The Martha’s Vineyard Commission will decide this week whether to review as a development of regional impact (DRI) a plan to build a private golf club on some 200 acres of Edgartown Great Pond land.

At a public hearing on Thursday night, the commission will discuss the referral of the proposal by Martha’s Vineyard Golf Club Inc. and Meetinghouse Golf L.L.C., a group which wants to build an 18-hole golf course on the MacKenty land in Edgartown.

As proposals for golf courses begin to pile up on the Island, the Sheriff's Meadow Foundation released a white paper last week that among other things explains the reasoning behind a decision to oppose a golf course development on the MacKenty land in Edgartown, but not oppose a similar proposal for the Vineyard Acres II subdivision.

"A golf course at Vineyard Acres II — especially the right kind of course — would have far less environmental and ecological impact than the 148 houses that are allowed under the subdivision plan," the paper states in part.

Two Boston area businessmen and a Mississippi real estate developer have announced plans to build a private golf club on the former Vineyard Acres II property off the West Tisbury Road in Edgartown.

The would-be developers are Jay Swanson of Medfield, Owen Larkin of Boston and William Vandevender of Jackson, Miss. Their partnership is called Swanson Ventures L.L.C.

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 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.

A prominent local conservation group and a national title insurance company are among an unusual array of parties who have now agreed to sell their land in the old Vineyard Acres II subdivision to a golf course developer, the Gazette has learned.

One week after the bill was laid on his desk, acting Gov. Paul Cellucci yesterday signed into law the change that has been awaited by the Island’s smallest town since almost a year ago. The governor’s signature made it official.

The town of Gay Head is no more; long live the town of Aquinnah.

One of the rarest creatures on the earth, the endangered right whale, was seen near the Vineyard Tuesday. The sighting off the Gay Head Cliffs is for the record books, a first for the Vineyard in a long time.

The Northeast Right Whale is one of the world’s most endangered marine mammals, with only slightly more than 300 known to be in existence. One was observed from an airplane while it was feeding.