Candle Street property could sprout parking lot
BY PETER B. BRACE
When the Board of Selectmen discusses the potential use of the former downtown electric generation plant, it is usually talking about some sort of transportation hub.

Plans for a transportation hub at 2 Candle St., above, have turned to preliminary discussions about putting a town parking lot on the property.

All Nantucket Regional Transit Authority bus routes could originate from this center, ferry tickets could be purchased along with newspapers, coffee and pastries, or so that line of discussion has gone for the last three years.

And yet, nothing like it has materialized on the 2 Candle St. site since the selectmen have been batting the idea around.

That could be changing. Talk of a bus depot among selectmen appears to have been replaced with preliminary concepts of another town parking lot, according to National Grid Vice President Dave Fredericks, whose employer owns the 2.4-acre lot. Earlier this fall, National Grid removed the last of its fuel storage tanks from the land. Cleanup of the oil-contaminated soil by Clean Harbors is also complete and the Department of Environmental Protection cleared it last spring for residential use, leaving National Grid and the town to discuss a possible long-term lease of the property for parking or other municipal uses.

Though National Grid and the town are keeping mum about the specifics of such an evolving plan that is merely conceptual at this point, both hinted at the possibility of using the site for parking.

"The tank farm came down and we kind of cleaned up and finished up a remediation of the lot and we're kind of internally talking about what to do with the property," said National Grid Vice President Dave Fredericks. "The town sent us a letter and said they would love the opportunity to dis- cuss the use of the land. It's kind of moving to the next step now that the tanks are down and the cable is in."

Town Administrator Libby Gibson would not confirm whether public parking is one of the ideas for the land that the board is batting around.

"The board is looking at possible options regarding the use of the property at 2 Candle Street," said Gibson. "I cannot elaborate on those uses. All of the discussions hinge upon what National Grid will negotiate." Unwilling to part with its property,

which is located at 2, 4, 6 and 12 Commercial St., 9, 10 and 12 New Whale St., and 1, 2 and 5 Candle St. in the Downtown Residential- Commercial zone and valued at $19,696,500, National Grid is willing to talk long-term lease with the town and plans to have a more detailed description of what it would allow on its property in the spring, according to Fredericks.

"I think between now and the spring we will have outlined an approach on how best to use the property and I think some of that approach will include bringing in some people and talking with them [the selectmen]," he said.

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