At our annual town meeting Chilmarkers will be asked to support a proposed solution to parking and access issues at Squibnocket beach.

To the MVC: Please vote against the enormous expansion of the Stop & Shop store in Vineyard Haven.

While I recognize that the store needs to be renovated, I do not support the size and scale of their endeavor. A look at the pole on the roof to show the actual height of the structure should bring it into perspective as it did for me. It is huge and would dwarf Water street and Five Corners.

Everyone who cares about the Vineyard should memorize this central tenet of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s mission statement: “The MVC’s mission is to help carefully manage growth so that the Vineyard’s unique environment, character, social fabric, and sustainable economy are maintained as development takes place.”

The following letter was sent to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

I urge you to deny the Stop & Shop application DRI 89-M3 for the following reasons:

The following letter was sent to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

I believe you should deny the Stop & Shop application, as presented, for the following reasons:

Stop & Shop, in accordance with its international parent company Ahold’s corporate model for dominating any marketplace it enters, has instructed its team of developers, engineers, architects, and lawyers to shoehorn in the largest shopping center they can fit, and, for a first on Martha’s Vineyard, a parking garage.

I urge you to deny the Stop & Shop application DRI 89-M3 for the following reasons:

• By allowing the applicant to submit information after the fact, and not requiring that this data be provided up front so that you can review it, you are shirking your duty as specified in Chapter 831. In addition, it can be argued that you do not have a complete submission.

I am writing this letter to voice my objection to the proposed Stop and Shop in Vineyard Haven. This project is simply too big for the site, and will consequently have deep and severe impacts on traffic, parking, visual appeal and our already sensitive environment.

I am a West Tisbury property owner and four-month-a-year Martha’s Vineyard resident and I have never approved of chain stores establishing themselves on the Island. This is one of the few populated places that is not swamped with the same boring establishments. The plan to increase the size of the current Stop & Shop in Vineyard Haven is a dreadful idea. It will be an unwelcoming eyesore and will make traffic backups and town parking a nightmare.

Islanders want the new Stop and Shop to be better in every way but do they understand that it will also be twice the size of the current store. The proposed plan will visually and psychologically dominate the Steamship Authority’s gateway to the Island and Tisbury itself. This bigger store is too big for the area and sets a precedence of accepting other off-Island developers to come set up shop. May 1 at 6 p.m.