Field Notes
by Peter B Brace

ARTICLES OF FUN Not being ones to shy away from meetings, the Planning Board gets right back to work after the holidays with a special meeting on zoning articles that could possibly appear on April's 2007 Town Meeting warrant.

On the docket for the Jan. 4 get-together is a discussion between the board and Planning Director Andrew Vorce on zoning articles the Planning Board and its staff got adopted in 2006. Vorce said he wants to a get a sense of direction from the board on where to head next with the creation of the 41- 81D Master Plan in terms of zoning change articles. This discussion, said Vorce, is likely to lead to rough ideas for zoning articles for the 2007 Annual Town Meeting. The meeting is at 7 p.m. at the Planning Office at 2 Fairgrounds Road.

AYE, AYE, DPW The town's inflow/infiltration correction project marches on in the Brant Point neighborhoods, this month focusing on North Beach Street and several side streets. C.C. Construction, Inc., of South Dennis spent last week working on Cornish, Swain and Willard streets, and will continue on to Jefferson Avenue, Bathing Beach Road, East Lincoln Avenue, Hulbert Avenue, Easton Street and North Beach Streets. The work began in September and should wrap up by Memorial Day in 2007.

Work being done on Swain Street.

Inflow/infiltration or, I/I for short, is a Department of Public Works project to replace 7,400 linear feet of the town's aging wastewater collection system pipes and 5,200 linear feet of its water main pipes. It is designed to prevent groundwater from flowing into the pipes -infiltration - and to keep property owners from channeling their roof and driveway runoff into storm drains - inflow - to make the most room possible for the treatment of wastewater. Excess water getting into sewage pipes means that water is included in the gallons-per-day of sewage the state's Department of Environmental Protection permits the Surfside Wastewater Treatment Plant to treat.

REIS ZBA APPEAL PUT OFF . . . AGAIN Once again, Priscilla J. Reis and her son, Myles, have continued their Zoning Board of Appeals appeal, this time, to the ZBA's Jan. 5 meeting.

Reis is appealing a cease and desist order issued by Zoning Enforcement Officer Marcus Silverstein, who alleged that Myles Reis needs a change of use permit from the ZBA to operate his sand and gravel business and store vehicles at 80 Miacomet Road. If he can't get relief from the ZBA, Reis is asking the board for the permit he needs to keep his business functioning. The ZBA meets at 1 p.m. in the conference room of the Town Annex building at 37 Washington St. on the first Friday of every month. For details, call the ZBA administrative office at 228-7215.

If the DPW can fix all those leaks and stop all that non-polluted flow into the system, for every two gallons per day that the town takes out of its sewer system, DEP will deposit one gallon per day (GPD) into the island's sewer bank from which sewer connections are deducted on a per-connection basis.

Nantucket's sewer bank is a savings account of sorts, for gallons of wastewater per day beyond what is already pumped out to the Surfside plant.

GETTING IT RIGHT In last week's issue of The Independent, writer Peter B. Brace just couldn't get his facts right. In his story on Environmental Defense's interest in Nantucket's bay scallop fishery, he incorrectly stated that Dan Drake is the treasurer of Sustainable Nantucket. Actually, Drake is the treasurer of the Nantucket Shellfish Association.

And, in last week's story on the state of the scallop fishery at the end of November, Mr. Brace did not mean to imply in the lead of his story that Steamship Authority crews and their captains cancel boats trips out of "panic" during high winds instead of safety for their passengers and cargo. Brace was merely trying to characterize how strong the wind was over the Thanksgiving Day weekend and apologizes for doing so at the expense of Steamship Authority employees. Steamship Authority personnel do an excellent job adhering to ferry schedules during inclement weather and only cancel boats when absolutely necessary, not out of panic, but to ensure the safe transport of passengers, vehicles and freight across Nantucket Sound.

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