Carrying Capacity

  The water and sewer infrastructure is already at the literal breaking point. The usage of this infrastructure by high-density developing places the public at further risk.

 The sound of crickets and songbirds is now overwhelmed by leaf-blowers, cars, and airplanes. High-density development multiplies this issue with additional cars, air handlers, lawns, etc. Constant construction adds another layer of noise from heavy equipment, nail guns, and trucks. 

  The Nantucket Select Board, in conjunction with the Maria Mitchell Association, passed a Dark Skies Initiative in 2005 requiring all outside lighting to protect the night sky. Nantucket is one of the few dark places left in the world. The increase of streetlights on the many developments currently under construction and the additional headlights of many more cars are killing the night sky.

 Nantucket contains significant Wampanoag activity, including burial grounds and artifacts, spread throughout the island.

  Nantucket’s 18th  century whaling history has been preserved architecturally, and is unlike any other place in the world. The entire island is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 Nantucket is home to many protected species of flora and fauna. Some of the world’s rarest ecologies can be found on Nantucket (i.e. sand plains). In addition, clear cutting of properties destroys the “seed bank” very specific to each acre of the island. These seeds lie dormant until the conditions are right for them to grow. 

 As more houses and high-density developments are built there is increased need for more even affordable housing for the people who service these new properties – caretakers, carpenters, landscapers, cleaners. A 40B of the magnitude of Surfside Crossing, for example, creates a small amount of affordable housing while simultaneously creating the need for more affordable housing, like a dog chasing its tail.  

  Federal Law, under the Fair Housing Act, prohibits discrimination of any protected group. This includes the concentration of high-density, low-income housing complexes in the mid-island area, three of which are contiguous to each other, with a fourth in planned. 

   And now we get to it: if we pave Nantucket, no one will want to come. If we make Nantucket into the Jersey Shore people will skip the ferry and just go to the Jersey Shore. The outdated argument that everyone wins with perpetual development is false. We have a priceless treasure in Nantucket and once we pave it, it is gone. We won’t get it back. It is not too late to protect this community’s quality of life with responsible and sustainable development.