Presented with a petition to lower the speed limit on Beach Road, Tisbury selectmen said this week they would support the initiative and pass it along to the state.

Ralph M. Packer Jr. presented the board Tuesday with the petition signed by 150 people who are property owners, renters and employees, asking the speed limit be lowered to 20 mph from Five Corners to Wind’s Up, and 30 mph from Wind’s Up to the Lagoon Pond drawbridge. Petitioners also requested the installation of a pedestrian warning signal with flashing lights for the crosswalk at Wind’s Up.

Talk of lowering the speed limits on Beach Road surfaced repeatedly during the recent discussions about the road improvement project that has now gone to state highway officials. Many believe the road is dangerous and unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists.

Mr. Packer, a businessman who owns a large portion of property along both sides of Beach Road, recounted the enthusiasm of the signatories, saying people were happy something was being done about the speed.

“The third [business] I went to was very interesting,” he said. “The gal she signed it and her employees signed it and she said, before you leave, you need a big hug.”

Board chairman Tristan Israel cautioned that while the idea has merit, it may be difficult to actually achieve.

“There’s a whole process involved in the state speed limits which is archaic and frustrating and which is why were really going to have to push on this,” he said. “I think it’s doable, but we’re going to have to, as a community, push.”

In other business Tuesday, as hunting season begins, Mr. Israel said a citizen had contacted him to complain about the use of guns on Ripley’s Field, a Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank property.

A bylaw that dates to the late 1800s prohibits the discharge of firearms anywhere in Vineyard Haven. The land bank allows hunting by permission on many of its properties, although on the three Tisbury properties where it is allowed, hunting is restricted to bow and arrow and muzzle-loading seasons. Under state law, muzzle-loaders, also sometimes called antique or primitive firearms, are not considered firearms.

Police chief Daniel Hanavan attended the meeting and said he interprets the bylaw to include muzzle-loaders. “Since I started way back in 1989 there was no discharge of guns in Tisbury,” the chief said.“That would include firepower rifles as well.”

Reached by telephone after the meeting, land bank executive director James Lengyel said he would write to the chief for an official ruling on the matter.

And as scallop season begins, shellfish constable Danielle Ewart asked the selectmen to place a moratorium on the use of scallop drags with teeth until a town bylaw can be prepared to make the ban permanent.

Ms. Ewart said no other towns allow the use of scallop drags with teeth, since the drags are damaging to eelgrass beds and the pond bottoms in general.

“I can’t believe it was never in the regulations,” she said. She also said most shellfishermen do not use the drags and are aware of the damage they cause.

Selectmen set a hearing date for Nov. 3 to discuss the proposed ban.

Also at the next meeting the board will discuss whether to call a special town meeting in January. Fire chief John Schilling told the board his department has had ongoing mechanical problems with the town’s primary ambulance, a 2007 Ford. Instead of sinking more money into the vehicle, he wants to take funds from the stabilization account to buy a new chassis for the vehicle.

“Historically it’s been a lemon since we got it and we want to get out from under this thing,” the chief said. A new chassis would cost around $110,000, about half the price of a new vehicle.

Selectmen voted to appoint Jonathan V. Snyder as the new town finance director. Mr. Snyder, a former selectman, takes over for Timothy W. McLean who has retired.