Surfside Crossing Opponents Seek State Review Through Environmental Justice Petition

Ten Nantucket residents have filed a petition with the state seeking a review of the environmental justice impacts of the proposed Surfside Crossing development, which has languished in a quagmire of legal appeals for the last six years. The petition comes as the Surfside Crossing project goes before the Massachusetts Housing Appeals Committee for the second time, with its developers asking the state committee to overturn the denial they received from the Nantucket Zoning Board of Appeals earlier this year.

The petitioners allege that the initial hearings on the development, which consists of 156 housing units, did not consider how it would impact the state-designated environmental justice community that spans the mid-island area. They are seeking a “fail-safe” review from the state, which can be requested by any 10 area residents.

The petition argues that the relevant regulatory bodies have so far ignored the “significant potential environmental, health, and equity impacts this development poses, especially to the Environmental Justice population that surrounds it.”

The state established environmental justice communities in 2002 to create a legal framework that allows the state to respond to the disproportionate environmental burdens on disadvantaged residents of Massachusetts.

An environmental justice community is any neighborhood where the annual median household income is 65 percent or less of the statewide median, minorities make up 40 percent or more of the population, 25 percent or more of households identify as speaking English less than “very well,” or minorities make up 25 percent or more of the population and the annual median household income of the municipality in which the neighborhood is located does not exceed 150 percent of the statewide annual median household income. 

While the petition remains pending, the petitioners have also asked for a stay on the appeal of the Nantucket Zoning Board of Appeals’ unanimous decision to block the development. The appeal is currently pending before the Housing Appeals Committee, where it is scheduled to be heard this week. The Housing Appeals Committee previously voted to approve an early version of the development, and opponents worry the Committee might side with the developers again.

The petitioners include Meghan Perry, one of Surfside Crossing’s most vocal opponents, and Will Willauer, president of the Nantucket Tipping Point Board of Trustees. The other petitioners are Sean Perry, Diane Cabral, James Cabral, Jay Cabral, Joan Stockman, Jack Weinhold, Linda Meredith and Christopher Meredith.

“Within a one-mile radius of the proposed development are five other affordable housing projects, all concentrated in the same area,” the petition reads in part. “This creates an overwhelming and disproportionate burden on one section of the island—an area home to working families, low-income households, and residents who often lack the time and resources to advocate for themselves.”

Surfside Crossing’s 156 condominium units would be contained within 18 three-story buildings (two stories above grade) on 13 acres off South Shore Road that were cleared in August 2023. As a Chapter 40B development, 25 percent of those units are required by the state to be deed-restricted for affordable housing, or a total of 39 units within the development, for residents earning at or below 80 percent of the area median income. The other 117 units would be sold at market rate, priced between $500,000 to $1.5 million.

Surfside Crossing developers Jamie Feeley and Josh Posner have pitched the project as a critical piece of the fight against Nantucket’s housing crisis that could singlehandedly create dozens of affordable housing units. However, the development has always been intensely controversial due to its size, density, and potential impacts on Nantucket’s natural resources.

The hearings before the ZBA in late 2024 and early 2025 were considered a "remand," as it was the result of a Nantucket Superior Court judge’s decision back in January 2024 to reject the state approval for Surfside Crossing and send the project back to ZBA for further review. Judge Mark Gildea's decision was the result of legal challenges brought against the project by the Nantucket Land Council and a group of neighbors. They had appealed the state Housing Appeals Committee's approval of the project in September 2022, and its ruling that Surfside Crossing's 156 condominium unit proposal under Chapter 40B did not constitute a "substantial change" from what had previously been approved by the Nantucket Zoning Board of Appeals: a scaled-down development of 60 single-family homes and 96 condominiums.

In April 2023, the town announced that it was dropping its lawsuit against Surfside Crossing after reaching a “collaborative agreement” with the developers. The agreement outlines a commitment by the Select Board and the Surfside Crossing developers to earmark 75 percent of the 156 condominiums in the development to “directly serve year-round housing needs.” That goal would be accomplished through long-term deed restrictions at various income levels. Critics noted at the time that there was no written agreement that could bind Surfside Crossing's developers to such restrictions, and the dismissal of the town's lawsuit sparked frustration and “blindsided” the board as a whole.

Feeley subsequently said in a statement that he hoped potential partnerships and collaborations with the town, as well as with island businesses and organizations, would result in up to 75 percent - the 117 market rate units - ending up in local ownership.

The plans for Surfside Crossing were filed under a state statute known as Chapter 40B, which 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.