Rico’s Boat Service, which straddles the Oak Bluffs-Vineyard Haven town line at Down Island Farms Road and Holmes Hole Road, is challenging a bill of more than $24,000 from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission for its 1.39 acre project.

The company is currently before the commission seeking permission for the boat repair and storage facility. The application has been contested vehemently by neighbors.

Rico’s bill for $24,144.75 is based on the Martha’s Vineyard Commission fee schedule for developments of regional impact (DRI), said Richard Saltzberg, the commission’s DRI coordinator, during the August 14 meeting.

The fees begin at $2,500, with a $7,500 surcharge for non-residential developments over 10,000 square feet and an additional $135 for every 500 square feet above 10,000, Mr. Saltzberg said.

Attorney Geoghan Coogan, the agent for Rico’s owner Virginios Properties LLC, argued that his client should not be charged the entire amount because more than 10,000 square feet of the property will be used for boat storage only, which he said is not subject to MVC fees.

“Development is defined in your documents, [but] …storage is not in the definition,” Mr. Coogan told commissioners.

“This project is only utilizing one bay of the building, demolishing a structure that’s under 2,500 square feet, and the remainder of the land is simply storage of boats while they’re waiting to be worked on and contractors’ equipment off the site for work,” he said.

Mr. Coogan also charged that Rico’s was assessed a sharply higher amount than larger projects the commission has approved.

“Directly across the street, the M.V. Shipyard project that you just recently reviewed cleared 43,500 square feet of land. It constructed over 7,500 square feet of buildings and has associated parking with it … and they were billed $3,500,” said Mr. Coogan, who also cited four-figure fees for the Safe Harbor Marina project in Vineyard Haven and Millers Professionals’ expansion at the airport business park in Edgartown.

Commissioner Linda Sibley agreed that the fees appeared incongruous, but not necessarily because Rico’s was overcharged.

“I think Geoghan may be making a persuasible argument that we undercharge the other people,” she said.

Adam Turner, executive director for the MVC, said part of the discrepancy was due to Rico’s reluctance to provide a detailed plan for how the business would use the property.

“We did this a little differently, because it’s the first time we’ve ever had an applicant who didn’t want to say, like the [shipyard] did, that ‘We’re going to restrict all the development activity or all the commercial activity on a certain pad,’ or whatever. He has said, ‘It’s not storage. I’m going to work on these boats. And I want to use the whole lot.’ So that’s how we did it,” Mr. Turner said.

Commissioners agreed to take the appeal under advisement before resuming discussion at an upcoming meeting.

The MVC also declined to take up a referral from Oak Bluffs for an after-the-fact review of a demolition at 356 East Chop Drive, determining that the dismantled, century-old building was of little architectural significance after heavy remodeling.

This clears the owners to seek town permission to build a new home on the lot.

A public hearing on the proposed Green Villa apartment complex in Oak Bluffs was continued to Oct. 2.

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission holds its next meeting Sept. 11 at 6:30 p.m., with an agenda that currently includes the continued public hearing on the Edgartown Gardens condominium project proposed by William Cumming, who is also seeking to develop Green Villa.