Monomoy Homeowner Responds To Story On Fine For Pool Pump Out Into Harbor
Hale Everets •
To the editor:
As the homeowner referenced in your recent article, Monomoy Homeowner Fined After Discharged Pool Water Goes Into Harbor, my family and I were dismayed and saddened that work done on our property negatively impacted the island. I have spent over four decades as a member of the Nantucket community, introduced the island to my wife 14 years ago and started sharing the island with our 6 and 10 year old children before they reached their first year. It's a place we care deeply about, and it is not lost on us that pool water discharged inappropriately can be detrimental to the local ecology. As someone who values the stewardship of our Island's resources and wants to preserve them for the next generation, we are disappointed that this work was managed inappropriately by someone we contracted.
But that is not the only hot button topic your article touched on. You also make the statement that our home is a short-term rental, which is inaccurate. Had you reached out to me for context I would have clarified this. While we do rent our property from time to time, it is not its sole purpose and we support Citizen's Warrant Article 13 for Short-Term Rentals; where by "For non-Owner Occupied properties in residential districts, a Short-Term Rental shall be considered a permitted accessory use provided (1) the primary dwelling and secondary dwelling, if applicable, are each used for long-term residential use more than short-term rental use".
Lastly, I wish your story had gone deeper into the topic of better management practices for the discharge of pool water, as it is clearly needed. Your piece fails to ask the obvious question of, why aren't there discharge regulations that protect homeowners, communities and the water system at large? It seems entirely manageable to impose strict PH levels and low flow rates for the discharge of pool water to avoid detrimental events such as the one that originated at our property. Our water system and those who are tasked with the important work of safeguarding the island ecology deserve better guardrails than water to be “drained into the yard as per Town instructions".
Thank you,
Hale Everets