The owner of a vacant property on Lagoon Pond Road in Vineyard Haven appears willing to drop his plan for a four-story, duplex apartment house on the site where a condemned building was demolished last year.

Tisbury planning board administrator Amy Upton told the board Wednesday that owner Michael Sawyer has submitted new drawings of single-family homes for the site.

“He sent me about five or six [alternatives],” Ms. Upton said, displaying slides of three-story houses with front porches and shed dormers.

Mr. Sawyer’s original plan drew fire from the town’s historical commission, which sent a letter of objection to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission last fall.

“[T]he submitted design is in no way sympathetic to the neighboring properties and ... should be redesigned in a more cohesive and complimentary way,” the historical commissioners wrote.

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission became involved because the demolished building was more than 100 years old, thus qualifying as a development of regional impact under commission bylaws.

In December, the MVC voted to retroactively approve the demolition, which had been ordered by the town’s building inspector a year before, but to leave all decisions about the replacement building to Tisbury officials.

The planning board is expected to open a hearing next month on Mr. Sawyer’s plans for the site.