After many discussions and a public audience on food trucks, the West Tisbury selection committee finally created a set of regulations for himself regarding these suppliers in a meeting on Wednesday afternoon. Board member Jessica Miller did not attend the meeting because she had limited Wi-Fi access, according to West Tisbury Town Administrator Jennifer Rand.
This issue gained attention because the events were being denied permits for food trucks by West Tisbury Building Inspector Joseph Tierney, who made the decisions based on city zoning regulations. These decisions were repeatedly overturned by the West Tisbury Zoning Appeal Board and members of the public lobbied for better access for food trucks, leading to the development of a set of regulations on food trucks. based on existing ones at Tisbury and Wellfleet.
“We now have a final draft,” said board chair Cynthia Mitchell.
Board member Skipper Manter had several questions about the language of the final draft, which was edited by City Solicitor Michael Goldsmith. These included clarifications on where food trucks could go and enforcement of the rules, among other topics.
After reviewing Manter’s questions, West Tisbury Fire Chief Gregory Pachico asked if food trucks would need an inspection the day they operate at events.
“If there isn’t, my suggestion would be, as part of the application process – most of them would have a fume hood or fire suppression of some sort – I think they should show that it was inspected within the year and is current,” Pachico said.
Rand clarified that an applicant would need to collect signatures from relevant city officials, including Pachico, before council could “take action” on the permit application.
“You would then have the ability to make sure it was inspected before you signed it,” Rand said. “Just like the event permit, you sign it before it gets to the board.”
Manter introduced the motion to accept the final draft after a “two-minute speech” addressing potential issues the future may have due to current zoning regulations, such as where food trucks can operate, what which he hopes can be clarified by Tierney or the planning board.
“I think it’s important to get this sorted out as we move forward to rezoning to allow for some of that, and certainly, I think, in a limited way,” Manter said.
“We have a bylaw, we don’t have changes in the zoning bylaw,” Mitchell said after the vote. “It’s going to work.”
In other matters, the board unanimously approved a to guarantee for Secretary of State William Francis Galvin’s 2022 state primary. Voters in West Tisbury can vote for candidates for various positions, from governor to sheriff, at the Public Safety Building on Tuesday, September 6, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Early voting will take place at the Public Safety Building on Saturday, August 27 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Monday, August 29 through Friday, September 2 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The 41 poll workers listed were also unanimously approved.
The Board of Directors has unanimously approved that Martha’s Vineyard Animal Sanctuary hold its “Celebration of Animals” at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society on Saturday, July 23, from 2-4 p.m.
The board unanimously approved the hiring of ACG as the Owner’s Project Manager of Howes House, as recommended by the Howes House Feasibility Study Committee. Manter revealed that he was a member of the committee. West Tisbury treasurer Kathy Logue has been chosen by the board to enter into contract negotiations with ACG.
The board unanimously approved sending a letter written by the Coalition to Create a Martha’s Vineyard Housing Bank Coordinator, Laura Silber, asking Massachusetts State Senate Speaker Karen Spilka, D -Ashland, to second the amendments proposed by State Senator Julian Cyr, D-Truro and State Senator. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, at the Economic Development Bill pending in the state legislature. Cyr’s amendment would ‘allow a transfer fee to pave the way for MV Housing Bank’, while Comerford’s amendment would push for the home rule petition that Nantucket filed in 2016 for its own transfer fee. Silber said Aquinnah and Chilmark had already sent the letters.
In correspondence, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a public comment period regarding a proposal “to issue an amendment to the Clean Air Act (CAA) permit issued to Vineyard Wind 1, LLC (VW1) for the construction and operation of an Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) which includes an offshore wind farm and export cables.Comments will be accepted until August 10 and can be sent either by email to the representative of the Eric Wortman agency in wortman.eric@epa.gov or by mail to Air and Radiation Division (Mailcode: 05-2), US EPA Region 1, 5 Post Office Square, Suite 100, Boston, MA 02109. Comments may also be submitted to https://www.regulations.gov/. A copy of the notification is available at The Times website.
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