Field Notes
by Peter B Brace
STOP, IN THE NAME OF CONGESTION At tonight's Board of Selectmen meeting, the board will consider the recommendation of Nantucket Police Chief Bill Pittman to make permanent the stop signs on Surfside Road at its intersection with Fairgrounds and South Shore roads. In his memorandum to Town Administrator Libby Gibson, Pittman said: "There is a significant amount of construction traffic in the area and the elderly residents of Sherburne Commons have started to move in. The stop sign is making it safer for all of them to cross or enter Surfside Road from either South Shore or Fairgrounds roads."

PHOTO BY TERRYWALSH Astronomical high tides and storm surge are preventing the crews of Robert B. Our Construction Co., Inc. of Harwich from pouring the top section of the concrete ramp at Children's Beach. Having already built the bottom section of concrete slabs and rebar that is now underwater, the crews also removed all the steel bulkheads forming the coffer dam around the work area and are in the process of driving pilings for the two finger piers on either side of the ramp.

The board will also make a recommendation on the one-way street proposal for downtown that will make East Chestnut and Chestnut Street one-way from South Water Street up to Center Street and Broad Street one-way down from Center Street to Federal Street.

SUPERSEDED Opponents of the Great Harbor Yacht Club suffered a blow last week when the state's Department of Environmental Protection upheld the Conservation Commission's Nov. 19, 2004 order of conditions for Great Harbor's docks, piers and dredging plan.

The Nantucket Land Council and 15 island residents filed a request for a superseding order of conditions with the DEP on Dec. 9, 2004. Their concerns focused on the impacts of dredging and the installation of a dock-and-pier system on shellfish, marine habitat, nearby wetlands, and on views of the wetlands and shorebirds and their habitat.

But DEP didn't think these concerns warranted a superseding order of conditions.

"While the project crosses over and into several coastal resource areas, the Department had determined that as proposed and conditioned herein, the project adequately protects the interests of the (Wetlands Protection) Act," said Tena J. Davies of DEP in her decision. NEW SIDEWALK PLANNED It's no bike path, but an eight-foot wide Prospect Street sidewalk will be in place sometime in late spring and, it is hoped, before Memorial Day, according to Transportation Planner Michael Burns.

At approximately 1,600 feet, the sidewalk is planned to run from Nantucket Cottage Hospital's north entrance on Prospect Street up to the end of the town's Deadhorse Valley property at the intersection of North Mill and Prospect streets. Survey posts marking the route of the sidewalk are already in place, and Burns said he expects work to begin soon so it will be ready for summer.

Already open for non-motorized traffic is the Milestone-Old South Road bike path connector that runs from Milestone Road (opposite the Polpis Road bike path) to the intersection of Amelia Drive and Old South Road. Burns said the paving is done and the path is essentially completed, minus the placement of loam and seeding of grass along its route.

CLARIFICATIONS It was reported in last week's Independent that the adoption of Article 28 made the moratorium on docks, piers and wharves permanent. It did not. Article 28 extended the moratorium through April 30, 2008. It was set to expire on April 30 of this year. Also, in the April 11 issue it was reported that the solar panel leaser Citizenrë would obtain all local permits for islanders leasing their solar power equipment and that a solar panel system, if not leased, would cost $10,000. In fact, Citizenrë does not secure HDC permits and, according to Ecopreneur and the island's Citizenrë representative Bruce Marshall-Jones, the average retail cost for a home solar power system is $40,000. Also, Citizenrë is not offering commercial installations at this time. Marshall-Jones added that solar panels would send power back through a house's electrical meter into the power grid to provide electricity. Because of Nantucket's location, there could be some additional transportation costs for

delivery and maintenance. I