A Martha’s Vineyard Commission subcommittee is backing the regional high school’s request for an extension of the MVC’s two-year approval of a track and field overhaul, originally issued in August 2021.

With the two-year window closing, the commission’s Land Use Planning Committee (LUPC) voted Monday to recommend that the full commission extend the approval until 60 days after the end of litigation between the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School committee and the Oak Bluffs planning board over the use of artificial turf for the track infield.

“That would be 60 days after the entry of a final judgment and the expiration of all appeals, or the entry of a stipulation of dismissal,” said LUPC chair Doug Sederholm at an online meeting Monday night.

The vote was 7-0-1, with Aquinnah commissioner Carole Vandal abstaining because she had submitted a public comment on the project before she was elected to the MVC last November.

The full Martha’s Vineyard Commission originally approved the track and field renovations as a development of regional impact (DRI) after a series of contentious hearings and voluminous public comment. The 10-6 vote went into effect August 27, 2021, giving the high school two years from that date to begin work.

But after a lengthy public hearing process that ended in early May, 2022, the Oak Bluffs planning board tied 2-2 on issuing a special permit for the artificial turf infield — an automatic denial.

Later that month, a divided high school committee voted 5-4 to appeal the planning board decision in state Land Court. In February of this year, the school committee voted 5-4 to seek a summary judgment in the case, which would take the place of a trial.

Attorneys for both sides argued their positions July 14 before Land Court judge Kevin Smith, who provided no timeframe for his ruling on the summary judgment request.

In the meantime, no construction work has taken place on the track and field project.

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission will take up the Land Use Planning Committee’s recommendation at a public meeting this Thursday, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the MVC building in Oak Bluffs.