Appendix A: Master Plan Principles & Objectives

  1. Natural Resources
    • Make protection and restoration of our natural environment our number one priority
    • Avoid sprawl and destruction of open spaces
    • Restore access to the town's harbor, beaches, woods and natural areas
    • Work to expand our inventory of protected lands and to make these lands a public resource open to all
  2. Cultural Resources
    • Maintain Tisbury's New England town character by preserving and encouraging its small-scale, tree-lined streets, historic structures and neighborhoods
  3. Municipal Services
    • Locate, design and maintain our public buildings in a way that will reflect the traditional quality and character of the town while accommodating new functions, procedures and technologies
      • Protect the functional and symbolic heart of the town by retaining non-emergency municipal functions in downtown Vineyard Haven
      • Relocate fire and other emergency services to a site or sites out of the congested downtown area
  4. Circulation
    • Make access to and use of the waterfront an important part of the overall circulation system
    • Promote alternate means of transportation: pedestrian, bus, bike, and water transit with an emphasis on pedestrian movements
    • Improve the road system by creating supplementary small-scale access ways to relieve the pressure on main roads
    • Avoid street widening; promote the connectivity of streets; avoid dead-ends and restricted access neighborhoods
  5. Housing
    • Encourage a greater variety of housing types (not just single-family detached units) in all parts of the town, especially smaller houses and rental units
    • Allow greater densities and more mixed uses in the business districts particularly for affordable housing opportunities
    • Discourage building in undeveloped areas
    • Be careful about increasing densities in settled neighborhoods
  6. Energy
    • Promote energy conservation and renewable energy technologies, both for the benefit of the environment and for their economic benefit to the town
    • See that municipal buildings, vehicles, and operations adopt the most up-to-date energy conservation standards and technologies
    • Use life-cycle cost calculations, not just initial cost, to estimate long-term building expenses
    • Explore changes to our building and zoning by-laws that will encourage more efficient use of our energy resources
    • Look for incentives to encourage more energy efficiency in our buildings and transportation systems
  7. Economic Development
    • Work toward a sustainable, year-round employment pattern
    • Bolster the seasonal economy
    • Look at the economic impact of new populations and new technologies on the island both as an opportunity for new kinds of businesses and as a revision of existing practices
    • Encourage the development of aquaculture and agriculture as part of a long-term sustainable economy. Consider their additional contributions as attractions to visitors and as preservers of the overall quality and character of the island
    • Recognize that the visual quality of the town is an important component of its economic health
  8. Area Plans
    Using the above guidelines, develop a series of detailed plans focused on specific areas of interest. These include:
    • Upper State Road and the Landfill area
    • Downtown and the Waterfront: public access, circulation, land use, zoning
    • Historic preservation
      • Restoration of the Waterworks Building at Tashmoo
      • Renovation of the Cornell Theater
      • Expansion of historic districts and/or designation of historic buildings
    • Tree planting and landscape-preservation strategies
      • Incorporate planting and landscaping provisions in the zoning by-laws
    • Expansion of our inventory of open spaces and preservation lands
    • Neighborhood street systems
      • Standards for construction of town streets and byways
      • Connectivity of street grids, access to public spaces