mvc

Hrdly a week goes by without an article about the Martha’s Vineyard Commission on the front page of this newspaper. Since my conversations with many Islanders indicated that most people aren’t clear about what the MVC is and does, this month’s article is a concise overview of this agency, so vital to the Vineyard. In 1974, Dukes County voters and the Massachusetts General Court made the bold decision to create the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and give it special powers to manage Island development. According to the Act of the Legislature that created the MVC (Chapter 831), “Martha’s Vineyard possesses unique natural, historical, ecological, scientific, cultural and other values.” These “are being threatened and may be irreversibly damaged by uncoordinated