Urges ZBA To Deny Surfside Crossing

This letter was originally sent to the Zoning Board of Appeals

To the editor:  Recently you have heard a lot of information from a lot of experts and paid consultants. I urge you to please consider the testimony given by unpaid concerned members of the public who themselves are trained experts in the subject matter. Please think long and hard about what retired firefighter Beau Barber, former Deputy Chief Robert Bates, and chemist and PFAS expert Kristen Mello presented to this board. All three speakers chose to speak to you and provide you with information based on their knowledge of the subject matter without being paid because it was the right thing to do. Unlike any of the consultants for the developer or even department heads.

It is the job of the developers’s paid consultants to see this project through. It is also the job of Department heads and Town counsel to do as the selectboard has requested as evident in the dropping of the ZBA appeal at superior Court and the negotiations of the “Options Agreement.”

Please consider some of the quotes:

From Beau Barber: “ I agree with my former Chiefs, Bates and Murphy, who wrote in a May 13, 2019, letter to the ZBA: "This development places an overwhelming responsibility on the Fire Department if an emergency were to arise. I disagree with Chief Cranson and the project’s engineers that Nantucket has adequate water pressure or quantity for even moderate firefighting activities”.

Deputy Chief Robert Bates:“ I came back for the day for the Veranda House fire….we were running very close to zero for the water pressure in the water main for that event.”

Kristen Mello: “It is not possible to condition the changes required to prevent the chemical contamination that would result from this proposed project. It is therefore also my opinion that this permit application must be denied in order to protect the public and private drinking water supply.”

It will not matter how many units or what kind of trash bins are available if we don’t have the health safety and welfare of our community put first over profit. Many questions and concerns regarding this risky project have gone and remain unanswered. The only clear answer is to deny this project. Anything else would allow the developer to proceed full throttle with 156 units unconditionally at their own peril. It is very clear that that is their intention, especially based on the infrastructure they have already installed at their own peril and the negotiated “Options Agreement”.

Anything less than 156 and they will for sure be going to the HAC. Please be on the right side of history. Please do what is best for our community and please deny this project if not for your health and safety for the future generations to come.

Meghan Perry