Madaket residents unite against Nantucket Sporting Club plan
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
Unified in their opposition, residents of Madaket turned out in force Monday night to tell the Planning Board why the proposed Nantucket Sporting Club should not be permitted at 324 and 326 Madaket Road.

Members of the Madaket Conservation Association, the Smith's Point Association and their attorneys said that the planned 300-member hunting, fishing and sports outfitting club would overburden the west end community by elevating traffic and noise levels, threaten groundwater with its septic system and negatively impact the marine inhabitants of Hither Creek and Madaket Harbor.

"The Madaket community derives no benefit from this private facility being proposed," said the 100-member Madaket Conservation Association in a statement read by attorney Rhoda Weinman. "If this proposal is approved, it will have a severe impact on the Madaket community, and on the environment in the surrounding area. The stress on Madaket Harbor flats, the clam and scallop beds and the marshes will be enormous, not to mention what the increased traffic and noise will create in the area."

After that, Weinman ticked off a laundry list of requests for the developers that included parking, hours of operation, ammunition, waivers, noise levels, limits on special club events and water usage related to salt intrusion into residential wells. Residents of Madaket then shared their specific concerns.

"Many people in Madaket would really hate to lose a public restaurant," said Marjorie Colley of 52 Tennessee Ave. "If there was any way that public use of the restaurant could be included, I think it could happen and it could make it more of public/private use."

Club developer Madaket Partners, LLC - Jamie Feeley, owner of Cottage & Castle, Inc. and Greg Cohen - are seeking a major commercial development special permit to re-develop the two lots totaling .57 of an acre on the site of the closed Westender Restaurant. Feeley and Cohen want to demolish the West End Market next to the restaurant, pick up the main building, move it to where the market was and build an addition on its north end.

Inside the building, Madaket Partners plans to convert the existing 96-seat dining area into a 60-seat private restaurant. They also plan to build lockers, create a space for gutting game and to store fishing and hunting equipment and ammunition, but no ammunition will be sold on the premises. On a second floor deck, bocce and shuffleboard courts are planned, while elsewhere in the building a two-lane bowling alley is proposed.

Feeley and Cohen are proposing to add one more parking space to the 37 that exist and are asking the board to waive the requirement for a loading zone.

What concerned the Planning Board most is the potential intensification of uses in this part of Madaket.

"How do you keep all 300 members from using the club at once?" asked Planning Board Chairman Frank Spriggs. "The Westmoor Club and the Great Harbor Yacht Club, they both have 300 members. However, if you count the wives and the kids, you could go up to like 700 people, so that's something you need to consider for this lot with 37 parking spots."

Although the developers are proposing a larger septic system than the 400,000-gallon system that is currently on site, Spriggs said he was very concerned about it. He and fellow member John McLaughlin also wondered aloud about the impact on Madaket from this new use.

"[Another thing] you may want to think about is what is this club going to contribute to the Madaket area and the citizens that live there and the citizens of Nantucket," said Spriggs.

Planning Board member Barry Rector asked that Feeley and Cohen come up with hours of operation, work on their parking calculations with the board's staff and suggest possible public uses of the club.

"The other thing which I think would be important would be to come up with something that says what defines membership," he added.

Planning Board member Sylvia Howard asked Madaket Conservation Association member Ken Giles to furnish the board with information drawing comparisons between the Madaket Admiralty Club and Nantucket Sporting Club for the next meeting.

The Planning Board continued the public hearing to

Feb. 11. I