A week after a public hearing that saw the abutters of Nip ’n’ Tuck Farm in West Tisbury plead with the town zoning board of appeals to shut down a dirt bike track on the farm, owners Fred and Betsy Fisher have decided to shut the track down themselves.

“They pretty much forced us into it,” said Mrs. Fisher yesterday. “We would never take it away from [the bikers]; they worked so hard to put it together, they bought extensive fencing to try to tone down the noise and they hardly ever used it. I mean these people that were complaining were just way over the top.”

In recent months several abutters to the farm had come forward to complain that the use of the bikes and the noise from their two-stroke engines was ruining their weekends and causing mental and perhaps even financial distress. Town zoning inspector Ernest Mendenhall ruled that the use did not rise to the level of a public nuisance in November but was challenged. The dispute culminated in last week’s hearing.

The zoning board had not yet ruled when the Fishers made their decision to close the track this week. Mrs. Fisher said she felt badly for the bikers.

“I’m sure they feel terrible,” she said. “I’m sure they feel like the town’s turned on them and they have.”

She said she was surprised and disappointed by her neighbors.

“It’s a new thing that’s happening around here and I don’t quite understand it. We’re a small farm and we’re struggling to make things work around here, and we give when we can. And for everyone to gang up on you like that, it makes you feel very peculiar.”

In fact the outcome may have been the same no matter what the Fishers or the zoning board decided. At their meeting on Wednesday the West Tisbury selectmen agreed that a restriction placed on the property in 1986 when the state bought the development rights under the Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program prohibits the dirt bike track.

Town administrator Jennifer Rand told the selectmen that the matter is currently under review by the legal department at the state Department of Agriculture but selectmen Cynthia Mitchell and Richard Knabel said a plain reading of the document shows the obvious.

“It seems fairly clear that this sort of activity is not permitted,” said Mrs. Mitchell, referring to a clause that states: “No use or development of the premises other than for agricultural purposes may be permitted.” The town is at least partly responsible for enforcing the preservation restriction.

“I think the town government collectively owes the appellants an apology for this,” said Mrs. Mitchell. “This was an oversight. What we need to grapple with now, and fix, is the process that would bring this to the fore. This is a very important piece of information that should have been looked into upon the first complaint,” she added.

“I agree certainly that we owe the people in the neighborhood who have come forward to complain an apology because they have perceived, I think correctly, that they’ve gotten something of a run-around which I hope they understand was not intentional,” said Mr. Knabel. “Had the APR restriction surfaced immediately upon a complaint, which it didn’t, I think we would have come to closure a lot sooner.”

The zoning board of appeals is scheduled to meet on Feb. 10 to vote on the matter, but the issue is now moot.

Mr. Knabel asked police chief Dan Rossi what he predicts will happen with the track shutting down.

“They [the dirt bike riders] will be back in the state forest real quick,” Chief Rossi said. “That’s what’s going to happen; it’ll be just like it was before.”

In other business, after a rash of construction site thefts around the Island in recent months, Chief Rossi reminded the board of the police department’s home inspection program developed to help anxious residents make their home more secure. Mr. Rossi said members of his department are available at any time to inspect homes or commercial properties and evaluate them using a home security checklist. The checklist is also available both at the police department and in town hall.

“There have been a lot of tools stolen and we just want to make you feel more secure,” the chief said. “We’ve been getting complacent over the years. I just started taking the keys out of my truck last week.”

Mr. Knabel announced that the town had already exceeded its snow and ice removal budget this year and would have to authorize an additional appropriation that would be figured into the fiscal year 2011 budget.

The town has expended $23,107.10 of its $40,000 budget with $20,400 in additional invoices for services performed through Jan. 21.

And finally the historic district commission appeared before the selectmen with its recommendations for aesthetic improvements on the town hall front lawn. The commission recently brought to the board’s attention the fact that the large boulders used to keep vehicles off the turnaround median are not in keeping with the historic district.

“We’ve decided to keep it simple and have plantings around the circle,” said historic district commission chairman Sean Conley. “Low bushes, two to three feet.”