'Sconset subdivision could mean paving of Burnell Street
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
John A. Keane's latest development proposal, Black Fish Lane off the west side of Burnell Street, is threatening the rural road character of this 'Sconset neighborhood, its residents told the Planning Board on Monday night.

Keane presented his 15-lot proposal for an 8.5- acre portion of the former Dammin property at 36 Burnell St. to the Planning Board Monday night, weathering a storm of public resistance to his plan that was prompted by the board's recommendation that Burnell Street be paved from Black Fish Lane to New Street to accommodate increased traffic.

Six of the 15 lots, which are all roughly 20,000 square feet, could have secondary dwellings on them, Keane told the board Monday night, bringing the potential number of units up to 21. But the board is also wary of two remaining lots on both sides of Black Fish Lane still owned by the Estate of Anita C. Dammin. These lots, about 2.3 acres each, could support seven or eight more lots, and there are also several undeveloped lots on Plainfield Road to the north, said Senior Planner Leslie Woodson.

Property owners in the area worry that asphalt on Burnell Street will encourage faster driving and more use of that road in general, despite the board's assertion that it needs to plan for future development of the area beyond Keane's proposal.

"What we're really concerned about is that this could become kind of a multiplier here, not only because of the traffic, but as a bypass," said John Lancaster of 15_ Burnell St., who added that if

Burnell Street was paved, drivers would circumnavigate

the rest of 'Sconset to get to Milestone Road via New Street more quickly. "I am just afraid about the speeding and traffic that may be siphoned through our neighborhood."

Bill Roberts of 14 Plainfield Road took a broader view of the potential paving of Burnell Street.

"There are two lots that are being left undivided and they do have the rights to develop them into seven more lots," he said. "I think that makes the paving of Burnell Street important, but certainly I think there is the concern of Burnell Street becoming a bypass."

Keane's attorney, Kevin Dale, said that his client is sensitive to property owners' needs and, having already met with some of them, is more than willing to work with them on an amenable solution. But Planning Board member Barry Rector, citing Millbrook Road as a good example of a road that should have been paved but was not, said he needed a better reason than property owners not wanting the paving before he would change his mind about improvements to Burnell Street.

"I really am looking at the potential for the subdivision of land in this area and I really am looking at the two Dammin lots," he said. "I hear what the neighbors are saying loud and clear; I got it. I mean, we all don't like development, we don't like it, but let's understand, the developer is a Nantucket person, and they have rights.

"We need a good darned reason to say no and I just haven't heard it. I'm really trying to find the balance here and look well into the future as to what will happen here."

Technically, the board can only recommend as a condition of approval that Keane pave the road, probably to 20 feet wide if it happens, said Senior Planner Leslie Woodson.

Although Burnell Street is a town road, it is not protected from asphalt paving by the 2001 Town Meeting success of Christine Silverstein's Article 42 that prevents the town from paving its roads outside of the Town Overlay District. Woodson said that Subdivision Control Law allows improvements to the surrounding area in which a subdivision is developed that include paving of dirt town roads.

Nantucket Land Council Executive Director Cormac Collier asked Keane to consider one dwelling per lot, a vegetative buffer on the western end of the development, de-nitrifying septic systems and a provision that that no further subdivision of the lots occur without Planning Board approval.

Keane will, per order of the Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, deed roughly half of Lots 9 and 10 over to an island conservation organization, possibly the 'Sconset Trust, because of endangered species on the southwestern corners of these lots.

The board asked that Keane return to the June 11 meeting with several Burnell Street improvement alternatives that include different widths and speed

control devices. I