Facing Obstacles, Select Board Endorses New Approach For Baxter Road Alternative Access Plan

Nantucket Select Board members endorsed a revised approach to securing Conservation Commission approval for a plan to provide alternative access to the homes along Baxter Road and signaled they would likely pursue betterment fees on homeowners to fund the project at a meeting on Wednesday.

The alternative access project has been mired in uncertainty since the Conservation Commission declined to open the town’s original application at a meeting last month, citing a lack of signatures from affected homeowners. Chair Seth Engelbourg said that the Commission’s regulations would not legally allow for the application to be heard until the town obtained signatures from all property owners whose land would be needed for the work to continue.

The goal of the project - according to the town - is to address the growing erosion risks of the bluff in relation to Baxter Road, as well as associated water and sanitary sewer infrastructure beneath it. The planning is being done in an effort to ensure safe access and continued services remain in place in the event that the road may breach or become unusable.

To circumvent opposition from homeowners who have refused to assent to the plan, the town's sustainability programs manager, Vince Murphy, is advocating a two-pronged approach. The new plan, which the Select Board voted 4-0 to advance on Wednesday, would see the town proceed with a notice of intent to the Conservation Commission for all town-owned property while simultaneously seeking a request for determination for the private properties.

“We tried the nicely, nicely approach. That got rejected. This is the next phase on, where we’re being a little bit more forward,” Murphy said.

A request for determination doesn’t need the assent of the property owners. It just asks the Conservation Commission whether the proposed project would impact a resource area under the Commission’s jurisdiction in a way that requires official approval. If the Commission finds that the project wouldn’t have an impact, it can go forward without needing a notice of intent.

The Select Board voted in favor of the plan without raising any serious concerns on Wednesday, but the Sconset Beach Preservation Foundation (SBPF), which counts a number of property owners in the area as members and represents the controversial geotube project protecting the bluff on the other side of Baxter Road, feels differently.

“We may be able to potentially bring back a [notice of intent] application with all in support of a relocation plan rather than going at a two different part approach,” SBPF representative Meredith Moldenhauer said. “We believe we can work with SBPF and the town and homeowners to come up with adjustments or potentially revised NOI that can be resubmitted.”

The Select Board also spoke about how the alternative access project will be funded at Wednesday’s meeting, offering the most direct assertion yet that the project will be funded at least in part by betterments levied on Baxter Road homeowners.

“I don’t see this getting through Town Meeting without a betterments plan,” Mohr said. “I’ve known betterments are on the table for a very long time, so if somebody didn’t hear that, I just want to articulate it loudly and strongly right now.”

The first phase of the project, under the most active consideration, would cost $24 million. In total, the entire two-phase project would cost $37 million. Select Board members feel that voters will be hesitant to support such a large capital expenditure on something that won’t directly benefit most island residents.

A betterments plan has not been officially filed, and SBPF wants a role in how betterments are determined.

“The idea of a betterments system has been mentioned briefly, but we have not discussed it in any meaningful way or any specific details,” Moldenhauer said. “We ask for transparency and an open dialogue to allow SBPF to work with the homeowners and to make sure everyone understands all the issues moving forward.”

But Murphy warned that too much negotiation could make it difficult for the project to pass at Town Meeting, which it will eventually have to do before work can begin.

“If we can’t present something to Town Meeting that shows the best possible return for the taxpayer, and if we end up having to get negotiated down, that could be a detriment at Town Meeting,” Murphy said.

The Select Board recently voted through a betterments plan for a similar alternative access coastal resilience project on Sheep Pond Road, seen as a sign of what could happen along Baxter Road.