New zoning districts planned
PLANNING
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
New commercial districts, the re-zoning of existing neighborhoods and new zones to protect open space and water-dependent harbor uses are some of the highlights of Planning Board and Board of Selectmen zoning articles on this year's Town Meeting warrant.

Voters who want to learn how Articles 28 through 65 might impact their lives should attend tomorrow night's Planning Board public hearing. The board will take public comments on the articles and then vote to give them positive or negative recommendations.

In 2007, Town Meeting voters adopted language to create several new zoning districts. At this year's session, voters will have the opportunity to approve the areas where the new definitions will apply. Articles that will result in changes to existing zoning districts are detailed in brief below:

• Article 28: Puts commercial uses into new commercial districts as approved by Town Meeting voters in 2007;

• Article 30: Mapping of the proposed Commercial- Industrial zone near the airport in which Land-Use- General-3 land is to be converted to Commercial- Industrial;

• Article 32: Conversion of six lots on Hatch Circle and Raceway Drive from Residential-Commercial-2 to Residential-10, decreasing density;

• Article 33: Changes three lots on the southwest side of Raceway Drive from Residential-Commercial-2 to Residential-10;

• Article 34: Swaps nine lots on Clara Drive from Residential-Commercial-2 into Residential-10;

• Article 35: Modifies 11 lots on the northwest side of Somerset Road from Residential-Commercial-2 to Residential-10;

• Article 36: In the interest of open space protection, this article changes undevelopable land in Madaket and on Smith's Point from Residential-Commercial to Land- Use-General-3 to lower the density as much as possible;

• Article 37: With the same intent as Article 36, this article changes 14 lots northwest of Lover's Lane, including four lots making up the State Forest, from Land-Use- General-2 to Land-Use-General-3;

• Article 38: Another open space preservation article, this one focuses on 11 lots near Weweeder Pond that will be altered from Land-Use-General-2 to Land-Use- General-3;

• Article 39: Takes 15 lots northwest of Miacomet Pond out of the Residential-Commercial district and deposits them into Land-Use-General-3, lowering density; the article also changes four lots just north of the Moorlands Management District from Land-Use- General-2 to Land-Use-General-3;

• Article 40: One of the new commercial districts, the land outlined in this article that includes Nantucket Cottage Hospital would go from Residential-1 to Commercial-Neighborhood and 10 lots along Vesper Lane, including Holdgate's Laundry, and along Surfside Road would be converted from Residential-10 to Commercial-Neighborhood;

• Article 42: Article 42 converts three lots along Raceway Drive from Residential-Commercial-2 to Commercial-Neighborhood;

• Article 43: Commercial-Trade-Entrepreneurshipand Crafts is the second of two new districts replacing the Residential-Commercial designations, and nine lots on Clara Drive and Todd Circle could be put into either this new district or Commercial-Neighborhood if this article is approved;

• Article 44: The same applies to 67 and 69 Surfside Road where land now in the Residential-Commercial-2 zone would go into the Commercial-Trade- Entrepreneurship-and Crafts zone;

• Article 46: A neighborhood rezoning for Kelley Road, Article 46 would change 15 lots from Land-Use- General-3 to Land-Use-General-1, increasing density, and two lots from Land-Use-General-1 to Land-Use-General- 3, decreasing density;

• Article 47: Similar to 46, this effort changes 15 and 28 Kelley Road from Land-Use-General-3 to Land-Use- General-1, increasing density;

• Article 48: An expansion of the Multi-Family Overlay District would cover the southern end of Nobadeer Farm Road, and portions of Teasdale Circle and Hinsdale Road;

• Articles 49, 50 and 51: Article 49 is the language behind a proposed harbor overlay district for Nantucket and Madaket harbors protecting water-dependent uses. Articles 50 and 51 are the maps delineating what portions of these waterfronts are to be included in this new district.

Tomorrow night's public hearing is at 6 p.m. in the garage at 2 Fairgrounds Road, the first right after Fairgrounds Road heading toward the airport on Old South Road. Call 228-7233 for details. To get a fuller understanding of these articles, read and view maps of the areas they apply to online at www.nantucketma. gov/Pages/NantucketMA_Planning/2008zoning. To view or download the 2008 Town Meeting warrant, go to this link on the town's Web site: www.nantucketma.

gov/Pages/NantucketMA_TownMeeting/index. I