A plan to build a private golf club on land owned by the MacKenty family in Edgartown will get its first public airing this week when the Edgartown zoning board of appeals opens a hearing on an application for a special permit associated with the proposed development.

The MacKentys have signed an agreement to sell some 200 acres of their Edgartown Great Pond land to Rosario and Barry Latucca, a father and son team from Natick. The Latuccas hope to build an 18-hole golf club on the property.

Ending weeks of suspense and confusion about who will review plans for a private golf club on some 200 acres of Edgartown Great Pond land, the Edgartown zoning board of appeals voted unanimously this week to refer the project to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission as a development of regional impact (DRI).

A group of developers who want to build a golf course along the Edgartown Great Pond heard a team of scientists dismantle their environmental science last night, alongside an outpouring of statements from a striking array of Vineyard residents who urged the Martha’s Vineyard Commission in passionate tones to reject the golf course plan.

“We need to think about Martha’s Vineyard and why do we all live here?” said Tara Hickman.

“Trade a natural piece of heaven on earth for a manicured, hyper-fertilized artificial landscape? No thank you,” declared Liz Bradley.

Developers who want to build a private golf club along the Edgartown Great Pond turned up the volume this week on a campaign to win public support for their project, pitching the plan through eye-catching paid advertisements in both Island newspapers as the Martha’s Vineyard Commission continued deliberations on the project.

Declaring “We’ve Gone Organic,” the bold advertisements purport to detail a new shift toward organic turf management techniques for the golf course development.

A citizens group that opposes a proposal for an 18-hole private golf club along the Edgartown Great Pond took its turn in the spotlight this week, responding sharply to an advertising campaign started by the golf course developers last week.

“They’ve ‘Gone Organic.’ We Think They’re Dead Wrong. Do You?” declares a full-page advertisement that appears in today’s Gazette.

The advertisement is a rejoinder to paid advertisements in both Island newspapers last week from the developers who want to build a golf club along the Edgartown Great Pond.

The developers who want to build a golf course along the Edgartown Great Pond jacked up the pressure this week in an attempt to gain favorable votes from members of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

Opponents of the golf course project also are waging a lobbying campaign, including a series of paid advertisements, but the campaign by the developers is now clearly accompanied by high-pressure tactics more commonly seen in Boston than on the Cape and Islands.

High-ranking state officials associated with the office of Gov. Paul Cellucci put heavy pressure on members of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission in an unabashed attempt to win votes in favor of the Meetinghouse Golf Club project in Edgartown, the Gazette has learned.

The commission rejected the golf club project by a one-vote margin three months ago.

A longtime member of the commission who has been a governor’s appointed member for 20 years admitted this week that she was pressured by a high-ranking state official to vote in favor of the Meetinghouse Golf project.

In a move that is expected to knock down many established barriers to the land protection movement, The Nature Conservancy announced this week that it will buy and put into private conservation 103 acres of land along the Edgartown Great Pond. The property just last year was planned for a private luxury golf club.

Formerly owned by Katharine and Robert Bigelow, the property stretches from Meetinghouse Way to the Kanomika Neck shore of the Great Pond fronting Mashacket Cove, and includes a large expanse of globally rare sandplain grassland.

The family that plans to build a private championship caliber golf course along the shore of Edgartown Great Pond is fully aware that its plans will be examined with scrupulous care by Island environmentalists.

Ending months of debate, untold numbers of hours of public testimony and weeks of bruising deliberations, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission voted 7 to 6 last night to deny a proposal for a private 18-hole golf club on some 200 acres of land along the Edgartown Great Pond.