e t c e t e r a
1. A number of unspecified additional things; 2. pl. additional items, odds and ends

AIR MAIL Renovations have started on the 'Sconset post office as patrons receive their mail in a trailer next to the village market while the 1902 building is fitted with new pipes and a new heating system. The work is scheduled to be completed by June 1 and includes replacing the roof railing that existed at the turn of the century, new flooring, ceiling repairs, new wiring and replacement of modern aluminum boxes with vintage models.

The building is owned by Bernie and Carol Coffin who have an adjacent real estate office which will also undergo repairs. In addition, they are building another bedroom in the apartment over the post office. The post office's service window will remain the same as customers are accustomed to, but the Coffins may install a handicap window to accompany the proposed new handicap access.

The Coffin family bought the historic post office in 1970 for

$23,000. Now serving 750 people, it is the third mail location in

'Sconset since deliveries began in 1872.

HARBOR PLANNERS IRON OUT KINKS OF OVERLAY DISTRICT On the waterfront is where water-dependent uses belong and they should not be displaced by residences and commercial uses that do not need to be near the harbor to prosper.

In culling out the rhetoric from the recommendations for the harbor plan development process for Nantucket and Madaket harbors, the Harbor Plan Committee is learning what it can and cannot do with its proposed waterfront overlay district as it works its way toward a final draft to file with the state.

Though some of its members discussed strategies for ensuring that no commercial, water-dependent uses get displaced by residential or non-waterdependent uses, Project Manager Jack Wiggin of Urban Harbors Institute, the town's consultant, brought them back to earth with property rights realities. Part of the committee would like to restrict what property owners can and cannot build on their downtown waterfront or who they can lease their buildings to, but Wiggin said it is not as simple as putting it in the harbors plan.

"What this zoning will do is existing water-dependent uses shall not be displaced by non-water-dependent uses," said Wiggin. "You're not necessarily trying to lock in all the land side uses as long as you're not trying to lock out all the water-dependent uses."

The proposed overlay district would encompass the downtown waterfront from the east side of the former Breakers Hotel in a southerly line enclosing the boat basin to the southern lot line of the Great Harbor Yacht Club enclosing its proposed marina. Running back to the north on land, the western boundary would follow Washington Street to East Street, go west on Broad and then north on South Water Street, east on Harborview Way, north on Walsh Street and east on Easton Street to connect with the southern boundary again.

At this point, the overlay district is in the conceptual stage, but Marine Superintendent Dave Fronzuto said he and UHI will be authoring an article for this overlay district to be placed on the warrant for Town Meeting in April 2007. Other harbor plan articles are in the works, but Fronzuto could not comment on their specifics as he is still working on them with Urban Harbors.

If adopted at a future Town Meeting by a two-thirds majority vote, the committee's recommendations for the overlay district would become law. Those would likely include provisions to keep the essential water-dependent uses in place including a chandlery, ferry service, boat supply stores, fishing guide and tackle shops, launch services, downtown grocery stores, boat fueling stations, boat owner parking areas and yacht clubs among other uses.

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