The Martha’s Vineyard Boys and Girls Club got a green light this week from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to proceed with plans to develop a new campus in Edgartown.

The club still must go through town permitting processes as it seeks to build a 21,530-square-foot clubhouse with outdoor play areas and parking. The Boys and Girls Club has outgrown the existing 46-year-old facility, club officials have said, leaving many Island children unable to join. 

Conditions of the 12-1 approval included making the Boys and Girls Club responsible for planting and maintaining a buffer of trees to screen the development from its residential neighbors, who expressed dismay and concern after much of the 2.4-acre site was clear-cut earlier this year.

“This vegetative screening is very important [and] has to work,” commissioner Linda Sibley said, during deliberations Thursday night.

Brian Smith voted against the proposal after arguing that the facility would be too large and, by attracting more families, would contribute to the suburbanization of Martha’s Vineyard.

“We’re on the fast track to becoming Wellesley by the sea,” Mr. Smith said.

Commissioner Kate Putnam said the existing Boys and Girls Club is so short on space that free food, which is distributed to club members’ families, is being stowed in nooks and crannies all over the building.

“This isn’t serving the Wellesley crowd… They’re not using the building effectively because it’s so crowded,” said Ms. Putnam, who found with the remaining commissioners that the project’s probable benefits to social development on the Vineyard would outweigh its negative effects on abutters and the environment.

In other business Thursday, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission closed its hearing on an application from Rico’s Boat Service, which is seeking approval to continue its operations at a property at 68 Holmes Hole Road and 0 Down Island Farms Road, Oak Bluffs and  542 Sailors Burying Ground in Vineyard Haven.

The neighborhood is zoned residential, although businesses may operate with the appropriate permits. An Oak Bluffs town meeting vote in 2024 rejected a light-industrial overlay that would have allowed more types of business operations.

Nearby residents have opposed the application, saying Rico’s is already a bad neighbor and should not be legitimized.

Supporters have told the commission that Rico’s is an established business that provides a needed service, on a site that has been used for commercial purposes in the past.

The commission will accept written comments on the application until 5 p.m. June 20.

Also Thursday, the commission agreed to open a public hearing on the Tisbury planning board’s request to designate segments of Mud Puddle Road and Old Sailors Burying Ground as special ways, within the Island Road District of Critical Planning Concern. The hearing is scheduled for July 17 at 6:30 p.m.

Special ways are designated by the MVC to protect historic pathways and promote non-motorized means of transportation.