Originally an A&P, the Vineyard Haven Stop & Shop was built years before anyone on the Island ever contemplated problems with overcrowding. Water street once hosted a modest ferry terminal, a hot dog stand for tourists and the Smith, Bodfish and Swift farm and feed store.
Questions of size and character dominated discussion at a Martha’s Vineyard Commission public hearing Thursday night, the third such session the commission has held on plans to renovate and expand the Stop & Shop Vineyard Haven store.
Plans for a large expansion and renovation of the Vineyard Haven Stop & Shop, which have raised concerns about a range of issues from aesthetics to traffic, had a slightly different look when they came before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission again Thursday night.
Discussion continues on a controversial plan to more than double the size of the Vineyard Haven grocery store. Issues involving the municipal parking lot adjacent to the store will be the subject of a public meeting with the Tisbury selectmen on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Tisbury senior center.
Regarding Stop and Shop’s proposal for an expanded supermarket and parking garage on Water street in Vineyard Haven, Martha’s Vineyard Commission executive director Mark London has put together a list of 27 questions that Stop and Shop needs to respond to. These questions relate to some very basic issues that surround this project, such as flood plain issues.
At what point in our history must a grocery store become so large? The Tisbury Stop & Shop debate seems to be settling on two positions, one of which I believe is misconstrued and unfortunately working to benefit this misguided plan.