It’s only February but Chilmark residents, business owners and officials are already looking for ways to ease Menemsha’s summer traffic.

An ever-growing population of summer visitors has made balancing parking and the historic fishing village’s character a major concern for denizens. The town harbor master’s office took over traffic management last summer and at a joint meeting of the select board, and the harbor advisory and parks and recreation committees Monday, harbormaster Ryan Rossi and police chief Sean Slavin aired potential solutions.

“Our first year was determined to be a learning year for the department,” said Mr. Rossi.

Limited parking and dangerous traffic conditions were most extreme during sunset hours. Through increased advertising, Mr. Rossi hoped to boost ridership on the town’s park-and-ride sunset shuttle and cut down on the number of vehicles coming to the area.

Town officials are looking for ways to avoid traffic jams in the historic fishing village of Menemsha.

Ray Ewing

Town officials are looking for ways to avoid traffic jams in the historic fishing village of Menemsha.

Ray Ewing

When some participants floated the idea of increased bus service, select board member Bill Rossi said the Vineyard Transit Authority likely couldn’t handle such a request.

“There’s not enough VTA drivers,” he said. “Even the sunset shuttle has been hard pressed for drivers.”

The harbor master also noted that private tour buses tour caused significant disturbances to the traffic flow on Basin Road last summer.

Town administrator Tim Carroll said that banning tour buses might not be possible, but he suggested looking into the potentially revoking tour bus livery licenses. He promised to follow up on potential strategies.

To help with trafffic, the harbor master also recommended hiring a traffic supervisor for the oft-distracted young traffic officers hired for the summer. He also said they would be required to leave cellphones in their car during their shifts.

A proposal to use two lots on Basin Road as summer parking for commercial fishermen drew some concern from the group. Both lots are currently leased out to fishermen by the town for fishing gear repairs or storage purposes.

If they were to be used for parking Menemsha would lose its iconic look, said harbor advisory committee chair Jeffrey Maida. Other participants emphasized the need for new parking signage to adhere to that character.

Though the town is looking for solutions, not everyone was critical of how things went last summer. Menemsha Fish Market owner Stanley Larsen felt traffic management went well.

“I just want to say that whoever was in charge last summer did a good job,” he said.