Planning staff may assume entire workload of ZBA
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
By a vote of 8-0, the Nantucket Planning & Economic Development Commission endorsed the concept of creating a memorandum of an agreement with the Board of Selectmen for the planning staff to assume all Zoning Board of Appeals duties.

Should such an agreement - a statement of governing parameters between the Planning Commission and the selectmen - be drawn up and finalized, the planning staff will have the authority to handle all of the ZBA's workload and report on it to Planning Director Andrew Vorce until the position of ZBA administrator is either filled or restructured.

Ever since Town Manager Libby Gibson fired ZBA Administrator Linda Williams on Sept. 25, the planning staff has been doing her duties of preparing for monthly ZBA meetings, processing applications, doing inspections and generally working with the public on board of appeals issues. This memorandum of agreement will allow part-time planning staff member John Brescher to continue handling Williams' workload, said Senior Planner Leslie Woodson.

If created, the M0A between the Planning Commission and the selectmen would also formalize the position of Planning Board Administrative Specialist Catherine Ancero, and it would establish a structure and set goals for a housing planner that the commission is hoping to hire next year through Community Preservation Committee funding.

The memorandum of agreement has yet to be drawn up, but support for it was unanimous among the commissioners and Gibson, as Planning Director Andrew Vorce and Woodson stressed that ZBA work would not overburden the planning staff.

"When the [ZBA administrator] position was first vacant, I was doing a lot of the follow-up work and what was left over from the previous meeting," said Woodson. "Between those items, it wasn't a huge amount of work. Having it as an administrative position, one person can easily handle that amount of work."

Woodson said that the MOA would likely be written and voted on after the annual Town Meeting in April when the fate of the housing

planner is determined. I