Development on the Island of Martha’s Vineyard shouldn’t keep anyone up at night, thanks to our overactive but often indecisive Martha’s Vineyard Commission. After another look at last week’s column though, sheep weren’t helping me sleep. Forty-one per cent of the Island is protected from development, with 29.9 per cent developed. In Oak Bluffs, however, only 27.2 per cent is protected with 46.1 per cent developed — diametrically opposite from the rest of the Rock.

What kept me up to look at the map was the fact that 24.1 per cent of the town of Oak Bluffs remains open for development. What? Where? Far from being an expert in land planning or surveying, I had to trust my uninformed, if not lying eyes to find fully a quarter of our precious 8.7 miles (4,680 acres) that might be available for building.

About 25 per cent of Oak Bluffs’ land is parks, golf course, conservation land, churches, cemeteries, the hospital or town-owned land — including the ice arena and high school. At least a third of town is downtown (to the extent one can call it that) that includes the Cottage City Historic District and Lagoon Heights. Another third includes “association” communities: the Highlands, Camp Ground, East Chop, Sengekontacket, Tradewind, Tower Ridge, Bayes Hill, Pond View and part of Hidden Cove. The area bordered by New York and Eastville avenues has been speckled by a few newly built homes as have portions of County Road. It’s unlikely anyone has any real knowledge about the Southern Woodlands, but I recall it being zoned for larger lots and as a result, with not quite as much development as other areas of town. What remains unprotected there is fewer than 75 acres — far less than the 24 per cent of our land potentially available for development. Hopefully someone is giving this some consideration. With that kind of space available for housing, for example, what would this mean for the elementary school, rubbish collection or water? I hope that keeps someone besides me up.

Our paucity of land is such that everything counts for inspection or introspection. The hole at Dodger’s Hole, for example is a kettle hole according to both iterations of Martha’s Vineyard’s Field Guide. When the glacier left us with the scant land comprising OgkeshKuppe, at times huge blocks of ice were buried in the outwash. Insulated by the ground around it, they melted more slowly than the rest of the ice and left deep impressions in the surface called kettle holes. Little Pond in the forest is another of these and there are smaller ones in the trails in the Southern Woodlands like the one on Narragansett next to Union Chapel (I’m just kidding about that one). Factoring the water’s inevitable rise and 100-year storms with the unlikely development of 24 per cent of our tiny town should give one pause.

October is Booktoberfest at the Oak Bluffs library, a month-long celebration of all things books for readers of all ages and stories for those who cannot yet read on their own. Find events on the colorful library website at oakbluffslibrary.org. Congratulations to the library for winning a blue ribbon for its book display at the Agricultural Fair for the second year in a row.

In time for Booktoberfest, Thomas Dresser and Jerold Muskin have released their new book Music on Martha’s Vineyard, A History of Harmony. Details on when and where to get it soon.

A group of Oak Bluffs’ shopkeepers and citizen volunteers have banded together to pick up trash and police Healey Square and Circuit avenue on an irregular basis. That makes me proud to be from OB, but I think I could be prouder if the town could better budget for this so folks could be doing something more productive.

Welcome, Anchor Real Estate, the new company, and congratulations to Lisa Lucier and Christine Todd, preparing to open for business at 55 Circuit.

One can safely acknowledge the end of summer when the water’s too cold for even the Polar Bears. Bye-bye Vanessa, see you next season.

Keep your foot on a rock.

Send your Oak Bluffs news to: Skip@mvgazette.com.