COMPREHENSIVE / MASTER PLANNING

In contrast to most of America where development takes place in a haphazard way with little advanced planning, strong regional planning efforts have played a determining role on Martha's Vineyard for more than a generation. With the creation of the Martha's Vineyard Commission in 1974, Dukes County gave itself the means to carry out comprehensive planning that would carefully guide development in order to protect the precious environmental and community resources of the Vineyard.

THE ISLAND REGIONAL PLAN

The Martha's Vineyard Commission is responsible for the preparation of comprehensive plans for Dukes County.

REGIONAL PLAN

In 1991, the MVC published the RegionalPlan [document not yet available online] , the result of several years of concerted community effort. This document—really a series of documents—identifies background characteristics and trends of the Island and sets out a series of policies for growth management. These policies are a key reference used by the Commission in reviewing applications for Developments of Regional Impact and consideration of areas of the Island appropriate for designation as Districts of Critical Planning Concern.

ACTION PLANS

Following the publication of the Regional Plan, the MVC published a series of action plans outlining specific policies and a series of actions for implementing them. These plans are:

OpenSpacePlan [document not yet available online]
TransportationPlan [document not yet available online]
AffordableHousingPlan [document not yet available online]

OTHER COMPREHENSIVE REGIONAL PLANNING EFFORTS

The Commission has carried out a number of other comprehensive planning efforts for Martha's Vineyard.

BUILD-OUT STUDIES

In cooperation with the Commonwealth in 2001, the Commission participated in the preparation of a Build-Out Study for each town in Dukes County. The studies estimated how much additional development could take place if all undeveloped and un-conserved land was developed according to the town's existing zoning. This entailed the collection of all subdivision activity over the 1990s, inventorying of the Districts of Critical Planning Concern and evaluation of other factors that may partially limit development. The release of the project by the Commonwealth in the summer of 2002 showed that Martha's Vineyard was roughly equally divided among developed land, protected open space and land that remained "developable." According to growth assumptions made by the state, given the towns' existing zoning restrictions, the Island could expect to increase from 15,000 year round residents in 2000 to more than 21,000 year round residents. One objective of the studies was to get towns to reexamine whether their zoning bylaws will direct the type and scale of future development and conserved open space consistent with community goals.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLANS (see Current Planning)

In a subsequent effort, the Commission was selected to act as a consultant to the six Vineyard towns to prepare Community Development Plans indicating whether the undeveloped land should be used for open space, housing or commercial development. (See EOEA.)

SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS (see Current Planning)

MVIP [document not yet available online] The Commission worked with a number of community groups to develop a series of Sustainabiltiy Indicator Report (SustainabilityIndicators 404K) , indices that would help the Vineyard community track its success in achieving sustainability.

SMART GROWTH AND THE VINEYARD

Smart Growth, or Sustainable Development, advocates careful growth management, a now widespread movement that to a large extent reflects principles that the MVC helped pioneer a generation ago.

SMART GROWTH PRINCIPLES

Smart Growth advocates:

Directing growth into existing communities in compact, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use, transit-oriented neighborhoods;
Preserving rural areas in their natural condition;

SMART GROWTH RESOURCES

The following are useful resources.

State of Massachusetts Department of Commonwealth Development
Smart Growth

WORKING WITH THE LARGER REGION

CAPE AND ISLANDS

In 2003, the Martha's Vineyard Commission joined with its sister agencies—the Cape Cod Commission and the Nantucket Planning and Economic Development Commission—to form the Cape and Islands Regional Planning Alliance (CAIRPA), to work for better coordinated planning in the overall region.

MASSACHUSETTS

The MVC is one of thirteen members of the Massachusetts Association of Regional Planning Agencies (MARPA) (see also the Cape Cod Commission regional planning agency). At its monthly all-day meetings held in Boston, the Executive Directors of these agencies coordinate efforts to improve planning, interaction with state agencies and technical services as well as to promote funding and legislative programs favoring the regions of the Commonwealth.

THE NORTHEAST AND THE NATION

The MVC is a member of the New England Association of Regional Planning Agencies (NEARC) and the Executive Director participates in its annual conference. The MVC works with the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC). Both agencies work to promote the interests of the nations regions and promote interests of mutual benefit such as ensuring that towns in the Northeast get their fair share of transportation funding.