The Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s so-called DRI checklist — which determines what projects go to the commission for review as developments of regional impact — is under pressure from all sides.

Targeted recently by businessmen and elected leaders who feel it is chilling commercial growth in the down-Island towns, the checklist was the subject of lively discussion this week — but not only by those who would loosen the rules for referring development projects to the commission.

At a meeting of a key MVC subcommittee on Monday afternoon, a board member for the Vineyard Conservation Society (VCS) urged the commission to expand the checklist to trigger MVC reviews for the energy-guzzling, oversized houses that are the sore point in the ever-present debate over development on the Island.

“It’s gotten to a ridiculous extent,” said Bruce Rosinoff, an Edgartown resident and VCS board member, of the Island’s supersized houses. “I realize this is an issue that the MVC has tried to stay away from, it’s a slippery slope, but the time is right now to take a look at this.”

The commission conducts a review of its DRI checklist every two years; Monday marked the beginning of the public review.

Mr. Rosinoff singled out one house in particular as an example.

“I think probably everybody in this room has seen the gigantic house on Sengekontacket Pond as you’re coming into Edgartown with the stone revetments in front of it,” he said. “Well, that’s an insult to the Vineyard. It’s a slap in the face to anyone concerned with moderation. More and more of these pop up every day and it’s come time now for the MVC to take a look at these.”

The 10,000-square-foot house is featured in the most recent Martha’s Vineyard Magazine Home and Garden issue.

The commission has grappled before with the question of whether to review as developments the large homes that have come to be called McMansions. To date, it has declined to do so, feeling that such review is outside its legal jurisdiction.

But on Monday Mr. Rosinoff suggested adding guidelines to the checklist that would allow the commission to review any new private residence of more than 4,000 square feet, or with a built environment of over 7,500 square feet.

“Our rationale is that such development should be presumed to have impacts that are of regional concern in one or more of the following areas: topographic alterations to the land, habitat fragmentation, nitrogen generation, water use, energy use, visual intrusion, light pollution, waste production, open space encroachment and scale in context,” Mr. Rosinoff said.

It was an unexpected opener for a meeting that was expected to see only arguments in favor of easing up on the DRI checklist triggers for commercial projects.

Michael Donaroma, an Edgartown selectman, businessman and former longtime member of the commission, called Mr. Rosinoff’s proposal regulatory overreach.

“I hope we don’t go down the slope of social engineering,” Mr. Donaroma said. “This is the board to consider something along those lines, but I think it’s a really scary direction personally.”

Commission member Doug Sederholm acknowledged the tricky nature of the issue.

“I’m not suggesting we should regulate the size of private residences,” he said. “I’m just suggesting that we have the power to if we found that it had a regional impact. If there’s no regional impact then I don’t think we can.”

Commission member Linda Sibley offered some historical perspective on sprawling summer homes.

“I want to do something that may be unpopular in this room and defend that poor house on Sengekontacket,” she said. “Its owner probably likes it and enjoys it a lot and I want people to ask themselves how does it really differ from the Victorian, we could call them, I don’t know, historical monuments or monstrosities on West Chop. This is a place where people have been building McMansions for well over 100 years.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Donaroma pressed the other appeal to the commission: to ease up on the DRI checklist for commercial projects, especially in the Edgartown business district, which he said is already well regulated by the town’s B2 master plan.

“I think the commission tends to scare the little guy away sometimes, I think that’s pretty obvious,” Mr. Donaroma said. “If you have a 2,000-square-foot business you have to go through the whole process of the fear of the commission, the extra cost of the commission. It’s difficult enough to go through the planning boards, local inspections, the ZBA [zoning board of appeals]. I just think in these economic times, loosening the DRI process is something to consider.”

Although she applauded Edgartown’s B2 master plan, Mrs. Sibley said she was uncomfortable with the idea of creating different standards for businesses in different towns.

Mr. Donaroma also took a shot at the commission’s comprehensive Island Plan.

“It’s a good plan, but I have my doubts that it really reflects everyone on the Island,” he said. “I understand that energy and global warming are important things to consider — I just don’t think that a little guy in Edgartown or a little family in Edgartown should be held responsible.”

The commission is currently soliciting feedback from the public and town officials on its DRI checklist and will hold discussions on the first Monday of the month for the next three months. After that, the land use planning committee is expected to make recommendations to the full committee for changes to the checklist that would be voted on after a public hearing.