Two commercial bay scallopers in Aquinnah are facing punishment for fishing without a permit in November. Selectmen voted at their Dec. 14 meeting to fine George Baird $200 for scalloping two days on Menemsha Pond without a license, but referred a complaint against Wilde Whitcomb to town counsel.
Mr. Baird said he did not have the money to apply for the $200 license until after he collected on his harvest, but the check is now in the hands of
Continue reading Aquinnah Sanctions Scallopers Without Permits, Debates Costs…
From: Angela Cywinski <aqassess@comcast.net> Subject: Press Release
In a continuing effort to improve the flow of information to residents and taxpayers, Aquinnah’s Board of Assessors found a company to provide an important and necessary service for hosting the Town On-Line GIS Mapping Program. The Board is pleased to present Cartographic Associates, Inc. (CAI) of Littleton, NH, which developed the program that offers expanded functionality, a single point of access to assessing data, property information, advanced mapping and aerial
Continue reading Aquinnah Launches New On-Line Tax & GIS Mapping Program…
At a special town meeting this coming Tuesday night, Aquinnah voters will be asked to buy land for a new affordable housing site and approve a new tax amnesty program, among other things.
Moderator Michael Hebert will preside over the special session that begins at 7 p.m. in the old town hall. There are nine articles on the warrant.
The community preservation committee is asking voters to approve borrowing $240,000 to buy a 6.3-acre parcel of land at 45 State
Continue reading Affordable Housing Site Focus of Aquinnah Town Meeting…
The decision to build land-based wind turbines on Wampanoag Tribe land in Aquinnah will likely come down to three factors: aesthetics, acoustics and economics.
The results of a wind feasibility study unveiled at the tribal administration building in Aquinnah last Friday showed that while turbines could deliver big environmental and economic benefits in an area with wind resources it characterized as “superb,” it could come at a cost to the scenic and acoustic values in town.
Backed by grant
Continue reading Sight, Sound, Savings: Tribe Weighs Issues on Wind Turbines…
A study of wind energy feasibility concludes that vigorous winds blow over the tribal lands of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), and if they are harnessed they could provide the tribe with financial and environmental benefits.
Potential locations for a wind turbines studied in a feasibility study commissioned by the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) Photo
Continue reading Wampanoags evaluate wind power on tribal lands…
The state Department of Public Utilities is expected to decide this week whether the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm is a good deal for consumers.
Cape Wind and National Grid had asked for a decision by today but sources with knowledge of the proceedings said the agency’s ruling is likely to come later in the week.
The DPU first took up the question of whether Cape Wind is cost-effective after National Grid agreed in May to buy half the
Continue reading State set to flip switch on wind deal…
The Aquinnah selectmen voted this week to approve a conservation restriction for newly-acquired property by the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation on Menemsha Pond.
The 5.8-acre parcel abuts land that Yvette Eastman gave to the foundation over a period of years. The foundation has purchased a restriction on the property for $300,000 with a view easement on land next door. The restriction means the property will remain open and undeveloped forever.
“It’s exciting because it adds to the holdings of this area,”
Continue reading Conservation Grows on Menemsha Pond…
From the Vineyard Conservation Society:
The most important, longest running, and most costly campaign in the Vineyard Conservation Society’s 45-year history involves environmental legal defense at Moshup Trail. The lawsuit isn’t over, but we have registered a significant win, described in this issue of the Almanac.
This IS NOT the end of the need for funding for VCS land protection generally or for our work at Moshup Trail specifically. In fact, this should be the stimulus for giving more, and
Continue reading A Victory for Moshup…
This week, Aquinnah town officials said they plan to take steps to clean up scores of plastic mesh bags used to raise oysters. The bags now litter the western shoreline of Menemsha Pond.
The bags, most of them derelict, make a final footnote to an ambitious project to raise oysters that began with the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) in 2002.
For years, rafts of tribe-owned black bags and a work barge floating in Menemsha Pond generated complaints from
Continue reading Aquinnah will pay to clean up failed oyster farming operation…
In the summer of 2004, two teams of Air Force reservists traveled from their home base, Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Aquinnah to begin erecting the steel frame for a new community center building for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head.
The Wampanoag Community Center remains unfinished, six years after Air Force construction units completed most of
Continue reading Wampanoag Community Center sits unfinished, unused…
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) last week removed brush it had placed to block a path opposite Clay Pit Road, that gave access to Lobsterville Beach. The tribe’s action followed a meeting August 9, between a representative of the town’s three-member board of selectmen, Aquinnah town counsel, and the tribal council.
The blocked path had threatened to become a line in the sand over which the limits of the 1983 settlement agreement that led to federal recognition
Continue reading Tribe reopens Clay Pit path with call for dialog…
In December 2004, the state Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) is subject to local enforcement of zoning regulations with respect to the construction of a small shed on the so-called Cook Lands.
The dispute centered on the language of the 1983 settlement agreement between the town, the state, the tribe, and the non-resident taxpayers of what was then Gay Head. That agreement, which was at the heart of the lawsuit that consumed
Continue reading Editorial : Town-tribe relations may need to add a kind of Bill of Rights…
A sandy path to Lobsterville Beach in Aquinnah has been reopened to the public, halting, at least for now, a contentious land-use battle between the town and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).
In a letter to the Aquinnah selectmen dated Aug. 12, tribal council chairman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais confirmed that the path would be reopened.
“The tribal council will permit the town temporary foot access across the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) Trust Lands on a designated path
Continue reading Tribe Opens Lobsterville Path But Stresses Access Is Temporary…
The Massachusetts Land Court has upheld the town of Aquinnah in a pivotal case that will ultimately decide whether a large swath of rare, salt-blasted coastal heathland along Moshup Trail remains forever wild or is opened up for development. Click here to read the decision as a PDF.
In a decision issued August 12, the land court ruled that Bear Realty Trust and a group of other landowners do not have access to some 30 acres of landlocked
Continue reading Moshup Trail: No Easements…
The annual Aquinnah/Gay Head Community Association Reception will be held at the Vanderhoop Homestead on Aquinnah Town Circle this evening, August 16, starting at 5 p.m.
Richard Skidmore, who with his wife Joan LeLacheur, has been “in charge of” maintaining the Gay Head Lighthouse for 20 years will be our speaker. Richard will be talking about the Light’s history, its fragile location and its future.
As usual, the Reception is free (although donations to help defray its expenses will be cheerfully received). We will be
Continue reading AGHCA RECEPTION THIS EVENING, MONDAY AUGUST 16…
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