Town seeks grant to study land use
BY PETER A. SUTTERS JR. INDEPENDENT WRITER
Planning Director Andrew Vorce hopes Town Meeting voters will embrace a proactive permitting approach for three different plots of land.

If voters pass articles 90, 91 and 92, designating three specific plots of land as primary development sites, the town will use a state law - including grant money and free permitting consultants - to work with landowners to develop the properties into something beneficial for both residents and developers.

"We want to figure out the potential for the sites," said Vorce. "We can just sit back and wait for an application (for a development) to come forward, or we can elevate the level of discussion and say to the land owners, 'We're serious about this.' If you want people to work with you, you have to bring more than goodwill to the table."

The three plots of land all have different development potential. The earmarked plots include the Candle Street property owned by National Grid that also includes the former Island Spirits site; the tank farm; Grand Union; and the parking lot in front of the market. The other sites are town-owned land at 2 Fairgrounds Road and the industrial zone behind Nantucket Memorial Airport.

The streamlined permitting process will serve a different purpose on Nantucket than it does on the mainland.

An example discussed at a Board of Selectmen workshop last Wednesday was that of a small town looking to attract a developer to a plot of land, bringing jobs to the region. The town would adopt the program at a Town Meeting, then would be eligible for $100,000 in grant money to look at the property and what could be built there - say a manufacturing plant. The property would then be marketed by the state as a potential manufacturing site, and if the state were approached by a manufacturer looking to set up shop, officials would point him to the town and its already studied plot of land.

In Nantucket there is no shortage of developers, and land hardly needs to be marketed by the state.

So, if adopted, how would the law help?

The main advantages, according to Vorce, are the grant money, the consultants available to study specific areas and the show of "goodwill" toward the landowners, who would also have to agree to participate in the process.

Vorce said he has notified the landowners of the town's intentions, but has not heard back. Vorce also stressed that the program, including requesting consultants and dispensing grant money, would come under the auspices of the Board of Selectmen.

The former electric plant on Candle Street is designated a "brown field," meaning it has the potential for development but because of pollutants on the site, completing the development would be more complicated. The town, working with the landowner, could request a brown field expert to study the site and determine what could be done on the site in its current condition or what mitigation efforts could be taken to expand the potential uses.

By endorsing the program, in addition to the $100,000 in state grant money, other grant money could become available because the town is taking the initiative. For example, if it was determined the only way a business could relocate to the industrial zone by the airport was to install a sewer line, the town could apply for grant money to help pay for the installation.

Ultimately, the overall goal of the program is to give the town a larger voice in what happens on the Candle Street property. For the sites at 2 Fairgrounds Road and the industrial zone, it is more about having additional resources to

study the land and its potential uses. I