On Oct. 23, the MVC public hearings of the proposed Ocean View Hotel ended. The developer expects to be allowed to build on his commercial lot as if it was anywhere — despite the fact it’s been 60 years since a hotel and three years since a restaurant was on that site. And his commercial lot, in the middle of a park and our neighborhood, was an anomaly from the start, built in the days before zoning regulations.

The neighborhood hopes that the MVC will honor that the site is in a District of Critical Planning Concern (DCPC) and accordingly restrict unbridled commercial use of this lot. For the MVC itself decided the area was a DCPC, requiring many additional questions to be answered (that haven’t) including, is this project essential to the Island? If so, why does it have to be here on this lot? Do the benefits to the Island and its people exceed the detriments forced on the abutters and the neighborhood?

When we came to the Island 20-plus years ago, we consciously bought into a District of Critical Planning Concern because preservation of the Island the way we found it was important to us. We haven’t liked not being able to change our property as we settled but we appreciate that it’s necessary to keep the Island special. Soon the MVC will decide on the Ocean View Hotel proposal. We will see if a DCPC, like our neighborhood, is still a protected area. We hope so.

Rob Leatherbee and Margaret Tilton

Oak Bluffs