How Will The Select Board Prioritize $1 Billion In Proposed Capital Projects?

On Thursday, the Select Board will meet to prioritize Nantucket’s massive capital improvement plan, which includes over $1 billion in proposed spending over the next 10 years. Documents released in advance of the meeting show the tentative priorities of the Select Board’s members.

While the preferences listed in the Select Board’s agenda packet are far from complete —with members leaving some items blank and requesting more information on others —the documents offer a look at what projects the board might put first and what might be left behind.

The projects that received a high-priority designation from at least four of the Select Board’s five members include general municipal facilities improvements and a new Department of Public Works building, the latter of which Town Meeting recently approved design funding for. Proposed projects that received a low-priority designation from at least four members include a new senior center, a Sconset fire station, Hulbert Avenue rain gardens, a Natural Resources research vessel, and an earthquake study.

The town’s Finance Department has warned of the upcoming “collision” facing Nantucket as dozens of expensive projects come due at the same time. New Select Board members Jill Vieth and Bob DeCosta have called to rein in spending and cut back on some of these major expenses. Now, the Select Board will have a chance to prioritize the projects in the capital improvement plan and decide which ones will be shuffled to the bottom of the pile.

Some of the largest projects on the plan include $105 million for an Easy Street flood barrier, $120 million for Steamboat Wharf resilience improvements, and $200 million for Washington Street corridor resilience improvements.

All three projects received mixed reviews from Select Board members in their rankings. The Easy Street flood barrier and Washington Street corridor resilience improvements only received a specific designation from Brooke Mohr and Dawn Hill, both of whom deemed it a medium priority. Steamboat Wharf resilience improvements received a high priority designation from Mohr and Hill but a low priority designation from Vieth. All of these projects are also related to coastal resilience, an area where DeCosta has expressed skepticism at recent Select Board meetings.