Neighbors, Planning Board Object To Proposed Nine-Lot Subdivision Off Old South Road

The Planning Board on Monday sharply criticized a proposed subdivision off Old South Road that would see the property at 11 Pinecrest Drive converted into nine lots, potentially adding dozens of buildings to the area.

The property, owned by physical therapist Joe Manning, could be subdivided into four lots by right, but Manning is looking to double that number, with the ninth lot as an unbuildable road. The plan drew pushback from several neighbors, the Nantucket Land and Water Council, and every regular member of the Planning Board.

“I'm just dumbfounded that this came to this board as a preliminary plan,” Planning Board member Hillary Hedges Rayport said. “This is like a fantasy that is not remotely possible…I'm ashamed of this plan. We shouldn't be looking at this plan.”

Manning, represented by Dan Mulloy of Site Design Engineering, was seeking waivers from the Planning Board related to street width, driveway aprons, and bike paths. But the discussion on Monday was mainly about the density of the subdivision, slated for an area already experiencing heavy traffic and frequent development.

“You've stepped in it a little bit,” Planning Board vice chair Nat Lowell said. “We've got to come up with a way to reduce this.”

It’s common for developers to initially come to the Planning Board with extensive high-density plans, knowing that the Board will ask for revisions, and the more controversial aspects of the plans will never be realized.

“This is the process, right? And we see it with every application. They come with guns ablazing, and slowly but surely, we start eating away at it,” Planning Board chair Dave Iverson said. “This is the way the process works.”

To some extent, Mulloy was expecting the pushback as well. Instead of attempting to convince the Board to back the plan as it was submitted, he acknowledged from the beginning that he would probably need to ask for a continuance, likely to make revisions.

“I understand there's concerns, a lot of questions on some of this,” Mulloy said. “I'm expecting...to get a lot of feedback and more than likely request a continuance.”

Iverson also urged the abutters opposed to the project to have conversations with Manning and Mulloy and attempt to find a compromise acceptable to everyone.

“In the end, something is going to happen here. If what we do here fails, it won't stop the applicant from coming back and getting four unrestricted [approval not required] lots. So I think a better outcome would be for everybody to work together,” Iverson said. “This process could go on for a while, and the way it sounds, it probably will.”