Surfside Crossing

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Below is a timeline of events over the past three years. As you can see, many events have occurred and we are working on making this page as complete as possible. To that end, we will continue to update this timeline as the process moves forward. 

Surfside Crossing (SSX) purchases 13+ acres of property at 3, 5, 7 & 9 South Shore Road.

SSX submits original plan to the Town of Nantucket (TON) for a 156 unit 40B development consisting of 60 stand alone single residences and 96 condominium units in 6 multi-unit buildings.

SSX Receives Letter of Eligibility from Mass Housing.

May 10th -  Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA)  public hearings begin.

July 24th - The ZBA meeting has to be halted and rescheduled as many Nantucket community members who showed up to attend the meeting had to stand in the back of the room, in the entryway, and outside the building.  

August 28th - More than 800 people attend the rescheduled ZBA meeting held in the high school's Mary Walker Auditorium  (the largest meeting place on the island).   

Public hearings conclude and the ZBA issues an “approval with conditions” for a 60-unit development with a mix of single and multi-unit dwellings.  SSX immediately appeals this ruling to the Housing Appeals Committee (HAC). 

Public hearings conclude and the ZBA issues an “approval with conditions” for a 60-unit development with a mix of single and multi-unit dwellings.  SSX immediately appeals this ruling to the Housing Appeals Committee (HAC). 

SSX submits a substantially different, new 156-unit all condominium plan (see below) along with their long overdue Environmental Notification Form (ENF) to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. 

SSX appears before the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs via ZOOM in lieu of an actual site visit to review ENF to determine an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) be required.

• May 13th - ZBA requests given the multiple substantial and significant changes in the project that it be remanded back to the ZBA for the Boards consideration.
• May 23rd - SSX opposed the ZBA request to remand.
• May 28th - Presiding Officer of the of the appeal to HAC reassigned to Werner Lohe.

•  June 3rd - ZBA again requests the project be remanded back to them.
• June 5th - Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs issues a certificate determining that the project does not require an EIR
• June 8th - Nantucket Land Council (NLC) files a motion to vacate reassignment of Werner Lohe as the new presiding officer asserting that he has a conflict of interest and would not be able to provide unbiased ruling.
• June 16th - TON/ZBA also files a motion to vacate reassignment asserting that Werner Lohe has conflict of interest and would not be able to provide unbiased ruling. 
• June 22nd - Motions by NLC and TON/ZBA to vacate the reassignment the new presiding officer, Werner Lohe are denied by the new presiding officer, Werner Lohe.
• June 23rd - TON/ZBA again request project be remanded back to ZBA.
• June 23rd - TON/ZBA files a motion to dismiss the appeal for SSX failing to file an ENF within the time allowed - 10 days from permit granted by ZBA in June of 2019.
• June 25th - TON/ZBA files in Superior Court that the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs has improperly determined an EIR not required. 

 July 13th -  NLC and TON/ZBA motions denied to dismiss and vacate at HAC . 

August 27th - Town counsel filed a complaint in the Nantucket Superior Court seeking judicial review of that decision as arbitrary and capricious, and requesting that the matter be remanded (to the Nantucket Zoning Board of Appeals), citing the removal of single family homes, increase in building height and number of parking spaces, change in the landscape plans, and the decrease in usable open space and perimeter buffer areas, among several other changes. 

• September 2nd - Town counsel filed a Motion to 'Stay' which asked that the "Housing Appeals Committee delay the September 16, 2020 pre-hearing conference between themselves and Surfside Crossing until the Superior Court rules on the complaint mentioned above arguing that “The Housing Appeals Committee (HAC) proceedings overlap significantly and exist on a parallel track with the Superior Court case.  The Superior Court’s decision, however, will impact these HAC proceedings as it will result in the resolution of certain issues also pending before this adjudicatory body, one way or another…Therefore, it would be unnecessarily duplicative to proceed with the conferences and hearings before the Housing Appeals Committee in this case while the Superior Court action is pending.  Specifically, where these parallel proceedings affect the same project determinations, contain the same issues, and impact the same parties, they are so closely related that the judgment of the Superior Court will necessarily have an impact on the HAC proceeding". 
• September 3rd - HAC Presiding officer Lohe denies motion.

HAC Online Hearing Days: Thursday 3/4/2021, Friday 3/5/2021, Monday 3/8/2021, and Wednesday 3/10/2021 - all beginning at 10:00 a.m.

To attend the hearing via video access, please contact DHCDHousingAppealsCommittee@mass.gov – before the hearing (if possible) or during the hearing.
 

To attend the hearing via audio access only, please call +1 857-327-9245, United States, Boston (Toll) at the start of, or during the hearing, and use Conference ID 482 021 90#
 

(In order to join the video conference, you will need the Microsoft Teams app downloaded to your computer or smart phone.)