. To qualify, they must earn less than 150 percent of the island's median income, or about $108,000.

"We did that so teachers and firefighters could qualify," he said about the income limit.

One of his employees, Wagner Pereira, a computer technician, and his wife, Hannah, a horse trainer, invested $30,000 to secure a house. Her family lives on the island, but the couple, both in their late 20s, are barely scraping by on combined wages of $72,000. If they don't get a house, they may leave the island.

The financial strain on year-round residents worsens every year on the island, where goods are more expensive because they must be ferried over. A recent study said islanders' cost of living is 57 percent higher than the national average.

Pat Manning, director of the Island Affordable Housing Fund, said working people are often forced to leave. His agency supported Cozy Hearth and would provide buyers for the houses if it's completed.

"We have lists of people qualified and ready to buy," he said. "They are days, weeks from having to leave the island and taking their knowledge and skills away."

Year-round residents like Gregory Blaine oppose the project. Blaine said seven houses would abut 5.5 acres he inherited from his father, a metal sculptor whose art decorates the property. Blaine's land is worth millions, but he runs a welding business and had to borrow money to build his home on it. Walking the property in dusty work boots, he points to a hill where his father used to rent spots to hippie campers. Beyond, red flags mark Cozy Hearth's property line.

"I don't want to feel like I'm in the city," he said.

Edgartown's zoning board, which is in a legal battle with Bennett, has backed neighbors of the planned development along Watcha Path, a one-lane, pre-Colonial road off West Tisbury Road that leads into the neighborhood.

The board has approved other affordable projects. But two years ago, Edgartown's zoning board rejected Bennett's request to build 11 houses and gave him permission for nine. Bennett said nine houses would increase prices so much the people he is trying to help could not afford them. He won his appeal in Massachusetts Housing Court.

In May, Edgartown selectmen appealed the case to the Duke's County Superior Court, said town lawyer Ronald Rappaport. The zoning board said Cozy Hearth would endanger Oyster Pond and create dangerous traffic conditions on Watcha Path. It also violates the area's zoning, which is agricultural and allows one home per three acres.

"This is one of the rare fights we have that is not about wealth," Rappaport said. "It's about density, density, density."

As Bennett's legal fight drags on, the cost of the houses has increased. He initially estimated each would cost $165,000 in 2002. Rising legal, construction, and other costs have roughly doubled the prices to $350,000, he said. Some participants dropped out, and Bennett plans to sell their stakes.

Bennett is hopeful for a court decision this fall but recently put the property up for sale in case he loses. If Cozy Hearth isn't built on that land, he said "the alternative is a trophy house with a pool."

Kimberly Blanton can be reached at blanton@globe.com.