Stop & Shop parking lot expansion moves forward
BY DANIEL W. DRAKE ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
The Planning Board has given the thumbs up to Stop & Shop Supermarket Corporation's application to remove the old bank building from the southeast corner of its midisland property and increase the parking capacity of its lot by 17 spaces.

By coincidence, this project will bring the total number of spaces to 139, the number currently required by the town's zoning by-law. Final approval will not occur until an order has been drafted, which is expected for the board's June 25 meeting. But at the public hearing last Thursday night, members of the board expressed their delight at the project.

"It will be a big improvement to the current situation," said Chairman Frank Spriggs. "Hallelujah," said board member Barry Rector.

At Spriggs' suggestion, Stop & Shop said it would try to work in a four-foot wide, brick path traversing the edge of the property which borders the firehouse between Sparks Avenue and Pleasant Street. Also, at the request of Spriggs and board member Nat Lowell, the two vehicle entrances to the lot will be widened by a couple of feet to make turning easier, particularly on the Sparks Avenue side. Finally, Stop & Shop's representatives said that the delivery entrance area to the rear of the store would be cleaned up as well.

According to Arthur Reade, Stop & Shop's attorney, the company had hoped to work the increased parking into a plan that would include Stop & Shop's use of the firehouse property, after that facility moves to Fairgrounds Road. However, Reade said, "There are no active discussions with the town at this time …" on Stop & Shop's possible acquisition of that property and the company decided that it should move ahead with the parking lot expansion sooner rather later. Reade also said the removal of the bank branch (possibly to be recycled for housing) and creation of the new parking spaces would occur sometime after the summer, but has not been scheduled.

Among other matters before the Planning Board was a public hearing on the revised site plan for the Manor House's expansion at the corner of Centre and Chestnut street, and another on the proposed North Shore four-lot subdivision on Eel Point Road next to the 40th Pole, as well as a review of a preliminary subdivision plan to create 22 lots (four with second dwellings) at 68 and 72 North Liberty Street.

By a 4-1 vote, the Manor House was given approval to go ahead with its expansion plan on the condition that it create nine underground parking spaces, which will use a stacking system to park some of the cars and will require a valet in full-time attendance during the season and other peak periods. Member John McLauglin dissented, noting he didn't want to approve any parking waivers downtown where a developer embarked on a project with the expectation that the board would grant waivers of on-site parking requirements. McLauglin said, "It creates problems for all of us."

Most of the discussion of the North Shore and North Liberty Street projects by board members focused on the roadways. In the case of Eel Point Road the board's concern was about the road's being returned to its plotted track and how it might be improved with a pervious surface constructed with artificial materials as a substitute for the usual, high maintenance, gravel or shells. Cormac Collier, representing the Nantucket Land Council, spoke of the ecological importance of the tract and raised a number of concerns about the project, including the possible presence of archaeological sites and endangered plant and animal species.

With respect to North Liberty Street the board members' comments centered on whether the proposed street into the cul de sac would be wide enough to accommodate onstreet parking in a development similar in density to Naushop or Woodbury Commons. The board also suggested that the developer incorporate side walks on both sides of the street rather than on just one side, as proposed.

The entire tract of land which now incorporates the firehouse, the Stop & Shop property and the commercial development that extends to the street running along the northwest side of the Sanford Boat Building was owned by Sherburne Associates, Walter Beinecke's company, according to Arthur Reade.

The Stop & Shop store, then operated as First National and later as Finast, opened in 1960 when the facility was relocated from Main Street. Beinecke subsequently transferred to the town the parcel where the firehouse, occupied in 1980, now sits. He also sold to Pacific National Bank (now Bank of America) the lot where its branch sat for many years, until the branch was relocated a couple of hundred yards to the southeast on Sparks Avenue in 2001. In 1977, the piece of land behind the Stop & Shop store was sold to Alfred and Edward Sanford who subsequently developed it. They have just sold the Sanford Boat Building

In 1982, Beinecke sold the Stop & Shop parcel to Stephen Karp, the owner of Nantucket Island Resorts, in what in what is believed to have been one of the first ventures into commercial real estate on Nantucket for the successful Boston developer. Stop & Shop purchased the land under its store

from Karp about six years ago. I