Field Notes
by Peter B Brace
END IN SIGHT FOR BRANT POINT AREA CONSTRUCTION By the end of April, the near-constant excavation, pipe-laying, waterline diversions, backfilling, compacting, back-up beeping and miscellaneous loud, earthshaking work related to the town's I/I project on Brant Point will wrap up for the season.

Department of Public Works Superintendent Jeff Willett said that sporadic placement of electrical utilities beneath the streets delayed the project's completion.

"It's moving toward the completion, however, the delays are, in most cases, the result of inaccurately located electric cables resulting in much more work than anticipated," he said. "We had to relocate water mains, which required us to do much more work, but they're about finished in that area."

I/I stands for inflow/infiltration and is a DPW project that is replacing 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 true wastewater flowing into the system from individual sewage lines. Excess water getting into sewage pipes means that water is included in gallons-per-day of sewage the Surfside Wastewater Treatment Plant is permitted to treat by the state's Department of Environmental Protection.

This segment of the project that began in September that is being done by C.C. Construction, Inc., of South Dennis, includes work in and on Brant Point area neighborhood streets including Easton, North Beach, Cornish, Swain and Willard streets, Jefferson Avenue, Bathing Beach Road, and East Lincoln and Hulbert avenues.

Willett said that most of the major work is finished and that C.C. Construction is on the verge of tidying up the area.

"The main line is more or less constructed," he said. "What they're doing now is the tying-in to the individual buildings and that's going to be going on through 26th of the month. Then on top of that, they have all of these water services and clean-up; that's going to be occurring in the same time frame."

Unfortunately those eagerly awaiting smooth black ribbons of new asphalt to glide over will have to sit tight until the fall when all affected streets are to be re-paved curb to curb. However, before the end of the month, C.C. Construction will be cleaning up these streets and temporarily patching their gashes with asphalt.

"The roads are going to be in perfectly good shape," assured Willett.

This I/I project is essential to the efficient operation of the Surfside Wastewater Treatment Plant. For every two gallons per day that the town takes out of its sewer system in the form of I/I, the state's Department of Environmental Protection will deposit one gallon per day into the island's sewer bank from which sewer connections are deducted on a per-connection basis.

SHARKS STALKING SCALLOPS… SORT OF As if poor water quality, runoff from lawn fertilizers, dwindling eelgrass beds, a green crab population explosion and boat detergents were not enough for bay scallops to contend with. Now, according to a study by Charles H. Patterson of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina and Ransom A. Myers of Dalhousie University of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the overfishing of sharks, which eat skates and rays, is translating into more and more skates and rays which, in turn, eat bay scallops.

Although Nantucket's harbors are not known for their large sharks - with dogfish the typical denizen - with the large numbers of sharks being overfished, it is tough to predict the impacts on Nantucket.

"Overall, the message is important and true: If we take whole segments of ecosystems, especially top predators like sharks, the balance among species is toppled, and the effects cascade throughout the system," said Robert E. Hueter, director of shark research at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla.

Read the full Associated Press story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070329/ap_on_sc/sh arks_shellfish.

PLANNING BOARD MEETINGS ON HOLD The last Planning Board meeting was on March 26. The next Planning Board meeting won't be until April 23.

Because the next scheduled Planning Board meeting falls on April 9, the first night of Town Meeting, and because the board meets twice a month with April 16 being Patriot's Day, the board cannot meet again until April 23 to stay with its regular schedule. Naturally, the Planning Office is open during this period and can be reached at 228-7233 or 228-7237.

A BYE-WEEK FOR THE NP&EDC Because the Town Clerk's office did not post public notices in the Town & County Building, the April 2 meeting of the Nantucket Planning & Economic Development Commission had to be canceled, according to Planning Director Andrew Vorce.

Vorce said that a new date for the meeting, which had been set for 7 p.m. at the Planning Department's 2 Fairgrounds Road office on Monday night, will be

held April 30 at the same time and location. I