Bouncing from venue to Island venue for years, the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society would like to find a permanent home in a new state-of-the-art, 190-seat theatre off Beach Road now planned by developer Sam Dunn, who created the Tisbury Marketplace in 1984.

Appearing at a public hearing before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission last Thursday night, Mr. Dunn called the planned development the “jewel in the corner” of his retail development, and film society president Richard Paradise advocated at length for the new theatre. But tenants of the Tisbury Marketplace had a different view, saying they are worried about the potential impact a large commercial building will have on an already-congested stretch of Beach Road.

The plan for a new 6,000-square-foot building is under review by the commission as a development of regional impact (DRI).

“My whole philosophy in doing the film society is my love of film and my love of sharing film, not just as entertainment, but sharing films that can inspire people, that can enlighten people,” said Mr. Paradise in a high-minded defense of the sort of independent, international and classic fare he has been offering through his society for 13 years.

“I’m tremendously blessed with this gift Mr. Dunn has presented to our film society,” he said.

Mr. Paradise is currently engaged in a fundraising effort to build the theatre which would occupy the building, which still needs approval from the town and the commission. Last year the commission approved a separate 5,070-square-foot building overlooking the Lagoon at the marketplace; that building is currently under construction.

Mr. Paradise said he has seen his organization grow from an informal society of film enthusiasts in 1999 to a nonprofit with over 600 members and more than 12,500 tickets sold in the past year.

“There are many scenarios with other film societies around the country where they’ve gone from being sort of a gypsy organization to having a permanent home and their membership has skyrocketed,” he said. “Any cultural arts organization would say that a big part of their being is the place they call home, whether it’s the Vineyard Playhouse or The Yard in Chilmark. These places have their own home and they can build on that base and that’s what we would like the opportunity to do.”

Mr. Paradise touted the many advantages of having a dedicated space to show films. In the past he has had to shuffle among rented venues that are less than ideal, where the new permanent venue would feature surround sound, stadium seating and the latest in cinema amenities. He said the film society would be able to show new releases, matinees for the elderly and provide a facility to support local filmmakers. The society would consult with the Island Grown Initiative, he said, to provide concessions that were healthy and possibly locally sourced.

Marketplace tenants said they loved the film society but not necessarily the building plan.

“It’s hard not to say, wow, this should happen what a nice idea,” said Beebee Horowitz, a Marketplace condominium owner and owner of the Toy Box. “I’m just concerned about making the Marketplace work. Parking has always been an issue. Let’s see where we are with the new building before we consider a 190-seat movie theatre. I feel beleaguered,” she said.

“People from the condominium are worried about this and I understand that,” replied Mr. Dunn. “I appreciate that we have businesses, I’m one of the people that has a business [Saltwater Restaurant] there. The last thing in the world I want is for people not to be able to park to come to my restaurant.”

Mr. Dunn said parking concerns could be alleviated by using space behind the Gannon and Benjamin shipyard, where there is room for 21 cars. Gannon and Benjamin leases the property from the Marketplace condominium association.

Nat Benjamin, Ross Gannon and Brad Abbott of Gannon and Benjamin submitted a letter to the commission objecting to the location of the theatre.

Commissioner John Breckenridge wondered why Mr. Paradise was unable to find a home in one of the Island’s three historic theatres.

“You’re building a brand new state-of-the-art facility,” he said. “There are theatre facilities on this Island that are underutilized, not utilized or sitting in disrepair.”

Mr. Paradise said that he had pursued the idea with the owners of the three theatres, the Hall family, to no avail.

“I talked with them about renting one of their theatres in the off-season when they were closed — as you know the Oak Bluffs theatres are usually closed after Labor Day weekend,” he said. “Those conversations never went anywhere. There was never any encouragement. My only assumption would be that they didn’t want an organization showing movies in another town competing with the one theatre that they were keeping open. It’s pretty logical. Maybe if I was the owner of those three theatres and I was a businessman I might think the same way.”

Mr. Paradise also noted that none of the three theatres were for sale and that the cost of bringing them up to code would surpass the financial resources of a nonprofit.

“It’s not about the Halls,” said Philip Combra of Bert’s Barber Shop. “It’s about the rest of the business on Main street. The movie theatre is needed up there and we don’t need any more competition to make Main street worse than it is. We have to think about Vineyard Haven besides just Sam Dunn.”

But Mr. Dunn downplayed his own commercial interests.

“Richard has brought a lot of enjoyment to a tremendous number of people here on the Island on a year-round basis showing films that are really meaningful, not I Was A Teenage Werewolf . . . ”

“I like that movie,” Mr. Paradise interjected. “The old one, not the remake.”

The public hearing was continued to Dec. 8.