Boys & Girls Club Project Passes MVC Review – The Vineyard Gazette

The Martha’s Vineyard Boys and Girls Club got a green light this week from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to proceed with plans to develop a new campus in Edgartown. The club still must go through town permitting processes as it seeks to build a 21,530-square-foot clubhouse with outdoor play areas and parking. The Boys and Girls Club has outgrown the existing 46-year-old facility, club officials have said, leaving many Island children unable to join.  Conditions of the 12-1 approval included making the Boys and Girls Club responsible for planting and maintaining a buffer of trees to screen the development from its residential neighbors, who expressed dismay and concern after much of the 2.4-acre site was clear-cut earlier this year. “This vegetative screening is very important [and] has to work,” commissioner Linda Sibley said, during deliberations Thursday night. Brian Smith voted against the proposal after arguing that the facility would be too large and, by attracting more families, would contribute to the suburbanization of Martha’s Vineyard. “We’re on the fast track to becoming Wellesley by the sea,” Mr. Smith said. Commissioner Kate Putnam said the existing Boys and Girls Club is so short on space that free food, which is distributed
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