The Martha’s Vineyard Commission has again continued its public hearings on a proposed nursing home in Edgartown and changes at the marina on Lagoon Pond in Vineyard Haven, both considered developments of regional impact (DRIs) for their potential effects on the Island.

The commission resumed hearings on Sept. 1 for Safe Harbor Marinas and Navigator Homes that began in August. Both were continued to Oct. 6 following discussions that included requests for further information about each project.

Safe Harbor Marina, located on Lagoon Pond Road at what was originally a boatyard built by Erford Burt after the second world war, is seeking to demolish four old industrial buildings and replace them with boat racks.

Two new boat racks are to be built on the property and another rack relocated, under the plan.

“The proposal is to increase the capacity of the storage racks at the marina and also to increase parking,” said Alex Elvin, the commission’s DRI coordinator, at the Sept. 1 online meeting.

Commissioners reviewed the marina’s responses to questions raised at the August hearing by the MVC, the Lagoon Pond Association and Tisbury Waterways Inc., as well as evaluations by MVC staff.

By adding rack space for 40 more boats, Safe Harbor anticipates an overall drop of six or seven boats a day in Lagoon Pond, Mr. Elvin told the commission. The marina also proposed that its increased rack space will cut down on vehicle trips to public ramps in Vineyard Haven, he said.

Safe Harbor’s contention that rack storage of boats is better for the environment was seconded by Tisbury harbormaster John Crocker, in a statement to the commission that called the proposed development an “ecologically responsible positive project to meet a current need.”

Racked boats spend less time in the water and don’t need bottom paint, Mr. Crocker noted.

Anti-fouling bottom paint includes materials to slow the growth of marine life like barnacles and algae on boat hulls, and has been linked to water pollution.

Rack storage also will provide boat space for owners who are on the waiting list for town moorings, which is 62 names long for Lagoon Pond and 273 names long for the town as a whole, Mr. Crocker told the commission.

Boaters can’t live aboard racked vessels, reducing the risk of sewage discharge, Mr. Crocker’s statement continued.

The marina had further support from members of the public who spoke to the commission, including charter captain James Boyle and boat owners Stephen May and Todd Perkins, who both said they are marina customers.

“Boats aren’t the problem. There’s other things in that pond,” said Mr. Boyle, referring to a letter he sent the commission last month.

“The most detriment to the lagoon pond ecosystem is septic and lawn fertilizer runoff into the pond, not boats. Marinas are held to a very strict EPA regulations, with hazardous waste and water runoff,” Mr. Boyle wrote in his letter dated August 5.

Mr. May said he is at the marina almost every day, either to go out fishing or to work on his boat.

“In my 50 years of owning boats and being an active boater, I haven’t seen a better-run marina,” he said. “It’s very tightly run, very carefully run.”

Longtime marina abutter Barbara Lampson said that Safe Harbor has been her best neighbor out of the past three owners, but she objected to its plan for a boat rack atop the wetland edge of the Bass Creek watershed.

“If we compact that last little stem of Bass Creek right at the outlet and put the rack there, it quite likely is going to complicate drainage matters even further for... Five Corners,” Ms. Lampson said.

“It might be better to just relocate that rack,” she told commissioners, urging them to walk the site before deciding.

“If we can move that rack, I’d be happy to see it,” Ms. Lampson added.

Sherry Countryman, president of the Lagoon Pond Association, said her organization remains deeply concerned about the project as a whole.

“That particular part of the pond where the marina is, is very sick,” Ms. Countryman said. “There are problems with runoff, plugged culverts, erosion and bacteria. That area of the pond is vital as it is a prolific shellfish nursery.”

Commissioners asked Safe Harbor representative Chris Scott to provide a drainage plan for the site before the hearing continues Oct. 6.

“It is possible we won’t have testimony that night, but you will have the opportunity to speak,” commissioner Doug Sederholm, who chairs the MVC’s land use planning committee, told Mr. Scott.

Navigator Homes, the 66-bed nursing home and 48-unit workforce housing complex proposed by Martha’s Vineyard Hospital for an undeveloped property at 490 Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, also saw its hearing continued while a nitrogen mitigation plan for the site is refined.

“The preliminary mitigation plan currently is to install 14 other denitrifying systems in the [Sengekontacket Pond] watershed. The applicant’s planning to submit a more final proposal in the next week or two,” Mr. Elvin said.