DRI Documents

• The DRI Process - Overview of the review process
• DRI Checklist (Version 15) - Effective January 1, 2026
• Historic Inventory Dashboard - To aid in identifying buildings that are over 100 years old. How-to Video
• DRI Referral Form (Version 15)
• The DRI Application (Guidance) 
• DRI Application Form
• DRI Procedures - Official procedures for DRI review, approved Jan. 2022

DRI Policies

The MVC has adopted policies that cover a broad range of issues, to help applicants and members of the public understand how it evaluates proposed Developments of Regional Impact. These policies serve to:

1. Outline the Commission's general goals and objectives for each topic, as well as providing specific criteria and guidance that the Commission believes will further its goals and objectives.
2. Reflect MVC practices in reviewing subdivisions and developments over the past generation; they are generally a good indication of the Commission's concerns.
3. Assist applicants in designing projects and preparing proposals that address the Commission's concerns.

Built Environment Policy
Deals with historic preservation, community character, universal access, green building, impacts on abutters, building resilience, and archaeology.

Coastal Flood Risk Policy
Intended to protect public health and safety by minimizing human suffering, loss of life and property, and natural resource damage resulting from storms, flooding, erosion, and relative sea-level rise.

Energy Policy
Aims to:

• Reduce or eliminate the consumption of fossil fuels, and the emission of greenhouse gases, associated with DRIs.
• Maximize the energy efficiency of DRI buildings, parking lots, and other structures.
• Improve energy resilience.

Historic Preservation Policy
Establishes guidelines that the Commission uses to evaluate proposed demolitions of historic structures and other structures of cultural significance that are either mandatory DRI referrals or those requiring concurrence.

Housing Policy
Applies to all projects that are likely to generate an incremental need for affordable/attainable housing, and seeks to ensure that new residential and commercial developments do not further exacerbate the existing housing problem. Lays out the criteria that the MVC uses to calculate certain probable effects a development may have on the affordability of housing on the Island.

Open Space Preservation Policy
Applies to all subdivisions as well as developments on parcels greater than three acres, and calls for setting aside certain portions of most of these properties as permanently protected open space. View the Open Space Guideline Map (effective as of 3/7/2024).

Site Design and Landscape Policy
Basic guidance about the layout of the development in relation to the property, and about landscaping and lighting. (See also the Polly Hill Arboretum Plant Selection Guide, Plant Local MV, and Dukes County Community Wildfire Protection Plan.)

Water Quality Policy
Aims to ensure that new projects do not cause excessive nitrogen loading and further deterioration of water quality in the Vineyard’s fragile coastal ponds. Also deals with freshwater ponds, groundwater, and large water withdrawals.

DRI Compliance Procedures
For cases where an approved DRI is not in compliance with the conditions of the MVC decision, or in cases where a project triggers the DRI Checklist but has not been referred to the MVC for review.

Additional Guidance

Materials Guidance
Guidance to DRI applicants, commissioners, and the public in regard to the selection of responsible building materials. Specifies preferred and discouraged material types and building practices, and serves as an educational resource in regard to material safety.

Other Helpful Documents

The MVC encourages all applicants and potential applicants to review the following documents provided by Cape Light Compact and Mass Save:

• Residential Construction Energy Efficiency Incentives
• Low-Rise Residential Construction Program Offers
• All-Electric Incentives for Residential Construction
• New Construction or Major Renovation Energy Efficiency Incentives

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