An unprecedented proposal to designate the entire town of Aquinnah as a district of critical planning concern (DCPC) drew heartfelt statements on both sides of the issue from a small crowd of town residents last week.

“We need some time to explore our options, because right now the permits are coming in faster than we can keep up with them,” declared Peter Temple, a member of the town planning board.

“The trophy-house building we have to stop, before Gay Head turns into another Mattakesett,” said resident Elaine Vanderhoop.

“I think it is totally unnecessary — as far as I can see there is only one trophy house going up in town,” countered resident June Manning.

“I think this is haphazard and ill-conceived. And I think we have enough regulations for a small town,” said resident Marc Widdiss.

The remarks were a small sampling of the divided opinions expressed during a public hearing before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission last Thursday night. About 75 people turned out for the session in the historic Aquinnah town hall.

The DCPC nomination was made by the Aquinnah planning board six weeks ago. The commission voted to accept the nomination, triggering a temporary building moratorium while the commission considers whether to designate the district. If the district is designated, a one-year building moratorium will go into effect while a special town committee works to develop regulations. Exceptions to the moratorium may be granted by a special subcommittee of the commission.

The commission will vote on the designation by June 24.

DCPCs are special overlay planning districts with individually tailored regulations. Over the years many DCPCs have been created in an array of areas across the Island, from fragile coastal regions to historic sites to rural roadsides. Currently there are five DCPCs in the town of Aquinnah, including a special district for Moshup Trail and the Gay Head Cliffs.

This marks the first time in history that an entire town has been proposed as a DCPC.

“Aquinnah’s history of Indian habitation and the ties of the aboriginal people to the sea make this town a focal point. . . . 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,” declared the town planning board in the eloquent statement that accompanied the nomination.

At the public hearing last week, the town’s plea for help from the regional land use commission was unmistakable.

“Having the moratorium right now would be very helpful. We weren’t trying to avoid having a discussion with the town, but this is starting the process,” Mr. Temple said.

Some questioned both the precedent and the necessity of designating the entire town as a special planning district.

“What are they really looking for here?” asked commission member Michael Colaneri. “Are there things they can accomplish at the town level or are there really regional issues?”

Jo-Ann Taylor, a coastal planner for the MVC who made the staff presentation, raised a question about whether visual issues for interior properties qualify as a regional concern. “I don’t see that visual impacts are of a regional nature,” she said.

But two commission members from Aquinnah said there are regional issues to consider.

“There is the issue of clear-cutting up Old South Road which is visible from Moshup Trail, and that is a cultural area for tour buses — and there is no overlay district [for Old South Road],” said Megan Ottens-Sargent, a commission member from Aquinnah.

Jim Vercruysse, another MVC member from Aquinnah, said a 185-foot-long, arc-shaped house now under construction required no special permit from the town zoning board of appeals. He said the house is visible from the Vineyard Sound. “That is a regional issue,” Mr. Vercruysse said.

Town residents stood to speak for and against the special planning district in nearly equal numbers.

“I just hate to see these trophy houses being built, and it’s happening,” said Yvette Eastman, whose family has owned a large expanse of the area known as East Pasture for many decades. Mrs. Eastman said she recently gave a large section of her land, which reaches down to Menemsha Pond, to an Island conservation organization. “I just hope other people will do the same thing,” she said.

“If the DCPC is the only way the town can control some of the out-of-control construction that is going on, then I am for it,” said Elaine Vanderhoop.

“I hope we can keep the purity of Gay Head,” said Amanda Sanfilippo. “It still has a pond that is clean, and if you ask anyone in Edgartown or West Tisbury, they don’t have such good years for shellfishing any more.”

But there was also another distinct view.

“I am offended by the talk of trophy houses as the impetus for this,” said Marc Widdiss. “What we need on our town boards is a little more stringency in application of the rules — that is the problem.”

Some who spoke out against the DCPC said they fear it would exacerbate the desperate problem with affordable housing that now plagues Aquinnah as it does every other town on the Island.

“We need to make it possible for the people who have grown up here to live here,” said resident John Walsh. “I think the town boards have the potential to control the problems.”

There was one point of common ground, as people on both sides of the issue appeared to agree that the enforcement of town regulations is lax among the local land use boards, including the conservation commission and the board of appeals.

“I, too, hope that the town can say, ‘We can do it ourselves,’ but it doesn’t seem to be happening at the same rate that growth is happening,” said Miss Sanfilippo.

At one point after repeated statements about trophy houses, one person called out: “What is a trophy house?”

Mrs. Vanderhoop had an answer.

“A trophy house means living out of proportion to your needs — an excessive number of bedrooms and an excessive number of bathrooms,” she said. “And if that doesn’t affect the ground water in this town, I don’t think we know what we are talking about.”

Also at the hearing, Beverly Wright, chairwoman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), reminded the commission that it has no authority to impose new regulations on tribal lands, including the clay Cliffs, the cranberry bogs and the common lands.

Mrs. Wright submitted letters both from herself and from the U.S. Department of the Interior reinforcing the fact that any DCPC would not affect the Native American settlement lands in town.

Members of the commission concurred, and Mrs. Wright later expressed surprise that the members of the commission had agreed with the tribe’s position. She also expressed her personal opposition to the DCPC nomination.

“I think the town can take care of its own,” Mrs. Wright said.