Choose Granite Countertops in Tisbury, MA for Elegance and Durability

Walking through the construction zone of the Tisbury School on Martha's Vineyard, it is easy to see the vision that the project is building toward: Starting on the first level — which currently has a dirt floor, no insulation and an open-floorplan — the towering ceilings, grand windows and history still lend an academic air.

The goal of the $82 million project is to bring the school up to modern health, accessibility and environmental standards. It is intended to address space needs for current and future students, increase accessibility for students and community members with impaired mobility, and work to meet Tisbury's Green Community pledge by eliminating the use of fossil fuels.

But building plans also are intended to preserve iconic features of the original 1929 structure, like its brick exterior and tall, arching windows.

Construction on the Tisbury School has been ongoing since last year.

"Right now, things are going quite well, and we know we will come in at budget, but our hope is that we'll come in under budget," Amy Houghton, chair of the Tisbury School Committee, told the Times during a recent tour.

Houghton acknowledged there are another 12 months of construction ahead, the Times reported, so it is hard to say what the final cost of the project will be. But, she added, the building effort is progressing according to plan, and work is expected to be complete by August 2024 — just in time for students arriving for the fall semester.

School Rid of Hazardous Waste, Has Internal Frame Rebuilt

The Tisbury School improvement project is operating with a "Construction Management at Risk" contract. W.T. Rich Company, in Natick, Mass., is responsible for overseeing the building process and hiring all subcontractors needed for an agreed-upon, maximum-guaranteed price.

The first part of construction at the school site was demolition. Steve Brenner, senior superintendent of W.T. Rich, said his company spent approximately five weeks with its demolition contractor removing all hazardous material from the building, including lead paint and asbestos. The hazardous-waste removal was carried out by a third-party hygienist consultant, he told the Martha's Vineyard Times.

"One of our primary goals was for it to no longer have toxins," said Michael Watts, a member of both the All Island and Tisbury school committees on Martha's Vineyard. "It was a more extensive demo because we needed to do that."

He added that school officials on the island were aware of asbestos and lead in the building due to previous encapsulation work.

Apart from the hazardous materials that had made their way into the school, many of the original floorboards on the second and third floors were rotted, thinning and full of holes, Brenner explained. There also were some poorly fastened building joints, including a roof that was not secured to meet today's hurricane standards.

The good news, he said, is the building should last at least another 100 years after the new construction is finished.

List of School's Issues Carefully Checked

All the problems Brenner mentioned that needed to be repaired at the Tisbury School were on a list that he maintained, as well as the next major phase of the project: A new addition, which will house the cafeteria, gymnasium, locker rooms and a performance space.

"The old gym was basically a couple of squares of concrete with some wood posts on them," Watts said in describing the school's former indoor athletic facility.

He added that the gym only had dirt underneath it, but with no foundation; in fact, it was not even a regulation-sized gymnasium.

When the Tisbury School building was first constructed 94 years ago, it originally welcomed grades K-12. By mid-century, the island's high school kids moved to another location when Tisbury became a K-8 facility.

Reality Bested Nostalgia to Get Voters Behind New School

Due to the old facility's age and history, the people of Tisbury, prior to voting on the school renovation and addition in the last few years, had strong feelings about preserving the building.

"I think people had a lot of misperceptions about the construction and the quality of this building," Houghton said. "It had sentimental value, but as you get into the building, you realize it should have been torn down [much earlier]. We're honoring the will of the people and building it the way people voted on, but had people known how diminished the situation was in here, they may not have voted the way they did."

In April, there were about 35 to 40 workers laying the foundation for the new addition. Following that, work in the school's main building involved installing plumbing and new bathrooms. Today, the number of crews has increased as the work ramps up, with an average of 100 to 120 people on the job every day, Brenner told the Martha's Vineyard news source.

Walking through the exposed bare bones of the school, one senses that even in its current state, it has an historic and academic air. Among the things to admire in the light-filled structure are the Tisbury School's high, vaulted ceilings, its steel beams, fresh floors and arching antique windows.

The finished product will include classrooms off a central hallway, small "breakout" rooms where students can work in groups, and a sparkling new, three-story multimedia library accessible on every floor via its new elevator.

Until then, Tisbury School students will continue to learn in modular buildings set up adjacent to the new school's construction. The temporary structures are equipped for all seasons with heat, air conditioning, electricity, multi-stall bathrooms, classrooms with whiteboards and administrative offices.

The school also uses a small, outdoor-campus area with tables under a tent as well as a makeshift playground/outdoor classroom with short stumps that serve as both seating and platforms for balancing exercises.

When the school is ready for students, according to Houghton, the entire construction project will still not be completely finished.

"Once they are in here, we anticipate there will be additional work that will have to be done on the site, like landscaping and cleaning up where the modular classrooms were," she explained. "But our hope is to have them in the building for the start of the 2024 school year."

School Designed to Be Friend to Environment

Houghton told the Times that the goal for the new facility is to be completely emission free. In accordance with that, the school will no longer run on fossil fuels but will instead be powered by electricity and solar power.

Watts pointed to another green upgrade to the property: a 40-ft.-long, 30-ft.-wide and 12-ft.-deep retaining system for stormwater runoff from the school to help mitigate flooding at five corners downhill from the building.

The main drainage system tank is estimated to hold up to 107,000 gal. of rainwater. The massive cistern has been installed and will be located beneath the playground to collect excessive rainwater and runoff. From the retaining system, the water then percolates down into the ground.

There are also two smaller tanks — one in the front of the building, and a second on its east side — to assist the town with stormwater runoff.

Between eliminating the old boiler room, utilizing solar, installing the stormwater drainage systems and making the building as safe and energy efficient as possible, the committee is trying to meet future standards, the Times noted.

On the island, Martha's Vineyard's Climate Action Plan, "The Vineyard Way," has set a goal to reduce fossil fuels to 50 percent by 2030, and to eliminate fossil fuel use entirely by 2040.

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Updated Dec. 1

The West Tisbury Select Board unanimously voted to refer a request to fly a pro-life flag to town counsel during a Wednesday, Nov. 29, meeting before taking any action.

The request came from Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund director Robert W. Joyce. He wants the town to raise a four-foot by eight-foot flag, reading “pro-life, pro-mother, pro-father, and pro-child,” within the outermost circle.

Among several questions, Joyce asked whether a flagpole was available on public property in the town for the raising.

Joyce also stated in the letter that the pursuit was supported by a New Hampshire organization called Camp Constitution, which won an infamous court case against the city of Boston in 2022.

Boston denied a request to raise a “Christian flag” on a flagpole outside the city hall, but the U.S. Supreme Court, in Shurtleff v. City of Boston, overruled the decision in the Camp’s favor, forcing the city to allow the flag to be flown. Boston initially denied the request under the ground that flags raised on the pole constituted “government speech,” but the justices deemed this wasn’t the case, based on the history of the city’s flag-raising program. The court judged the denial a violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

Boston City Council later passed an ordinance that made flag-raising requests not a matter of free expression but of official government, city-endorsed expression, which has allowed them to veto controversial requests.

According to town administrator Jennifer Rand, West Tisbury does not have a flag policy.

“We talked about needing one a couple of years ago,” board member Skipper Manter said, adding that issues about flags will likely resurface in the future.

There are Island towns with flag policies. Oak Bluffs allows the approval of ceremonial flags for up to 14 days, while Chilmark allows only federal, state, and town flags on its flagpoles.

Rand suggested sending a letter to town counsel for an opinion. The board agreed with the recommendation.

Further discussion would take place after receiving an opinion, which Manter said will be an “interesting conversation.”

“Do they know they’re in Massachusetts?” West Tisbury finance committee member Kimberly Angell commented.

A poll conducted in 2022 by Suffolk University and the Boston Globe found that 78 percent of Massachusetts respondents said abortion should be legal in all or most cases. The Island also has many vocal pro-choice advocates who have hosted rallies against restricting abortion access.

The primary place that provides sexual and reproductive healthcare on-Island is Health Imperatives Martha’s Vineyard; officials there expressed opposition to the flag proposal.

“Health Imperatives enthusiastically supports governmental entities flying flags that affirm the rights of all; and we strongly oppose the raising of any flag that represents a movement to remove or restrict anyone’s fundamental rights,” Health Imperatives president and CEO Julia Kehoe told The Times in an email.

West Tisbury isn’t the only municipality that is receiving a request to fly the pro-life flag. Joyce told The Times on Thursday that the fund is reaching out to every city and town in Massachusetts with the request.

“It’s going to depend on whether or not the cities and or towns have a flagpole which is intended or used for a forum of free public expression,” he said, adding that the letters were an attempt to assess the flagpole status and positions of each municipality.

Abortion issues have garnered increased attention since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, and Joyce said his group hopes raising the flag will bring an opportunity for dialogue, such as on the science and morality surrounding abortions. “We’re trying to facilitate rational communication between people with differing opinions,” he said, adding that the hope was to develop public policy for a more “cohesive community,” that was closer to the “principles of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence,” through the conversations between “believers and nonbelievers.”

When asked whether the flag could be inflammatory, Joyce said he did not think so since the group was trying to promote “rational dialogue” about the rights of “unborn members of the human family.” But, Joyce said, the group also needed to grab people’s attention.

Updated with a comment from Health Imperatives president and CEO Julia Kehoe.

Tisbury planners have laid out a vision for a portion of the town’s business district, intending to enable a better flow of traffic, increase combined greenspace, and allow mixed-use commercial and residential parcels.

Their work was presented on Tuesday for the “Vision for Commercial Districts” event, which is part of the town’s master plan process. The presentation results from more than a year of community engagement regarding the plan.

Part of the event reviewed proposed changes to the B2 district, which includes much of State Road in Vineyard Haven.

Before detailing the town’s vision, officials and project partners clarified that no idea was set in stone, and that the master plan will continue to gather and incorporate public input.

Ben Robinson, Martha’s Vineyard Commission member and Tisbury planning board chair, stated that the event’s purpose was to communicate Tisbury’s current goals. “[This is] an understanding of the existing conditions, the issues that we face, and then an attempt to illustrate possible ways that we can think about resolving some of those things and improving the situation.”

“These conversations have been conversations we’ve had for years, and we’ll continue to have for years…These are really conversation starters in trying to capture a vision in the moment that we’re in as we develop the master plan,” he added.

Dillon Sussman of Dodson & Flinker, which is contributing landscape architecture and planning for Tisbury, highlighted that the B2 area has issues with traffic circulation. “The main thing to notice about the circulation is that you have this central spine of State Road, and then not much connection between the streets coming off of State Road. So that means that most of the traffic that is accessing business in the B2 district is coming along State Road, and then coming off and going back to State Road. There is no great way to circulate within the district for the most part.”

Sussman also shared the related difficulties of the many relatively wide curb cuts on State Road, for pedestrians and bikers. “From the perspective of somebody walking down the sidewalk, that means that the sidewalk is interrupted over and over and over again.”

Sussman also noted current frustrations for drivers. “You have lots of vehicles turning in and out of each one of these parcels and businesses, which results in probably more traffic delays.”

To solve these issues, Sussman recommended a more unified street network to the north or south of State Road, with fewer curb cuts. Toward this goal, Sussman supported a connector road between State Road and Edgartown–Vineyard Haven Road. Sussman stated that the idea was rejected at a town meeting voted down a decade ago, but he noted a recent change in opinion. “Through this process, the idea of moving forward with that connecting road has been discussed a lot, and generally it seems like people think it’s a good idea,” he said.

Sussman also said that expanding wastewater treatment in Tisbury, particularly for B2, would be important for accommodating future businesses and housing stock additions.

Regarding the need for more housing opportunities, Sussman recommended allowing mixed-use zoning in most of the B2 district. “Mixed-use in this context means mixing commercial and residential on one parcel…[this] doesn’t mean that every parcel is going to be mixed-use, or that the town is telling property owners that they have to do mixed-use, this is simply saying just allow mixed-use so that if property owners choose to add a residential component to their property, they can do so.”

With this possible change, Sussman stated that State Road could see more top-of-shop apartments, and that other portions of the district could allow moderate-size, multi-family buildings.

Sussman stated that any modifications seen in the presentation are subject to change pending public input. He also stated that zoning changes would accommodate uses of pre-existing structures. “Any zoning changes basically…allow existing uses and structures to continue. So preexisting uses can continue. And rights are not extinguished.”

Sussman also said that eminent domain would only be used out of extreme necessity. “Any diagram that shows changes of a property that we’re going to show…doesn’t mean that the town intends to take land, or force a property owner to do something.”

Peter Flinker, of Dodson & Flinker, then spoke about the possible benefits of consolidating parking and other uses behind buildings in B2. Flinker said that this would result in easier pedestrian use, and less traffic.

Under the district’s current zoning, Flinker stated that most land parcels are nearly built out. “You’re kind of trapped by that,” said Flinker. “You’re controlling growth, but you’re not allowing good growth to happen…And part of that is driveways and separate parking on each lot, which really is an inefficient use of space…There’s a driveway, and a parking lot, sometimes two driveways for each property, and then there is kind of a useless greenspace between one property and the next property, and then the pattern repeats. So what would happen if you combined the greenspaces and combined the parking? Well, then you have more efficient use of both.”

Flinker recommended connecting driveways across lot lines, and sharing parking areas in the rear of buildings. “Instead of everybody having their own driveway, you could share a driveway connecting the rear and have the parking behind the buildings,” said Flinker.

“The next step is to then take the space that you’ve opened up by eliminating some of the driveways, and add onto existing buildings, [and] redevelop landscaping in front of the buildings and to the side of the buildings,” added Flinker. “And what that does is really create a wide pedestrian swath along the road frontage…that is less interrupted by curb cuts.”

Flinker said that under this arrangement, drivers would still be able to park where next to their destinations. “You could still park right next to your building. You just go down the lane and around behind the building to get there.”

According to Flinker, eliminating driveways will also reduce traffic. “[Whatever] percentage of the driveways you eliminate, you’re eliminating those turning moments as well, so hopefully that makes State Road traffic a lot easier,” he added.

Flinker did note that this effort would require voluntary collaboration from property owners. “If somebody wants to just keep things the way they are, that’s fine. But if you had two land owners…if they’re willing to do it, and they see an opportunity to make more efficient use of the space, why not let them do that?”

Planners assisting Tisbury to develop a master plan say the town needs to make some changes to its government structure in order to thrive over the coming years.

Judi Barrett, of Barrett Planning Group in Hingham, last week recommended adding a new town hall department for planning and sustainability and changing municipal leadership from a town administrator to a town manager.

Ms. Barrett and colleague Jill Slankas, who are working with the town’s master plan steering committee to develop a long-term road map for development in Tisbury, spoke Friday at a public forum on town planning goals.

“If you don't invest in implementing your plan, it's not going to happen on its own,” Ms. Barrett told about 50 people who turned out for the meeting at the Tisbury Senior Center.

Switching to a town manager will make Tisbury's government run more efficiently, she said.

Under state law, a town administrator’s job responsibilities are determined by the select board. In practice, this means that Tisbury administrator John (Jay) Grande must seek approval for routine matters by asking the board at its biweekly public meetings.

A town manager has the autonomy to make day-to-day decisions without referring to the select board, although the board still has final authority over the manager’s actions, Ms. Barrett said.

Changing from one form of leadership to the other requires action by the state legislature, following a home rule petition approved by town meeting voters, she said.

All six Island towns have town administrators, though Falmouth and some other Cape towns have managers.

Ms. Barrett also recommended hiring a director of planning and sustainability for the town, which is confronting rising seas and other effects of global climate change.

“You really need these two positions in your town, one to kind of have an overarching view of how you're dealing with sustainability and natural resource protection, and the other … managing the shop,” she said.

Along with changes in leadership, Ms. Barrett and Ms. Slankas proposed a series of new town policies to support the master plan.

Participants in Friday’s gathering were asked to review the policies on easel boards around the room and add stickers to their top choices, with each person given six stickers to deploy across 28 policies.

More than two dozen stickers endorsed a policy to update the town’s zoning bylaws by making them easier to use and aligning them with the master plan.

Another much-stickered policy would develop a comprehensive traffic-reduction and parking plan that includes pedestrians, bicyclists, public transit and water transportation as well as automobiles and trucks.

Participants at Friday’s forum also favored creating a more efficient network of roads and paths, with a connector between the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road and State Road; using existing laws and new incentives to encourage housing choice; protecting town wetlands and waterways and developing regulations to cover demolition requests for old houses.

Write-in suggestions, on sticky notes provided for the purpose, included “Implement rules against business[es] buying homes for ‘Airbnb,’” “Encourage use of electric golf carts” and “Force Stop & Shop and the Post Office to move away from the waterfront.”

One writer asked for more time in public parking, while another urged restricting access for cars. Multiple write-ins suggested a public park or visitor center on Water street near the ferry terminal.

Following Friday’s presentation, a Saturday morning open house at the senior center gave Tisbury residents and business owners a second opportunity to weigh in on the proposed policies, which are posted online at tisburymasterplan.com along with a report on key issues facing the town and a list of seven overarching goals for the master plan.

Tisbury planning board administrator Amy Upton estimated that close to 100 people in all turned out for the weekend events.

The public feedback will be incorporated into the plan that Ms. Barrett and Ms. Slankas will bring to the master plan steering committee for approval this winter.

Massachusetts law gives the planning board sole authority over developing and implementing a master plan, although the select board has asked for a town meeting vote on the plan when it is completed.

Timeshares and fractional ownership of homes could be prohibited in parts of Tisbury if voters approve a new zoning bylaw drawn up by the town’s planning board.

The draft bylaw, unveiled earlier this month, aims to shield Tisbury’s housing stock from corporations like Pacaso and Ember, which market one-eighth ownership shares of vacation homes in popular destinations from Napa to Nantucket.

If approved, it would ban timeshares and fractional ownership in the town’s residential districts.

“It’s those commercial platforms and the selling of shares on the open market that’s the primary concern,” said Laura Silber, housing planner for the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, who joined a planning board discussion of the draft bylaw on Feb. 6

San Francisco-based Pacaso, the best-known of at least six fractional-ownership companies that have sprung up in the U.S., Mexico and the European Union, has already begun purchasing homes on Nantucket, where it claims to be unaffected by the town’s ban on time shares because it sells ownership shares, not blocks of time.

Ms. Silber said a Utah firm called Ember poses an even greater risk to the Vineyard’s already unstable housing market.

“Pacaso’s targeting more what’s called the luxury home, $5 million to $7 million properties. Ember is targeting a younger demographic, and they’re targeting more single-family homes in residential neighborhoods,” she said.

“This can become a driving platform for short-term rental investment properties,” Ms. Silber added. “I think regulating this now makes sense.”

Planning board member Elaine Miller agreed.

“I’d like to see it out there as a warning [to the firms]: Don’t jump in right now, because we’re watching you,” Ms. Miller said.

Along with the draft new bylaw, an online public hearing at 5 p.m. Wednesday will also cover several proposed updates to existing bylaws, with multiple changes to the bylaw covering businesses in residential neighborhoods.

The planning board proposes loosening the bylaw’s prohibition on storing business materials outside, as long as the stored materials are screened from neighboring homes and public ways.

The draft update also clarifies that only one commercial vehicle can be parked on the lot.

“A common zoning complaint has been a tradesperson parking multiple work vans or trucks on the lot and then workers report to the home early in the morning to get in their van for the day causing extra noise in residential neighborhoods,” the planning board notes in the draft.

Another proposed bylaw change strikes the requirement that accessory dwellings are allowed only inside existing homes.

Following Wednesday’s hearing, the planning board will finalize language for the articles it will submit to voters on the April 25 town meeting warrant, seeking to update the bylaws.