Nantucket Town Government Roundup, Dec. 12 - 28

The holidays may be upon us, but Nantucket’s local government hasn’t slowed down. Here are the stories we’re following this holiday season. First, some stories we haven’t covered elsewhere, including a proposal to phase a $43.3 million Somerset area sewer expansion and a new approval for the demolition of the old Nantucket Electric Company building at 10 New Whale Street.

• The Select Board is considering phasing a $43.3 million Somerset area sewer expansion to reduce the initial cost burden on taxpayers. The Select Board initially voted to include the expansion on the 2026 Annual Town Meeting warrant, but reconsidered. It is now unclear what plan, if any, will go before the voters this spring. They also approved an increase to the Nantucket Memorial Airport’s jet fuel revolving fund cap from $6 million to $8.5 million.
• The Conservation Commission has approved National Grid’s bid to demolish the old Nantucket Electric Company building at 10 New Whale Street. While the demolition faced significant hurdles during a lengthy hearing before the Historic District Commission, including an appeal to the Select Board, the Conservation Commission hearing was brief and never expected to be contentious. The Conservation Commission was only ruling on the potential impacts of the demolition on nearby wetlands.
• The Sconset Beach Preservation Fund is also back before the Conservation Commission. The discussions at the Commission’s December 18th meeting were brief, primarily on project elements with prior approval, and did not venture into the most contentious parts of the controversial Sconset Bluff erosion control project. However, it still represents the first sign of movement on the project in months. The Conservation Commission issued a partial certificate of compliance verifying that a portion of the previously approved coir terrace array is being maintained in keeping with the existing permit and asked the Sconset Beach Preservation Fund to supply a plan next month to ensure the geoengineering structures that are part of the project remain covered by sand, an issue that has plagued the installation for years.
• Two more wells on Nantucket have tested above the Massachusetts Maximum Contaminant Level for PFAS, according to a presentation given to the Board of Health on Thursday. Neither well was above the imminent hazard threshold.

And here’s a list of the local government stories we’ve covered in full over the last two weeks.

• After months of intense debate and public hearings, the School Committee voted 4-1 to advance a plan to renovate the high school’s athletic complexes with a turf field and a synthetic track, but the Board of Health may soon consider banning turf island-wide.
• Nantucket’s short-term rental fight is not over: an appeal has been filed with the Attorney General seeking to block the state’s acceptance of the Special Town Meeting vote that legalized short-term rentals across the island last month.
• The state Inspector General slammed the Steamship Authority in a scathing report on their ultimately shelved website redesign project.
• The Nantucket Planning and Economic Development Commission (NP&EDC) agreed to a special meeting run by a facilitator to attempt to find a compromise between an NP&EDC-sponsored article that would reform its enabling legislation and a reform article drafted by NP&EDC member Hillary Hedges Rayport that the NP&EDC has long opposed.
• Nantucket will remain in so-called “safe harbor” from unfriendly 40B developments for another year, the Affordable Housing Trust announced.
• The Department of Public Works confirmed that work on debris removal at Tom Nevers will begin next month.
• The community claims fund created to disperse the money the town of Nantucket received from GE Vernova in a settlement reached after one of the energy company’s wind turbine blades at the Vineyard Wind farm collapsed into the ocean and littered Nantucket’s beaches with debris will begin accepting claims submissions on January 26th. Vineyard Wind, meanwhile, has had all work paused by the Trump administration days after receiving a key permit from the federal Army Corps of Engineers.