Stop & Shop has made its case to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to rebuild and dramatically expand its anchor grocery store on Upper Main street in Edgartown. Now it is up to commissioners to make sure the plan is not just bigger, but better.

A public hearing has closed, the town clearly wants the project and there are many positives about it, not the least of which is the opportunity to remedy some of the drawbacks of the current property.

Edgartown could have an expanded, modernized grocery store that is also pretty, energy-efficient and village-friendly with better parking, including ample spaces for bikes and walkers. But that will require a bit more negotiation.

On Monday afternoon, the commission’s land use planning committee is scheduled to begin a post-public hearing review, work that includes drafting possible conditions for approval.

Unlike ordinary planning and zoning boards, the commission has a unique charge when considering developments of regional impact: to weigh the benefits and detriments of the project. The commission must consider an array of criteria, including whether the plan is consistent with the town master plan and the commission’s Island Plan, whether it fits with the character of the surrounding area and whether it furthers regional objectives such as promoting sound economies.

And the Stop & Shop plan has its pluses and minuses.

The store has not seen a significant upgrade since 1996 when it was an A&P, and the building could use a facelift and some modernizing, inside and out. The current site is poorly engineered and suffers from severe drainage problems that the new project aims to correct. A planned realignment of the existing entrance and exit to the property is widely seen as an improvement. An expanded building will generate more property tax revenue for the town. Stop & Shop, already a major employer on the Island, has offered to both continue and expand on its current practice of housing employees. The company has also offered to contribute $50,000 a year to the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority, an offer recently applauded by the Edgartown affordable housing committee.

On the downside, the plan is notably lacking in imagination. Commission staff notes show that the large new building — 43,000 square feet in all — will dominate the existing site. (On nearby Cape Cod, guidelines for large commercial buildings recommend breaking up the buildings into smaller units.)

The site already has 40 per cent more parking than required under town zoning and more than is needed even during peak periods, yet the new plan calls for adding more parking. By contrast, far fewer bike spaces are planned than the 60 required under town zoning.

The building is planned to be LEED certified, but there will be no onsite renewable energy. And it appears that what little green space is on the site will be mostly paved over.

Last but not least, traffic congestion is a huge issue. The store site is one of the most notoriously congested traffic sites on the Island for about eight weeks a year. Common sense dictates that a bigger store will generate more traffic, although traffic planners on both sides disagree on the actual numbers. How to deal with the added traffic remains an open question.

Stop & Shop is a giant grocery franchise owned by an even larger Dutch holding company. The expansion plans have been crafted under the company’s real estate division, well up the corporate ladder and far removed from the particular aesthetic and small-town ways of Martha’s Vineyard.

The commission has not just the power, but the responsibility to make sure a building project of this magnitude addresses both the Island’s needs and standards.

Islanders will live with the expansion of Stop & Shop for many years to come. Here’s an opportunity to make sure it is also an improvement.