Under Public Pressure, Land Bank Reconsidering Stance On Indoor Recreation

After years of lobbying from a wide array of community groups and private citizens, the Nantucket Land Bank Commission has agreed to review its options for supporting indoor recreation on its properties.

“This has come up so many times at a community level, so I wanted to be transparent with the commission and ask: ‘Is this something we can explore?’” Nantucket Land Bank executive director Rachael Freeman said. “It's clearly a community need.”

“I’m glad we're exploring it. I've been wanting to look into it, but we don't have the answers,” Land Bank Commission member Mark Donato said. “Things change. The Land Bank Act was many decades ago and times have changed.”

An internal policy adopted by the elected Land Bank commissioners in 2023 currently blocks the Land Bank from using its property for indoor recreation. Currently, the Land Bank isn’t proposing to lift the policy. They just want to explore the options available to them. But even if the policy is lifted, it’s unclear whether the Land Bank could build a recreation center, as other laws might still restrict what they can do.

“When you read our act that created the Land Bank, it's pretty clear the things we can and can't do, and I think it's important to recognize that,” Land Bank Commission member Allen Reinhard said. “I understand the public pressure, but we are governed by the Land Bank Act and the other conservation laws that we have to follow.”

At a meeting on Tuesday, the Land Bank heard nearly a dozen comments from community members, all of them strongly in favor of an indoor recreation center.

“An indoor recreation center wouldn't just be a convenience, it would be a gamechanger,” island resident Graham Veysey said. “An indoor facility could be a resource for everyone on the island…a space like this could become a heartbeat for the island, a place that brings us together, keeps us healthy.”

“I joined the [Parks and Recreation] Commission for, one of the big reasons, to push for something like this,” Nantucket Parks and Recreation Commission vice chair Nikki Drew said. “It isn't just about fitness, it is definitely…about mental health.”

Nantucket residents have been pushing for an indoor recreation center on the island for years. The idea even received the support of the Select Board - which added it to the town’s open space plan - but so far, there has been no concrete progress toward constructing such a facility.