Should there be a bike path on Chappaquiddick? The island has been mulling over the question on and off for 30 years.

And rarely has the bike path been as live as today. There is a committee. There is a Web site. There are scores of letters and over 300 official positions.

But no definitive answer is likely to be forthcoming in the near future, particularly now that a frugally minded Edgartown finance committee voted Wednesday against recommending funding a survey for a path with Community Preservation Act money.

In October the Chappaquiddick bike path committee submitted a proposal to the town community preservation committee (CPC) for a shared use path which would run from the Chappaquiddick ferry to the Dike Bridge.

The proposal calls for a survey of a 5 by 8-foot wide path made of packed sand and the construction of a demonstration path.

The CPC recommended in December the use of some $28,000 in CPC funds for the new survey, to update a 1995 plan, though it voted against recommending money for a demonstration path.

Then with little fanfare the Edgartown finance committee voted Wednesday not to recommend the expenditure.

When the subject came up during a meeting between selectmen and the finance committee on the annual budget selectman Arthur Smadbeck asked administrative assistant Heidi Boyd to hold up a copy of the 1995 plan.

“We already have one,” he said simply.

Though it was acknowledged that the new proposal had various differences from the old surveyed proposal for a paved path, the committee soon dismissed the idea.

“As soon as the design was done [last time] people began objecting,” said finance committee member Laurence A. Mercier.

The vote to not recommend the article was unanimous.

Ultimately, though, the decision to fund the survey will fall to voters at Edgartown annual town meeting.

Meanwhile, the debate continues.

The bike path committee proposal says that of 200 respondents to the survey, 70 per cent indicated they favored the concept of a biking/walking path.

Several attempts to contact the committee were unsuccessful.

Chappaquiddick resident Roger Becker who created the Web site chappybikepath.com to act as an information resource chronicling the correspondence and official positions of residents, said the issue resonates because it represents an age old argument on the Vineyard.

“It’s not just about an island divided,” he wrote in an e-mail, “it goes to the contradiction the entire Island of Martha’s Vineyard faces. Develop it or try to keep the original charm?”

On the site residents are registered as either against, in favor or on the fence about the path. This week the numbers shifted marginally in favor of those opposing the path.

Mr. Becker includes himself in the names listed as against the issue, and on a facts page he features observations supporting the maintenance of the status quo, path-wise.

A video produced by Mr. Becker and Bob Kimberly includes seven minutes of footage taken from a car traveling down the West Tisbury-Edgartown Road to illustrate the environmental impact of a bike path.

Arguments in favor of the path range from cyclist safety to revenue generation, while those opposing the path question the potential safety benefits and argue that a path would erode the island’s rural character.

Sometimes effusive, and often very detailed letters and e-mails from community members have been circulated by Chappy Island Association chairman Terry Forde over the past three months.

Letters from Timothy Leland and Dr. Siamak Adibi, respectively, argue that the Chappaquiddick roads pose little danger to cyclists and that indeed research shows bike paths can increase risk to the citizenry.

“There are studies showing that it is actually more dangerous to ride on bike paths across intersecting driveways than riding along the side of a road,” wrote Mr. Leland.

“Laying a sleek, smooth asphalt bike path on Chappaquiddick will, in a single stroke, destroy the rural pace of life that makes our little island so different in this frenetic day and age — and so special. Paved bike paths are magnets. They draw bicyclists like bees to honey. I have nothing against bicyclists, being one myself as mentioned, but do we really want hundreds of them coming to Chappaquiddick every week, racing back and forth to the Trustees reservation, the Fisheren’s Parking Lot and South Beach? That’s ahead, of course,” he also wrote.

Dr. Adibi, a longtime summer resident and cyclist on Chappaquiddick, cites Massachusetts Institute of Technology research on the subject of bike path safety to support his position.

He recommends that selectmen be urged to assign a police officer to enforce speed limits on the roads, posted at 25 mph. (There is some question over whether this limit is legal on a state road such as the Chappaquiddick Road.)

Mr. Becker is against the spending.

“A survey of the road that was done in 1995 or so shows everyone enough to allow debate about whether this is something Chappy needs or wants,” he wrote in an e-mail.

But some think there has not been enough analysis.

Resident Robert Fynbo, a longtime emergency medical technician, wrote in a letter at the end of November:

“I applaud anyone who puts forth the effort to make changes that could benefit many, but with Island politics as they are and the economy where it is at, the lack of information for this proposal seems curious to me.”

In a follow-up early this month, Mr. Fynbo questioned Mr. Leland’s statistics.

“As an EMT for many years and many more as a first responder with the Edgartown fire department, I have responded to a fair share of bicycle accidents (three this year on Chappy alone.) The most serious bicycle accident this year resulted in a woman being airlifted to Mass General from severe head injuries. In this case it was deep sand on Wasque Road as the contributing factor, not a motor vehicle. My point in this is that there are more dangers posed to bicyclists than just vehicle traffic.”

Mr. Fynbo goes on to describe the question as emotional and predicted that no winners would emerge from the debate. He is still listed as undecided.

No estimate of costs is made in the bike path committee proposal but it says that the there would be little expense beyond initial construction.

It also argues that a path would act as a revenue generator for the semi-private Chappaquiddick ferry, in the form of cyclist ticket fees, in turn allowing owner Peter Wells to curb price increases.

In a December letter of strong opposition Dr. George Mellendick argued that it would be inappropriate to use CPC money to fund a survey.

Until April, anyone interested in monitoring the issue in real time can go to chappybikepath.com/lists and watch the balance of supporters and detractors tip back and forth.By SAM BUNGEY

thirty R Rarelyduringin thesee three decades oofthat the debate f debate on whether to build a bike path through Chappaquiddick has raged since the 1970s, but rarely issuewn thecpCnservationeyb to the east of islandn- feedemonostrationeto the selectmen r and in the meantime u wuu path wiseRoger from fromlw r,s and demonstatring that the state forest path veers away and is obscured from the road. u regarding the path.

It might be surprising to some that a 5-8 foot shared use path might garner so much attention. But says Mr. Becker the issue resonates because it’s represents in crysalsis an ageold argument on the Vineyard.

It’s not just about an island divided,” he wrote in an email, “it goes to the contradiction the entire Island of Martha’s Vineyard faces. Develop it or try to keep the original charm?”

Now for the first time since the issue resurfaced, the balance has tipped in favour of not building the path.

Roger Becker a fulltime Chappaquiddick resident has created a website, chappybikepath.com, chronicling the correspondence and official positions of various residents.

People are registered as either against in favour onr on the fence regarding the path.

The site is not a truly objective source, It is not an objective as Mr. Becker freely admits, includesing himslelf in the names listed as against the issue, and on a facts page features observations supporting the maintenance of the status quo, path wise.

It’s a close race.

A video produced by Roger Becker and Bob Kimberly includes seven minutes of footage taken from from a car travelling down west Tisbury Edgartown road, to illustrates the environmental impact of a bike path and demonstatring that the state forest path veers away and is obscured from the road. The dramatic moment

Well over 50 letters

Lcommentary incircluatedHarvard professor ,--ma.- is against the path, having read iDr. Adibi ofrcesigned quesiton Be that as it may a battle cry for those opposing or ambivalent about a path is that has not been or public input on the issue-techinician (EMT)

“I’m hoping you will get more input from the public regarding this proposal before any scheduled meeting with any town board.”

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“I would also tend to take issue with the characterization ‘the same slow-moving rural roadways’ as the roadways here are anything but slow-moving and I admit that I am a contributing factor to this. I am not out to attack Mr. Leland on this subject.”

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“The CPA regulation expressly forbids damage to vegetation, trees and fauna. The intent of the CPA legislation is Conservation. Conservation of open space; conservation of communities.

“To waste $27,000+ for an unnecessary, superfluous, second Environmental Study, with the current economic conditions, in my opinion, would be negligent of the CPC as well as the Selectmen who oversee this Committee. And possibly illegal.”

The survey issue will be decided by Edgartown voters at annual town meeting.

People have been trying to get a bike path on the Island for over 30 years.

5-8 feet wide path which would alongside a main road through Chappaquiddick

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