Updated Nantucket & Madaket Harbors Action Plan Gets A First Look

After over five years of delays, Nantucket finally has a draft of a new Harbors Action Plan Update, which was reviewed at a public meeting on Thursday. However, before the plan can be finalized, it still requires Select Board and state approval, which means the existing draft may change.

“The purpose of the Nantucket and Madaket Harbors Action Plan is to serve as a roadmap for the Town and the State as they make decisions relative to the town’s waterways and shoreline,” the introduction to the plan reads in part. “A state-approved municipal harbor plan establishes the community’s objectives, standards, and policies for guiding public and private use of land and water in the planning area."

Recommendations in the plan include significant education and research, hiring several new town staff, an online pool registration system, and an overhaul of local bylaw enforcement, which remains a considerable challenge across the town.

“We all know we really don’t have any enforcement that’s effective,” former Planning Board alternate Campbell Sutton said at the meeting, advocating for a more streamlined approach.

The plan also suggests adding “recreation” to fishing, fowling, and navigation as an allowed public use of the intertidal zone. This would overhaul centuries of legal precedent, but it is in line with proposals Nantucket’s state-level representatives have advocated for in the past.

The update also floats the idea of a tax on visitors and adding a second commercial dock on-island.

Attendees at Thursday’s meeting asked questions about the role of the Historic District Commission, waterfront access for seniors, and PFAS.

As these recommendations are generally non-binding and often worded explicitly as suggestions, it is difficult to say how many will ultimately be implemented.