State Approves Surfside Crossing Development As Town Announces New Legal Challenge

The state Housing Appeals Committee (HAC) has issued a final ruling in favor of the proposed 156-unit housing development known as Surfside Crossing, but the town and an island advocacy group have announced they will appeal the ruling to the Superior Court.

The embattled project, first proposed in 2018, has spent the better part of eight years at the center of a protracted legal fight between opponents and developers Jamie Feeley and Josh Posner.

“Homeownership builds generational wealth. It creates stability. It gives people a stake in the community,” Josh Posner said in a statement provided to the Current. "If we are not collectively as a town, creating appealing ownership opportunities for working families, we need to ask why. What's the alternative being offered? More studies and task forces while another generation is displaced?”

While Feeley stated that the HAC approval meant it was time to “get back to work,” the town’s appeal sets up another challenge for Surfside Crossing’s developers.

“At the request of the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Select Board has unanimously authorized an appeal of the [HAC decision],” the town wrote in a statement last week. “This is a formal legal action that supports the ZBA’s unanimous denial of the project.”

The details of the appeal are not yet known, but it represents a marked change of course for the town, which had announced a “collaborative agreement” with the Surfside Crossing developers in 2023, when it dropped its previous appeal of the project.

Nantucket Tipping Point, the advocacy group of neighboring property owners and other island residents who have opposed Surfside Crossing from the start, also vowed to appeal the HAC decision.

"In response to the recent decision of the Housing Appeals Committee (HAC) regarding Surfside Crossing (SSX), NTP will return to Superior Court to pursue a formal appeal and all available legal remedies," the group's leaders, Meghan Perry and Will Willauer, said in a statement provided to the Current. "This action is aligned with the Town’s position following its vote to challenge the HAC ruling and to uphold the Zoning Board of Appeals’ (ZBA) unanimous denial of the proposed high-density development."

The new challenges by the town and Nantucket Tipping Point mark the latest legal actions to block the development, which was proposed under a special state statute known as Chapter 40B that allows developers to bypass local zoning regulations and increase density if at least 20 to 25 percent of the new units have long-term affordability restrictions.

So far, the efforts of Surfside Crossing’s primary opponents - including Nantucket Tipping Point and the Nantucket Land & Water Council - have not been sufficient to halt the project entirely, though they have secured years of delays. Their most notable victory came before the Superior Court in 2024, when a judge vacated a previous HAC decision. The case will now return to the Superior Court.

The HAC issued its most recent proposed decision in favor of Surfside Crossing last month, and the final decision follows it closely.

“The Housing Appeals Committee has reviewed the concerns of the Board and the opponents in detail, and concludes that the denial of a permit to this well designed development, which will address critical housing needs in Nantucket, was not based on substantial local needs that outweigh the regional need for affordable housing, that is, that the development will not compromise the health, safety, or other interests of nearby residents, of the occupants of the housing, or of the Town generally,” the decision reads.

The HAC’s decision is the result of an appeal of a decision from the local Zoning Board of Appeals, which voted unanimously against the project last April. That ruling was itself a remand after the Superior Court vacated the HAC’s first decision, which in turn reversed an original denial from the ZBA.

The HAC’s decision drew sharp pushback from Nantucket Tipping Point.

"Taxpayer-subsidized housing initiatives should not proceed in a manner that compromises public safety, environmental protection, or sound fiscal oversight," the group stated. "Such efforts should fully account for project feasibility, regulatory compliance, and long-term impacts. Housing policy should be advanced in a manner that does not shift disproportionate risk or burden onto existing residents or environmental systems."

Posner and Feeley have long maintained that the development is a key part of Nantucket’s fight against housing insecurity.

“We're happy to move past this hurdle and get back to work,” Feeley said. "We've rigorously invested our time, resources, and energy — all at risk — to create pathways to ownership for the teachers, nurses, tradespeople, and families who keep this island functional.”

Their opponents view the project as a clear example of overdevelopment that will tax Nantucket’s resources and infrastructure beyond the breaking point. After the project was first proposed, Nantucket entered so-called “safe harbor” from 40B developments by creating sufficient affordable housing of its own, meaning that no similar projects can be proposed.

Surfside Crossing’s 156 condominium units would be contained within 18 three-story buildings off South Shore Road that were cleared in August 2023. 39 of the units would be required to be deed-restricted to residents earning at or below 80 percent of Nantucket’s area median income, while the other 117 units would be sold at market rate, priced between $500,000 and $1.5 million.