Field Notes
by Peter B Brace
ROUNDABOUT ALMOST DONE FOR WINTER

If “agony” is a word you include among the many expletives you use while driving around or near the island’s first roundabout being built at the apex of Hooper Farm Road, Pleasant Street and Sparks Avenue these days, your cursing should subside by the end of this week.

According to Transportation Planner Michael Burns, all work on the roundabout for the winter should be wrapped up by Friday. That includes installation of brick sidewalks, the Belgian block apron going around the center of the roundabout and the relocation of utility poles currently situated in traveled ways.

Burns said the rest of the work to complete the roundabout, paving of the topcoat of asphalt, installation of signs, pavement markings, landscaping and planting of bushes, will occur in the spring before Memorial Day Weekend.

As for those concerned with the narrowness of the Pleasant Street and Sparks Avenue entrance into the roundabout, Burns said the roads entering were reworked to deflect traffic in order to slow it down as it enters the roundabout. That cramped feeling should fade, he believes, once the errant utility poles are moved and the center apron is laid with Belgian blocks, on which drivers can drive to make the corners.

DEP STORMS NANTUCKET Come one, come all to the last great meeting of the year on the Great Harbor Yacht Club.

On Dec. 14, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection is conducting a public hearing at 1 p.m. in the Planning Office at 2 Fairgrounds Road. DEP needs public comments from Nantucketers to help make its decision on whether to grant Great Harbor its Chapter 91 Waterways license for the club’s facilities at 96 Washington St. Ext.

If you cannot make this meeting but still want DEP to hear your thoughts, you can send written comments to Ben Lynch, Program Chief, DEP Waterways Regulation Program, 1 Winter St., 6th Floor, Boston, Mass. 02108.

MARINE LIFE-FRIENDLY Wind turbines, say the Danes, are not Cuisinart bird-mincing, fish-killing death machines their opponents believe they are.

Results of an eight-year study conducted by the Danish Energy Authority, Danish Forests and Nature Agency, Dong Energy and Vattenfall, owners of the world’s largest wind farms at Horns Rev and Nysted, reveals minimal impact on marine and migrating birds, sea mammals, fish and benthic organisms.

The study showed that birds flying through these wind farms largely adjusted their flight patterns several miles away to fly beneath the radius of the blades and around the towers. At Nysted, an average of 40-50 birds died each year.

Fish populations were found to be similar to what they were before the wind turbines were installed. Many species of fish in the area were seen taking shelter in and hunting around artificial reefs created by the wind farm installation.

Marine mammals, namely harbor and gray seals, five of the former and six of the latter, when tagged with transmitter patches, remained within 31 miles and 528 miles, respectively, of where they were tagged.

The study found that the only notable change in seal behavior as a result of the wind turbines at the Nysted installation was on land during pile-driving operations, which may have reduced the number of seals on land because of the work.

If you to want read the entire report, you can download it at http://www.ens.dk/graphics/Publikationer/Havvind moeller/havvindmoellebog_nov_2006_skrm.pdf.

NIGHTMARE ON SOUTH WATER STREET In the Nov. 29 issue of The Independent in the timeline story on the Dreamland Theater, it was reported that Dreamland owner Haim Zahavi is trying to get a building permit to renovate the theater building. Actually, Zahavi is applying for a building permit to install a new foundation underneath the 175-year-old building. Also, Zahavi did not violate Condition 6.2(a) of his special permit issued by the Planning Board in January; Obligation to Conduct Theater Operations by not operating the film aspect of the building this summer.

However, according to Zahavi’s off-island attorney, Ed Woll, Jr. of the firm Sullivan & Worcester of Boston, Mass., Zoning Enforcement Officer Marcus Silverstein determined that Zahavi was not at fault because he could not get the necessary permits to get his work done in time to open the theater.

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