There are signs of life in downtown Edgartown: Two new dining options received the green light Wednesday night.

The zoning board of appeals approved Patrick Courtney’s proposal to open a 49-seat seafood restaurant at 55 Main street, the former In the Woods store, and Bryan MacPhail’s proposal to serve food and ice cream from a take-out window on Dock street.

Both establishments will have outdoor seating and are expected to open this summer.

Mr. Courtney said he hopes to open the seasonal restaurant at 55 Main street by May 17, with hours of operation from 11 a.m. to last call at 12:30 a.m. A sample menu features mostly seafood options, including local oysters, lobster rolls, whole roasted fish with salsa verde and charbroiled sea scallops.

Restaurant plans call for four two-person tables on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, two on each side of the door.

A semi-open kitchen would be built in the rear of the space, and the basement will have a prep area and dish-washing station.

The proposal drew five letters of opposition from abutters, who voiced concerns about noise, trash, cooking odors, crowds lingering after the restaurant closes and pest control problems steps away from their homes.

“We know we moved into a business district; we bought into it, literally. We love living there. We’re very happy with the lively, convenient nature of being downtown,” said Janet Heath, who lives at 25 North Summer street and said her quality of life would be diminished by the proposal. “We never imagined that a restaurant would be going into that space . . . it’s really the idea of the restaurant and all of the trappings and challenges that go along with it, with very little buffer between their business and our residences.”

Mr. Courtney offered plans to address the concerns, including putting a new exhaust unit on the roof, offering to build a half-wall to block the exhaust unit from neighbors, coordinating trash pick-up with the Second Hand Store across North Summer street, and repairing open areas under nearby buildings to diminish the presence of skunks and rats. He said the staff will make every effort to encourage patrons not to loiter on the street and to leave immediately after the restaurant closes.

Several members of the business community wrote letters of support for their proposal. Mr. Courtney, and those who supported the restaurant, said Main street has few full-service restaurants and mid-price-range eating options.

In a letter to the board, Maggie White, the head of the Edgartown board of trade, said she was “delighted” by the idea of an “authentic Vineyard dining experience on Main street . . . this town needs more reasonably priced restaurants serving local food, and their approach is fresh and fun.”

The meeting included reminiscence about the brick building, which was built in the 1930s and has housed a full service market (including a butcher shop), a tackle shop, and, for 27 years, the wood shop In the Woods, which closed last December. Mr. Courtney said he found a coal-burning furnace in the basement on the building.

Longtime Edgartown resident and business owner Bob Carroll said he remembered when the building was built — he was 10 years old, he said, and one of his first jobs was working there.

Mr. Carroll said he supported the restaurant proposal. “I think the right to it is what’s important, and that’s why I’m here,” he said. “Main street of Edgartown is a business area. It’s not a residential area; it’s a business area. And I think the business zoning reflects that throughout the town.

“Downtown Edgartown has suffered enough,” he said. He and others lamented how the downtown area has changed since the post office moved to the Triangle.

In the end, the board unanimously approved the proposal, though they asked Mr. Courtney to pay special attention to the abutters’ concerns.