To pave, or not to pave, let the committee decide
BY PETER A. SUTTERS JR. INDEPENDENT WRITER
The Board of Selectmen heard proposals last Wednesday for two new committees that will make policy recommendations regarding road resurfacing outside of town and policies for road resurfacing, sidewalks, parking and traffic inside of town.

"The cobblestone issue, it's an expensive thing to do, but it's an option we are going to have to look at." - Patty Roggeveen, Selectman

The boards, to be made up of seven to nine members, will be similar to the Sewer Committee in that they will have a certain set of goals to address and will disband after the completion of their recommendations.

The yet-to-be-named committees were formed after discussions began on how to handle road resurfacing in places like West Chester Street, along with a general lack of a policy for what to do when a developer is ordered by the Planning Board to pave a road, but it may not be in the best interest of the town to pave it.

"It's very fair to say that road resurfacing is not just a use issue on Nantucket," said Selectman Patty Roggeveen, who worked on the formation of both committees. "Aesthetics is an issue; it's important for the island to maintain a historic flavor."

Roggeveen said the town pays so much attention to what houses look like through the Historic District Commission, it only makes sense to draw up a policy about what the road in front of the house should look like.

Under the current proposal, a representative of the Historic District Commission - either an elected HDC member or a member of the staff - will be seated on the committee.

"Even if it's saying that keeping a certain road dirt on the way to the beach to keep it feeling like Nantucket, that's fine," said Roggeveen.

Roggeveen said one of the committee's goals should center around what to do in case a developer is ordered to pave a road, as was the case last summer on Eel Point Road, but it may not be in the neighborhood's best interest to do so.

"Maybe there can be a policy where an account is established with the money that would have been used for paving and it can instead be used for regular grading," said Roggeveen. "We can accept the money, but not necessarily go out and do the paving that very day."

Roggeveen also said there was a "grey area" between the town and country overlay districts and some roads do not fit neatly into one or the other.

Another goal was how to incorporate parking and sidewalks on narrow streets in town where the sidewalk has become a defacto parking spot because there is not enough room on the street.

Another issue, and one that will come before voters at this year's Annual Town Meeting, is whether the town should resurface roads in the Old Historic District with cobblestones rather than asphalt.

"The cobblestone issue, it's an expensive thing to do, but it's an option we are going to have to look at," Roggeveen said.

Roggeveen, who worked with Selectman Michael Kopko on the formation of the out-of-town committee and Selectman Brian Chadwick on the intown committee, said specific meeting times, goals and the length of each committee's lifespan will not be addressed

until the committees are formed. I