A plan to apply vigorous environmental protections to five Edgartown ancient ways met with little opposition at a public hearing Tuesday. If approved, the measure would give Edgartown more special ways than the remainder of the Island combined.

Chairman of the byways committee William (Boo) Bassett is a driving force behind a project to identify and legally protect all remaining ancient ways in Edgartown.

“These are some of the most historic sites on the Island,” said Mr. Bassett, “more and more people recognize how important they are.”

The ancient ways proposed for designation as part of an existing Islandwide district of critical planning concern (DCPC) are Dunham’s Path, Quenomica Road, Three Cornered Rock Road, Swimming Path Place and Pease’s Point Way (not the road in downtown Edgartown). Three Cornered Rock Road intersects with existing special ways. The other four are clustered between West Tisbury and Meshacket Roads.

The ancient cart paths would be protected against development and would be opened up for pedestrian and horse access, Mr. Bassett said.

He said new development threatens remaining, unprotected ancient ways.

“We’re losing them,” he said, “we lost part of Swimming Place Path to [housing subdivision] Island Grove, that used to go down to the water at Katama.”

Mr. Bassett said his mother, Rosalie, was one of the Island residents behind the initial official recognition of the ancient cart paths. He has also lived near or on ancient ways on and off since the 1980s.

He chairs a team of 35 byway wardens who patrol the six currently designated special ways as well as every other dirt road in Edgartown.

The wardens can issue tickets for dumping and blocking and report to the Edgartown police. Mr. Bassett said thanks to their work, four dump trucks worth of junk has been removed from on and around the ways.

“We’re doing a dirty job for the police,” he said.

The ways border or run directly through many private properties. This is because colonial settlers used pre-existing pathways as an important surveying tool, explained Mr. Bassett.

“When we came from Europe we just used the paths that were already there and built around them,” he said.

Among the restrictions proposed for the special ways is a zoning restriction preventing future construction 20 feet on either side of the way’s centerpoint.

These five new ways would bring to 11 the total Edgartown ways with district of critical planning concern (DCPC) status. There are another eight under consideration by Mr. Bassett.

“We want every ancient way DCPC’d,” he said.

Five ways were given special protection last year, at a special town meeting which also saw the introduction of a more stringent bylaw to govern the ways.

Dr. Fisher Road, already designated as a special way, also received the new protection. The byways committee recommends use of the same law this year.

Partial vehicular use will be included for Quenomica Path which connects to the West Tisbury Road and Meetinghouse Way via Old Woods Road. The other paths will remain pedestrian, predicted planning board assistant Georgiana Greenough.

Ms. Greenough said that she has received only positive responses from neighboring residents, adding that the special ways proposal will be sent by the planning board to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) for approval and from there will appear for voter approval as a item at annual town meeting.

Mr. Bassett hopes to have the proposal on the warrant this spring.

“The biggest fear is usually that this is going to clear the way for a lot of people, but that’s not the case,” he said.

The designation of the last set of ways drew some criticism from one resident in particular who owned some 100 acres of land crisscrossed by the paths. But Mr. Bassett said he does not anticipate a similar conflict this year.

“People want to keep them more and more,” he said. “The secret is PR.”