Two visions for a new, affordable apartment complex near the YMCA and ice arena in Oak Bluffs on a wooded parcel of town-owned land known as the Southern Tier, had their first airings Friday before more than 80 people at an online special meeting of the town select board.

Representatives from the Island Housing Trust and Roxbury-based OnyxGroup Development LLC, the two finalists to develop 25 rental units on the eight-acre property — and potentially another 35 units on 24 adjoining acres in a future phase — showed their proposals during a fast-paced session moderated by Oak Bluffs affordable housing committee chairman Mark Leonard.

The Camp Ground in Oak Bluffs is the inspiration for the conceptual design from Island Housing Trust, said architect Stephanie Zurek, a project manager with Providence-based Union Studio.

“Pedestrian paths are prioritized [and] buildings are used to shape outdoor rooms,” she said. “We’ve clustered the development to minimize the area of impact on the land,” continued Ms. Zurek.

Organized around a central green space with open-air pavilions and bicycle storage, the IHT proposal has every building in the complex fronting either the green or the street that will run along the side of the development, with parking tucked behind the dwellings, Ms. Zurek said.

The apartments would include duplexes, manor houses and walk-up apartment buildings with accessible ground-floor living spaces. Environmentally conscious “green” building techniques will be used and the units will be highly energy efficient, said IHT design development manager Derrill Bazzy.

A zoning override would be needed for density, Mr. Bazzy said.

The OnyxGroup presentation emphasized an environment-conscious building concept known as biophilic design.

“It’s a very environment-forward, passive-house-principle design approach,” said architect Ted Galante, detailing a plan that includes geothermal wells for heating and cooling and buildings based on deep-seated posts instead of traditional foundations.

“We want to minimize the impact from start to completion,” Mr. Galante said. “The idea is to preserve as much as we can possibly preserve.”

Landscape architect Johnathan Law said the site design includes a path for migrating imperial moths, a rare species that makes its home in the area.

Both competing proposals include enhanced septic systems and net-zero energy aspirations, which in the OnyxGroup vision could include harnessing waste heat from the nearby ice arena, engineer Corey Repucci said.

OnyxGroup principals Chanda Smart and Shabnam Mashmasarmi, a real estate agent and attorney who incorporated their firm in April, said their Southern Tier proposal also has dedicated arts spaces in keeping with Oak Bluffs’ and the Vineyard’s cultural community.

The two presentations are being evaluated by a town committee that will make its recommendation sometime this month.

At a special town meeting Nov. 9, Oak Bluffs voters will be asked to approve the eight-acre site for affordable housing, as well as to green light a 24-acre land swap clearing the way for the development’s second phase.

Mr. Leonard asked anyone with comments on the proposals to email ahc@oakbluffsma.gov.