A second public hearing was set for Thursday night before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission on expansion plans for the Stop & Shop grocery store in Vineyard Haven. As the commission begins an exhaustive review of one of the largest and most complicated commercial development projects in recent memory on the Island, public opinion and institutional knowledge about the commission is mixed.

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission will review new utility poles placed around the Island as a development of regional impact (DRI).

The regional authority voted 13-1 last Thursday that the project merited review by the commission, DRI director Paul Foley said. Edgartown commissioner James Joyce was the no vote.

The land use planning committee of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission recommended Monday that new NStar utility poles should be referred to the commission as a development of regional impact (DRI).

With a majority of the commission members attending the meeting, the group voted 11-0 that the installation of about 180 larger utility poles on pubic roadways.

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission has an important role to play when it comes to planning and protection of the Vineyard environment, a majority of people polled by the Vineyard Gazette Harris Interactive survey said.

The commission was singled out for special questioning in the survey which polled more than 500 seasonal and permanent residents on issues ranging from quality of life to cell phone service.

Amid growing negative public sentiment over a telephone pole replacement project on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, the Tisbury selectmen have referred the project to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission for possible review.
Meeting in emergency session last Friday, the selectmen voted to refer the NStar project to the MVC as a development of regional impact (DRI). The height and size of the poles is at issue.
The move to refer the matter to the commission was recommended by town administrator John (Jay) Grande after consulting with town clerk Marion Mudge.

Plans to add a large expansion to an Oak Bluffs church continued to face scrutiny at the Martha’s Vineyard Commission late last week, as commissioners and neighbors questioned the impact on the neighborhood and the environment.

The Alliance Community Church (formerly Nova Vida) has applied to build a 9,000-square-foot addition to its Ryan’s Way building in order to build a 150-seat church.

A public hearing on a major expansion plan for the Stop & Shop store on the Vineyard Haven waterfront has been postponed, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission said this week.

The hearing, the first formal public review of the expansion plan, was set for June 6.

MVC development of regional impact (DRI) coordinator Paul Foley said this week that he was notified by the attorney for Stop & Shop that changes were being made to the plans, but that the applicant would not be ready in time for June 6.

A formidable Islandwide transportation planning project and a slew
of fresh development proposals are expected to keep the newly configured
Martha's Vineyard Commission busy in the months ahead.

The debate may have divided residents of Chappaquiddick, but the Martha's Vineyard Commission voted unanimously last night to designate the little island at the eastern end of Edgartown as a district of critical planning concern (DCPC).

The proposed Down Island Golf Club in Oak Bluffs is now officially
back in the pipeline at the Martha's Vineyard Commission with
plans filed last week and an initial hearing scheduled for June 11.