Kudos To Select Board For Leadership On Baxter Road Alternative Access

To the editor: We would like to commend the decisive action taken by the Select Board at the October 15 meeting regarding two steps essential to providing alternate access to northern Baxter Road.

The first was unanimously endorsing the recommendation of Sustainability Programs Manager, Vince Murphy, to proceed with permitting the 100 percent design plans for alternate access.

After several northern Baxter Road property owners declined to sign the Notice of Intent to the Conservation Commission, town officials came up with a creative two-step solution that will enable the permitting to move forward expeditiously.

The second was the recognition by the Select Board that the time has come to address the issue of paying for the costs of providing alternate access through betterments.

Betterments are a special tax levied on property owners who benefit from certain capital improvements, such as the relocation of the road and related infrastructure. This was the funding mechanism used by the Board to pay for the relocation of Sheep Pond Road.

That the Board intends to do the same for relocation costs related to Baxter Road is reassuring and dispels much of the misinformation about exactly who will ultimately be responsible for these expenditures. (It is also understood that parts of the project that benefit the public, such as the reconstitution of the Bluff Walk, will be paid by the taxpayers.)

It is promising to see our Select Board and town staff act resolutely to move forward with this very important relocation project, a critical component of our island-wide Coastal Resilience Plan.

Sincerely,
Burton Spruce Balkind

President of the Nantucket Coastal Conservancy, on behalf of its Board of Directors: D. Anne Atherton, Ashley Erisman, Susan McFarland, Maureen Phillips, Karen Werner, and Mary Wawro