For the second time in less than a month, a sharply divided Martha’s Vineyard Commission voted last night to back the controversial roundabout plan for the blinker intersection in Oak Bluffs. With chairman Chris Murphy again casting the deciding vote, the commission deadlocked 6-6 over whether to rescind its first 7-6 vote to approve the roundabout.

The result was that the first vote stands and the roundabout project will now move forward.

Discussion was heartfelt and at times heated on both sides before a small crowd of about 35 people, including the Oak Bluffs selectmen, who are the proponents of the project, and the West Tisbury selectmen, who pressed for a regional review by the commission this summer.

Leonard Jason Jr., who led the cause to overturn the vote, began with a plea to his fellow commissioners to start again.

“I just think we’re sending the wrong kind of message,” Mr. Jason said. “We approved a plan that was 25 per cent complete. We approved a plan that didn’t require any traffic analysis. We approved a plan that didn’t require any environmental impact statement. We approved a plan that has a bike path that may or may not be moved. We really didn’t approve a plan. I think we approved a concept . . . I think we treated the state differently than we’ve treated other applicants. We seem to have granted them a great deal of latitude. . . That’s wrong; we should do our job and I would ask that you rescind our actions and perhaps we could reschedule and rehear it with all the information.”

Planning for the roundabout has been in the works for a decade, but many Islanders thought the project was dormant until earlier this year when suddenly it became active again, as Oak Bluffs voted to approve easements for construction during a special town meeting. In June the West Tisbury selectmen referred the project to the commission for review as a development of regional impact (DRI).

On Oct. 6, after lengthy and contentious debate, the project was approved by a single vote. Mr. Murphy cast the tie-breaker. Then two weeks ago Mr. Jason asked the commission to consider rescinding its vote, which it did last night.

Oak Bluffs selectmen Gail Barmakian, Greg Coogan, and Walter Vail and West Tisbury selectmen Richard Knabel and Cynthia Mitchell were among those in attendance, as the commissioners staked out their positions.

“At the end of the day I made a decision and voted yes on the roundabout and I’m proud of it,” said commissioner John Breckenridge. “I believe there should be finality in a vote taken by this body unless it is determined that new and important information was not presented during the public hearing process. To rescind a vote by the commission would leave us open to the impression that we could be influenced by arm-twisting, threats or even corruption. I’m proud of the hard work the commission has put into reviewing this project. We do not take our positions lightly. However, to rescind our vote without any new information would undermine the public process and the mandate that has made this commission strong and a protector of the Island.”

Commissioner Holly Stephenson criticized an unusual e-mail sent to commissioners last week by MVC executive director Mark London warning them to avoid talking to people about the project and not to read newspaper commentary on the roundabout. Calling the e-mail a “ridiculous letter saying stick your fingers in your ears,” Mrs. Stephenson said she read all the editorials and online comments she could find.

“I was intimidated,” said Mrs. Stephenson, who voted in favor of the roundabout. “I do not want to hear about the roundabout for the rest of my life. I would really like to not be in this situation. I do not want to be the enemy. I’m not trying to destroy the Vineyard. I don’t consider this to be an abomination but I consider it to be a traffic issue. I would much rather just be stuck in traffic and say, I told you so, than be considered an enemy of Martha’s Vineyard. I re-read the comments and the letters to the editor in order to possibly justify changing my vote, but I found there was no new information and no valid excuse for changing my vote.”

One commissioner who voted for the roundabout said he was ready to reconsider his position.

“On an issue like this that was so close it certainly wouldn’t hurt to revisit it,” said commissioner James Joyce. “By the time we voted it was 11 o’clock at night and people just wanted to get out of here and that’s not a good way to make a decision.”

Linda Sibley, who voted against the roundabout struggled with her decision last night.

“I’m extremely distressed how nasty the post-vote debate has been,” Mrs. Sibley said. “How personal and mean-spirited and threatening and town-against-town with the commission caught in the middle. I don’t know if I want to encourage that behavior by opening the whole process up again. Can someone persuade me that when it’s all over we’re not burned in effigy?”

Fred Hancock said the vote held implications for the commission’s decision-making process in the future.

“We’re all very passionate about the Island that we want to protect and I think the worst thing we can do is establish the idea that we can be intimidated by people who have opinions and will back down on decisions that we have made,” he said. “To me this is about upholding our decisions.”

Mr. Jason had the last word.

“I guess we were raised differently,” he said. “I was raised that if I made a mistake and was aware about it I better make it right. It isn’t a question of being intimidated. If anyone at this table is intimidated they should get up and leave because no matter how you vote you’re going to upset half the population.”

The roll call vote was as follows. James Joyce, Ned Orleans, Camille Rose, Linda Sibley, Christina Brown and Leonard Jason voted yes on rescinding the roundabout vote. Doug Sederholm, Holly Stephenson, John Breckenridge, Eric Hammarlund, Fred Hancock and Chris Murphy voted no on rescinding the vote.

Commissioner Brian Smith, who had voted against the roundabout, was absent from the meeting.