During its meeting Thursday evening, the Oak Bluffs finance committee agreed to send a letter to the planning board encouraging it not to use town funds to pursue the appeal.
The Chilmark Community Church is starting its new year as an independent church, severing its ties to the United Methodist Church earlier this week.
The Chilmark Community Church and the overarching United Methodist Church organization it has been part of for years are scheduled to meet with a mediator in December to discuss the dispute over the church grounds on Menemsha Crossroad.
The Nov. 3 status conference will be the first court proceeding since the judge ruled in September that the Oak Bluffs planning board went beyond its authority when it denied the school’s turf field plans.
In a 13-page ruling Tuesday, judge Kevin Smith ruled the Oak Bluffs planning board went beyond its authority when it denied the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School’s application for an artificial turf field on the basis of ground water protection.
The Chilmark Community Church is looking to sever its ties with the United Methodist Church, and the Island congregation recently filed a lawsuit in order to secure its 1.6-acre church grounds on Menemsha Crossroad.