Editor’s note: The following is the full text of an Aquinnah planning board statement asking the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to designate the entire town a District of Critical Planning Concern:

Aquinnah and its history as an ancient Indian settlement typifies the essence of the Island, both geographically and culturally. Thousands of people daily during the summer season traverse the Island in order to visit the magnificent scenery and beaches of Aquinnah. This is the last truly rural outpost on Martha’s Vineyard; the magnificence of the ocean coupled with the human scale of the topography still evoke impressions of what the Island was a hundred years ago.

At its meeting of March 11, 1999, the planning board voted unanimously to request that the Martha’s Vineyard Commission nominate the entire town of Aquinnah as a District of Critical Planning Concern. This action has been precipitated by the current unprecedented development activity within the town.

While we have addressed the problems of development in the areas of Moshup Trail and the Gay Head Cliffs with DCPC regulations, which minimize the impact of construction in those special places, we are discovering that the same problems exist elsewhere, indeed everywhere in Aquinnah. Historically, the land was farmed and used for pasture; its unifying feature is the gently rolling landscape, similar from the southern beaches to the bluffs of Menemsha Pond. Without the protective covering of forests or woodlands, structures must be kept low and unobtrusive in order to preserve the beauty which has characterized this ancient Indian village.

Recently we have been presented with proposals for structures of huge proportions, both in square footage and height. The demand for massive houses with ocean views on interior (noncoastal) properties has created visual intrusions on the landscape; night lighting problems are exacerbated by the height and placement of the buildings; inappropriate materials and designs create houses not in harmony with the landscape. Virtually every request for a building permit requires special permits from the planning board, orders of conditions from the conservation commission and variances from the zoning board of appeals. In a tiny town, we are dealing with so many special overlay district regulations that each permit might require a whole special set of regulations, and still not provide for adequate protections.

In dealing with the town of Aquinnah as a District of Critical Planning Concern, we will be able to protect every stone wall, all mature trees, all vistas and all habitats and aquifers equally, without the burden of artificial and senseless boundaries.

We would like to have the time to be able to look at our regulations in terms of the new fashions in building and the unforeseen demand for investment construction as opposed to home building with which we were familiar.

With a single comprehensive set of regulations, the current kinds of development can be accommodated on an appropriate and friendly scale.

Aquinnah’s history of Indian habitation and the ties of the aboriginal people to the sea make this town a focal point for tourists on the Island, historians worldwide, and students of natural sciences. Its beaches are world renowned, but also serve as a backdrop for the maritime and fishing history in this area.

So much of the land all over Aquinnah has sacred significance to the Wampanoag people that it cannot be designated in one area. The legends and history of the land and its people are extremely important to the Island as a whole and fascinating to visitors.

We are in danger of losing the special character of the land, the gentleness of the community and the unique landscape unless we can guide appropriate development more effectively.