To define how West Tisbury responds to increased calls for commercial use, the select board on Sept. 7 appointed three members to a newly formed (and provisionally named) West Tisbury zoning change advisory committee, with a mandate to advise the planning board on zoning regulation changes regarding food trucks and commercial sales in the town’s rural and village districts.

Select board member Jessica Miller, zoning inspector Joe Tierney and town administrator Jennifer Rand were appointed to the committee. They will be joined by Leah Smith and Larry Schubert from the town’s planning board and zoning board of appeals, respectively, and Jane Rossi and Kim Leaird, those board’s respective administrators. The committee will also receive input from town counsel Ron Rappaport.

The decision to form the committee was made in a joint meeting of the three boards on August 24.

Commercial activity in these districts has been a longstanding issue in West Tisbury. Last week, the select board denied Susan Whiting’s request for a permit to auction off her late husband’s fishing gear at the Grange Hall, after it determined that the Vineyard Preservation Trust had exceeded the permissible level of commercial events at the hall. The board subsequently allowed the auction to take place at the Whiting farm.

The ZBA had also earlier expressed concern about other activities at the Grange Hall, directing the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival to seek a special permit for the events it had been running since the spring.

At the August meeting, longtime select board member Skipper Manter, who has consistently voted against commercial activity on the grounds that they were against zoning bylaws, said the issue “strikes at the heart of what West Tisbury was and we’re trying to preserve that to some degree, but change is inevitable and … some adjustments need to be made to allow some of these activities.”

The plan, explained Ms. Rand at the Sept. 7 meeting, would not involve any town rezoning, but merely a change in the town bylaws to allow more commercial events (but not storefronts) in non-commercial districts. She also said that they would reconcile the voting bylaws with new food truck regulations passed by the select board.

Select board chair Cynthia Mitchell argued that the “new and fresh” Jessica Miller (elected in April) would be the best choice for the committee, and Mr. Manter wholeheartedly agreed. Ms. Miller, Ms. Rand and Mr. Tierney were all appointed unanimously.

The committee plans to meet on Tuesday afternoons.