GHYC: Piers will have minor impact on scenic vistas
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
In a harbor full of boats and piers, what harm can a 40-slip pier do to Nantucket Harbor?

That is the Great Harbor Yacht Club's argument - one that it hopes will lead to a Conservation Commission finding that the club's proposed docks and piers will not significantly impact wetland scenic views.

At the commission's May 23 meeting, it skipped over reaching a consensus on the club's potential impacts on recreational scalloping and moved on to scenic view and wildlife impacts.

Great Harbor attorney Ed Woll Jr.'s argument for the club is that the new docks and piers are going to blend right in with the rest of the harbor's marine uses.

"If you look at the views, it does include manmade views of piers that are part of Nantucket Harbor," he said. "The question would be, are these out of place, and I think the answer is no, and are they large enough that they're out of place, and I think the answer is no."

But Nantucket Land Council executive director Cormac Collier said seeing the harbor from Monomoy is not the only view of Nantucket Harbor, and that other scenic vistas are going to be impaired.

"What they have failed to show is what can be seen from the shoreline from the west and the northeast, what the project will look like," said Collier. "There will be serious impacts from the Creeks and it is an area that is enjoyed by many people who use the Creeks."

The commission had mixed feelings on how the views of the wetlands, namely, the Creeks would be impacted.

"In the summertime, you can't see the [Brant Point] lighthouse because the boats are in the way," said ConCom member David Gray. "It's better than what's sitting there now."

But fellow commissioner Ernie Steinauer said views of the Creeks from all directions need to be considered.

"There may be other points of looking at the Creeks," said Steinaurer. "My personal feeling is that the Creeks are one of the most significant views in the harbor."

To give the commission and the club's opponents a sense of how the piers would look, McCarthy agreed to erect a pole at the height of the piers and run yellow construction caution tape between it and the club's existing wharf.

Regarding wildlife impacts, Woll's line of reasoning for Great Harbor is that all of the information that the ConCom needs to make its findings already exists in the record. But just in case, Woll had Donald Schall of ENSR International, the club's biological consulting firm, report on what the impacts could be on birds.

"The use within this pier footprint has been herring gulls that would use it for resting stations cormorants that would use it for resting stations [and the gulls are] using the concrete to break shells," Schall. "Within this footprint, I have seen no evidence of breeding or mating."

When Nantucket bird expert Edie Ray said horseshoe crabs could be affected, Schall countered that since the dredging for the piers and their installation would be done during the winter, no horseshoe crabs would be harmed.

"If that's done in the winter season, those horseshoes crabs aren't going to be in the area, they're going to be in deeper water," said Schall, who added that he also did not find much eelgrass in the project area nor any mussels that diving sea birds go for. "I don't anticipate any impacts on the migratory species as this work will be done in the winter months."

But Ray said that there are many other wildlife impacts to consider for species that live on Nantucket year-round, including the Northern harrier.

"The old name for Northern harriers is actually marsh hawk," said Ray. "They do utilize open spaces for hunting, they do utilize things such as meadow voles, they do take small kittens, they will hover over nests and take things out of them, and they will nest on marshes."

Land Council attorney Peter Fenn got right to his point, telling the commission that Great Harbor had not provided enough information on wildlife impacts.

"I'm calling your attention to the lack of evidence and a lack of a clear showing of impacts on wildlife," said Fenn. "We haven't heard it yet."

The commission will hear more from Great Harbor and its opponents as it continued the hearing to June 6 at 4 p.m. in the conference room at the

Town Annex building at 37 Washington St. I