A start-up company wants to connect an underwater fiber optic cable from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven that is intended to vastly improve Internet and mobile phone service to Island customers.

Pitched as a way to boost economic development through an increase in bandwidth, the plan by GPS Fiber Communications Inc. calls for placing approximately 26,600 yards of submarine fiber optic cable from Fairhaven to the Island via Woods Hole.

In an opinion that may carry broader implications for the growing array of affordable housing projects on the Island, especially those built using Community Preservation Act money, a Concord attorney advised the West Tisbury planning board this week that it has no authority to relax restrictions on the 250 State Road project that make it permanently affordable.

Catherine the Great once said: “A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.” Islanders have experienced their share of both over the past decade, as visions of energy independence have been tempered by talk of viewsheds, environmental impacts and the preservation of cultural heritage.

It’s not easy to pinch pennies on the Vineyard. We all pay the price for the trouble it takes vendors to get their store shelves stocked and their gas pumps filled on the Island. In the best of times, it’s an inconvenience. In the worst of times, such as now, inflated Island prices can be a threat to survival for merchant and consumer alike.

The Vineyard Gazette office will be closed on Monday, Feb. 15, in observance of the national holiday. The office will reopen Tuesday at the usual time.