Family seeks permit for Muskeget cottage move
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
In trying to avoid the unwanted advances of the Atlantic Ocean, the owners of the Holdgate Cottage on Muskeget Island began moving their building inland in late winter. Although Muskeget is isolated from Nantucket, a Conservation Commission permit was still required for the move, however.

COURTESY OF SHEARWATER EXCURSIONS Retreating seems to be the only option for Steve Holdgate's house, known as the Holdgate Cottage, from the shores of the southwest side of Muskeget Island. Ocean storms have forced Holdgate to move his family's cottage further inland to keep it from slipping into the ocean.

When Shearwater Excursions Captain Blair Perkins went by the southwestern side of the tiny island last week, he saw and photographed a section of the Holdgate Cottage being moved on steel I-beams through the dunes.

Alarmed, he posted his bewilderment - and photos - on Yack.com and thereby set off a flurry of emails and phone calls between Steve Holdgate, cottage co-owner Jason Briggs, ConCom members and concerned islanders. Holdgate deemed the move, with or without a Conservation Commission order of conditions, a necessary action given how close the ocean is to his family's cottage as a result of storms in the last year and the Patriot's Day nor'easter that separated Esther Island from Nantucket.

In a statement emailed to The Nantucket Independent last night, Holdgate explained his actions:

"My greatest fear is that due to its close proximity to the eroding shore, that it would be consumed by the next storm and create an environmental mess along the shoreline. I began prepping the house to be moved, as well as removing junk equipment from the island late last summer. When the pace of erosion appeared it would topple the house before the end of the winter, I began to move the house. If nothing were done, the house would have brokenup along the shore this winter. My hopes were to move the house to a safe location until a permanent solution could be planned by all parties involved."

Briggs, a seasonal resident of Low Beach Road in 'Sconset, said he has not been to the island in two years and has not spent a night in the cottage in five years, and that he relies on Holdgate to maintain the structure. In no way did either owner, according to Briggs, purposely attempt to circumvent the town's bylaws. The unpermitted house move, Briggs and Holdgate say, happened because they were running out of time to move the historic cottage that has been in the Holdgate family for more than 70 years.

"Though Steve may have acted hastily by not applying for a permit in moving the first part of the structure, he did so with the noblest of intentions and preserved the last cottage of its kind," Briggs e-mailed The Independent. "Though I was unaware of the move, I know that Steve's heart is in the right place and he assured me that he applied for an emergency permit May 29, 2007."

As of early yesterday afternoon, Holdgate had yet to apply for a permit to move the house. Conservation Commission Administrator Dirk Roggeveen said he could not really comment on the issue until he learns all the facts and Holdgate files his application

"The protocol is when somebody does work without a permit, we make them get a permit after the fact in order to condition the project and provide for mitigation and restoration if any damage was done," Roggeveen explained.

Built in 1919, the Holdgate Cottage came into the family's possession in the 1930s and is known as the last remaining fishing cottage on Muskeget of the more than 30 that once existed there. The only other building on that island is a boathouse owned by Crocker Snow. Ownership of the 292.11-acre island is divided among Holdgate, Snow and Nantucket, with Holdgate possessing .01 of an acre, Nantucket 119.11 in the form of a public park and Snow owning 173

acres, more than half the island. I