Voters in West Tisbury will consider limits on large-scale events when they head to town meeting this spring.
The select board unanimously voted Wednesday to place a bylaw on the annual town meeting warrant after raising concerns about the number of large events and the lack of regulatory oversight.
If passed, West Tisbury will be the first town on the Island to have such a bylaw in place.
The bylaw would limit the number of large events any one person could hold, install permitting requirements and add additional enforcement language.
The bylaw was fashioned after the one that went to Edgartown town meeting last year. Voters in the down-Island town indefinitely postponed the article.
The West Tisbury bylaw defined an event as “a gathering or party organized at a property for nonprofit, educational, social, fundraising, celebratory, networking, promotional or recreational purposes, including but not limited to, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, reunions, and similar occasions, in which more than 100 guests are simultaneously present for a period of time in excess of one hour.”
A person can only host one such event a month, and no more than three per year.
All events would require a permit from the select board, and events in certain parts of town would not be allowed if the party included the sale of beer and wine, or an on-site admissions charge.
The discussion around events in West Tisbury has been going on for years, according to town administrator Jennifer Rand. It came to the fore in September, when the West Tisbury zoning board of appeals overturned a cease and desist order from the building inspector regarding a popular weekly music night due to a lack of clarity in town bylaws regarding events.
Last month, the select board also limited the Jewish Cultural Festival to only 300 attendees at a time after the event requested an allowance for 800 people.
Ms. Rand was in favor of adding regulatory language.
“The way that this has been done for 20 years is [that] it’s been a bit of a judgment call for me, and I am welcoming it not being a judgment call for me anymore,” she said at a select board meeting Jan. 22.
Originally, the idea of a select board regulation was brought up, but then town counsel determined the board had no authority to enact such a regulation, and that the best way forward would be to place a bylaw on the town warrant.
“I think we’ve had a great process through this,” select board chair Jessica Miller said at Wednesday’s meeting. “I’ve been very pleased with how we’ve moved through it.”
