Nantucket Preservation Trust Appeals HDC Decision To Allow Demolition Of Old Nantucket Electric Building

The Nantucket Preservation Trust is appealing the Historic District Commission’s decision to allow utility company National Grid to demolish the former Nantucket Electric Company building located on New Whale Street.

The appeal alleges that the Historic District Commission (HDC) was “arbitrary and capricious” in allowing the demolition of the historic brick building on the downtown waterfront, the high standard required to void the ruling.

“There are several procedural and substantive errors that render the HDC's decision arbitrary and capricious,” the appeal reads in part. “Allowing the removal of 10 New Whale Street further erodes the integrity of the Nantucket National Historic Landmark.”

The appeal alleges that the HDC did not follow the demolition policy described in its guidebook, “Building with Nantucket in Mind,” and failed to properly consider a pair of expert reports regarding the building.

“The Select Board should vacate the HDC's decision, [and] remand this application back to the HDC, where a fair, true and open public hearing as outlined in Appendix C of Building with Nantucket in Mind should be held,” the appeal states.

The HDC voted 3-2 to permit the demolition earlier this month after a motion to block the demolition failed on a tied 2-2 vote in June. Initially, HDC members had expressed strong opposition to National Grid’s attempt to tear down the building, which is one of the last remaining vestiges of an era when the island generated its own electricity.

But by July, enough HDC members had changed their minds for the demolition to gain approval on a narrow 3-2 vote, with chair Stephen Welch, vice chair Ray Pohl, and commissioner Val Oliver voting in favor of the application, with commissioners Angus MacLeod and Abby Camp opposed. Now, they’ll have to justify their vote to the Select Board, which acts as the appeals body for the HDC.

“At what point is a building no longer able to be rehabilitated? When it's literally lying on the ground, a pile of bricks? Is that the point when we decide, absolutely, there's no way this could be rehabilitated? Oh, but a pile of bricks could actually be reassembled to create the same building that it came from. My point is, there's no definite line,” Pohl said at the time. “The rehabilitation of this building might, in an abstract way, be possible, but…I don't see that this building is in any way able to be practically restored.”

The Nantucket Preservation Trust (NPT) has been involved in appeals of HDC decisions before, but given the high standard to which such appeals are held, they rarely succeed. That said, remands are not unheard of.

NPT claims that the HDC did not follow the demolition policy described in “Building With Nantucket in Mind” to determine whether 10 New Whale Street qualifies as a protected, significant, or contributing structure.

The tactic has worked before. After the HDC approved a significant addition to a historic home on Stone Alley, a neighbor appealed on similar grounds, and the Select Board voted 4-1 to remand the case back to the HDC.

The NPT appeal also suggests that the HDC did not follow “Building with Nantucket in Mind” to establish that the condition of the building “is not the result of acts of neglect by the owner or his predecessors in title,” a provision that can be used to address a process often referred to as demolition by neglect, where property owners intentionally let buildings deteriorate until they can't be restored.

“The applicant’s own neglect of the building over more than 20 years of ownership and that of its predecessors for decades has given rise to its current state,” the appeal says.

The specter of demolition by neglect has hung over the whole hearing, and whether neglect by National Grid is responsible for the building's current state was a major topic of conversation during the final discussion before the HDC's vote. The provision cited by NPT also implicates neglect by previous owners.

A town bylaw adopted in 2004 requires the owners of contributing historic structures to take “at least the minimum steps necessary to prevent the deterioration” of foundations, exterior walls, roofs, chimneys, and support structures, although enforcement can be challenging.

NPT also claims the HDC improperly limited public comment and failed to adequately consider two expert reports on the structure. One of the reports, from Structures North Consulting Engineers, was commissioned and paid for by National Grid at the HDC’s request.

“In consideration of the vast extent of serious structural damage that has occurred over many years along with the failure and/or loss of so much of the original construction, it is my opinion that it would be an extremely invasive, expensive, and impractical endeavour to try to rehabilitate this structure, given the small percentage of the original fabric that would ultimately remain,” the report reads in part.

The other was filed by preservationist and former director of restoration for the Nantucket Historical Association, Glenn Boornazian, who disagreed with National Grid’s conclusions and argued that the building could still be saved. Ultimately, discussion of Boornazian’s report was limited at the HDC after attorneys for National Grid contended that it was submitted after the deadline and should not be considered.

NPT’s appeal also quotes a comment Pohl made at a previous HDC meeting, where he claimed he would never vote to allow the demolition of the old electric building.

“It's a blue-collar version of one of the Three Bricks,” Pohl said at an HDC meeting in October of 2024. “So I could never, never vote in favor of a demolition of this building. I know there are a lot of practical considerations, but I'm not wearing my practical hat right now. I'm wearing my HDC hat. As somebody who lives here and drives past that building multiple times per week and always loved to look at it, I can't in good conscience accept a demolition on this.”

Pohl ultimately came around to the application, as did Welch, who voiced strong misgivings with the demolition at the same meeting as Pohl.

“I understand it's not cheap, and I understand it's not convenient, but there are some things where cheap and convenient can't rule the day, and I think this is one of them,” he said at the time.

Built in 1927, the brick building had served as the processing plant for the coal gasification conducted at the site by the former Nantucket Electric Company. After the power plant was closed in 1996 following the completion of the first undersea cable from Nantucket to the mainland, the brick building at 10 New Whale Street was gutted of its structural steel to house equipment associated with the remediation effort for contaminated soil at the site. That included pumping and filtering groundwater in the area for 12 years. Now empty and unused by National Grid, the building has fallen into disrepair with large cracks through its bricks, holes in its roof, and broken windows.

The appeal is not on the Select Board’s next agenda, meaning it likely will not be heard until August at the earliest, but a specific date has not been set.

It is possible that the hearing will draw the attention of several local historic preservation advocates, as preservationists, including the chair of the Historic Structures Advisory Board and the town’s own preservation planner, Holly Backus, have previously expressed opposition to National Grid’s demolition request, citing the structure’s significant historical value.

The building at 10 New Whale Street is part of a wider area along the waterfront that the town, along with other property owners, including National Grid and Steve Karp's Nantucket Island Resorts, previously targeted for potential redevelopment, including the construction of a possible parking garage. The former Harbor Fuel tank farm located nearby was demolished and removed in 2022.

While those ambitious plans have since fizzled and gone quiet in recent years, the town and National Grid have utilized a portion of the former Nantucket Electric Company property for the valet parking program operated by Valet Park of America.