Steamship Authority governors saw a strong — and heated — turnout in Falmouth Tuesday evening for a public hearing on design changes for a new terminal building in Woods Hole.

More than 100 people attended the meeting at the Falmouth High School auditorium, called to seek community suggestions for making the building more acceptable to local residents.

But far from finding accord, the meeting appeared to only heighten the growing tension and feelings of mistrust between the boat line and unhappy residents of Woods Hole, as a $60 million years-long terminal reconstruction project grinds along.

Falmouth resident John Woodwell: “A public meeting like this should have been held five years ago.”

Louisa Hufstader

Falmouth resident John Woodwell: “A public meeting like this should have been held five years ago.”

Louisa Hufstader

Architects Chris Iweks and Liam Davis of BIA Studio, the firm designing the new terminal, attended the meeting along with Falmouth selectmen Susan Moran and Douglas Brown, and town manager Julian Suso.

“It is a very good and sizable crowd, and I’m glad you’re here,” said board chairman and Barnstable governor Robert Jones at the outset.

“Give us your thoughts and ideas.”

What the SSA board and management received instead was an airing of grievances that lasted until the Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket governors left to catch boats home, forcing adjournment for lack of a quorum shortly after 7 p.m.

Several who rose to speak took aim at a 79-page staff report posted by SSA general manager Robert Davis on the boat line’s website one day earlier.

The report gives a point-by-point response to about 130 emailed comments on the building, and concludes that location and size — the two most controversial aspects of the design — would not change.

Mr. Davis summarized his lengthy report at the start of the meeting.

Then frustrated Falmouth and Woods Hole residents took turns assailing boat line officials for soliciting public comments, when nearly all the building decisions have already been made.

“Mr. Davis, you started by closing a whole lot of doors in your opening comments, and when you read your recommended final decision, that closes the rest of them,” said Susan Shephard.

“Get ready for a big building, folks,” she said as she left the microphone.

Judy Laster said the staff report “seemed to misrepresent things that happened in the past” and responded only to comments emailed directly to the SSA.

“There were over 1,000 comments submitted in the form of a petition that went to the Steamship Authority,” and those should have been considered as well, Ms. Laster said.

She charged the boat line with estimating the effect of proposed changes, such as relocating the building or making it smaller, “only in the negative impact that would have on the bottom line of the Steamship Authority.

“The bottom line is not just about the Steamship Authority,” Ms. Laster said.

The audience clapped for every speaker, despite an early plea by Mr. Jones to withhold applause.

“We are here to express our common feelings,” said Woods Hole resident Damien Kuffler.

“A public meeting like this should have been held five years ago. You have never made an attempt before this to address the issues,” said John Woodwell.

“We started this exercise years ago and there were hearings, public hearings,” Mr. Jones responded. “The process has been in the public eye. It’s in the press, and every agenda we have discusses this.”

Public testimony strayed into complaints about traffic, especially early-morning trucks on the Woods Hole Road.

“Hazardous materials come down Woods Hole Road every day and we only need one spill,” said Barbara Blair. Others said they were woken daily by the sound of truck brakes.

Falmouth governor Kathryn Wilson said she agreed the new terminal building should be smaller.

“If this building was planned in any of the other port communities, we’d be having the same conversation there,” Ms. Wilson said.

Regarding the controversy, she added, “there’s the building, and then there’s the process of communication. We’re not set up as a town to communicate really well.”

But she also conceded that the Woods Hole Community Association, a group that worked with the SSA on the terminal design along with the business association, may not reflect wider sentiment in the village. “The community association does not represent all of Woods Hole and the business association doesn’t either,” Ms. Wilson said. “That makes it difficult for the Steamship Authority to have a reliable read on what the community wants.”

New Bedford governor Moira Tierney said she believes what the community wants is not to have the boat line “in its present formation, including freight traffic,” in Woods Hole at all.

“To the extent that you do not want such a presence of the Steamship Authority in your community — and I get the sense that is what you’re saying, without really saying it — you should let us know,” Ms. Tierney told the audience.

“I think you have to be straightforward with the board and straightforward with us. That would be a significant change in the way the Steamship Authority is structured — and in the way we fulfill our first duty, which, we can’t forget, is to serve the residents of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket,” she said, adding: “The way I read the enabling act, that is our first priority.”

The meeting ended abruptly when Vineyard governor Marc Hanover and Nantucket governor Robert Ranney left to catch evening ferries.

Mr. Davis had recommended that the board request a new design from the architects, but without a quorum, there was no vote.