Master Plan
Tisbury Planning Board
Tisbury, MA
The Tisbury Planning Board invites proposals/statements of qualifications for Comprehensive Master Panning Services to help develop a comprehensive Master Plan for the Town of Tisbury.
Tisbury is a small town off the coast of New England on the island of Martha's Vineyard. Tisbury serves as the Island's main port of entry and only year-round port. As an Island Martha's Vineyard has an active seasonal economy built around its unique natural beauty and geographic location close to the centers of New York and Boston. Its presence has expanded beyond being a regional tourist spot to a world-renowned destination. Traditionally the year-round population has been involved in farming and fishing, practices that are cherished and continue to this day.
But as we rapidly approach build out, and face climate change we will need to develop a thoughtful and forward-looking master plan to guide us into the next phase of our towns rich 350-year history.
We are looking for a practical and actionable plan as we currently face many obstacles to maintaining a high quality of life for residents, both year-round and seasonal, as well as maintaining and diversifying our active economy. Plans will look to find ways to improve circulation infrastructure, and better understand density.
Housing demands, wastewater, and climate resilience are top order priorities we face. How we deal with sea level rise in our busy downtown and working waterfront must be addressed. The cost of housing has made it near impossible for regular folk to afford homes and find rentals. And the pressure of development on our natural resources continues, mostly unabated.
We will strive to develop a Master Plan that can address these key issues and others and build real consensus throughout the community about what strategies we develop.
Our community has been a willing participant and very engaged in many past planning projects over the years that will help inform this Master Plan development, and those planning projects will be informative and culminate in the Master Plan. Community engagement will be critical to the plan's success.
At the 2021 Town meeting the voters spoke loudly of the need for this planning effort and we are eager to begin the work to envision a thriving future for this small but busy town on a beautiful yet fragile island.
The RFQ will be available August 20th, 2021, at 4 PM and may be obtained by emailing pharris@tisburyma.gov
Proposals/statements of qualifications are due by October 1, 2021.