$26 million purchase will preserve land and rural road at Eel Point
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
Preserving around .87 of a mile of Eel Point Road near 40th Pole beach cost $26.5 million last week.

Nantucket Lot 51, LLC, the blind trust that purchased 9.5 acres at 135 and 137 Eel Point Road from Calm Waters Trust, reportedly wants to save the land from being carved up into five lots and a potential eight dwellings.

More important for the residents of Eel Point Road, the Nantucket Land Council and the Linda Loring Foundation, the Planning Board's requirement that Calm Waters pave from 79 to 135 Eel Point Road is annulled until such time as Nantucket Lot 51 chooses to develop the property. The four approved lots range in size from 2.25 to 2.5 acres. The nearest house is approximately 625 feet away at 133 Eel Point Road.

According to an Aug. 30 article in the Boston Globe by Andrew Ryan entitled "On Nantucket, $26.5m is fair trade for solitude," the new owner has no plans to narrow that gap by building on the fragile rolling coastal dune fields populated with rare plant species.

However, Nantucket Lot 51, LLC does own Calm Waters'subdivision plan for the property, which is good for two years, according to Senior Planner Leslie Woodson.

Nantucket Lot 51, LLC's island attorney, Richard Glidden, could not be reached for comment.

The paving tied to Calm Waters'Aug. 13 Planning Board approval is a condition rooted in the board's underlying mission of making infrastructure improvements in areas where new development is occurring in an effort to plan for increased use. In the case of Eel Point Road, the board considered the traffic to be generated by the Linda Loring Nature Foundation, the safety of those traveling there and possible development of other parcels on the road.

The property is assessed at

$19,454,900. I