Hidden public ways to the water under scrutiny
Town to hire full-time surveyor
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER

Photo Rob Benchl ey Allen Reinhard, chairman of the town's Roads and Right of Way Committee, will present his findings at tonight's Board of Selectmen's meeting.

After a three-year study by the Roads and Right of Way Committee, the town is getting serious about clearing and marking public ways to the water, many of which have become overgrown by bushes or covered up by sheds, hedges and lawns put in by abutters.

Henry Street off Hulbert Avenue, the little path along the north side of Squam Pond and the road to Warren's Landing are all public ways leading to the water that the Roads and Right of Ways Committee wants you to know about.

Allen Reinhard, chairman of the Roads and Right of Way Committee, will present this committee's work for the last three years, "A Plan for the Improvement of Public Access and Rights of Way within Nantucket County" to the Board of Selectmen/County Commissioners at tonight's meeting in hopes of gaining their endorsement of this plan.

"My feeling is now is the time to do this, now that the island is changing so rapidly, as we see every square foot being developed; now is the time to see where all these rights-of-way are and to guarantee that future generations will have access to these places," said Reinhard.

The goal of the right-of-way plan, which includes a comprehensive map posted on the Roads and Right of Way Committee's link on the town's Web site, as well as a historical rightsof way booklet done by Francis Karttunen and a walking path plan, is to identify and map out every road, path and way on Nantucket to which the public has access and ensure that they are opened up, kept open and well marked for the public's use.

"It's certainly been something that's been worked on for a long time and I get the sense from the community that they're interested in rights of way," said Board of Selectmen Chairman Michael Kopko.

Reinhard said the plan is designed to preserve access to all public lands and shorelines, encourage new paths, promote careful and responsible use of these ways, educate users on the historic, cultural and geologic heritage of the island and show people the health benefits of wa lking.

"I've been working with all of the groups, including both the Land Bank and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, and all of them are coming together to address the whole issue of public access and the public's right to access these ways, so that future generations don't have to go through all of this we've gone through to sort this all out."

Reinhard got the idea for a right-ofway improvement plan about two years ago when he read of Great Britain's rightto roam law, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act of 2000, granting the public walking rights to all private property categorized as mountain, moor, heath or down. Naturally, Reinhard is not advocating opening up existing private property for public access, but he and the Roads and Right of Way Committee want people to know what they do have access to on the island.

This plan contains eight recommendations to the selectmen and county commissioners, including that the town create a part-time town/county right-of-way coordinator function that could be performed by the town's beach manager and would likely work in conjunction with the full-time town surveyor for which town is advertising now.

"Currently, the Land Bank spends about $30,000 a year in surveying, and altogether, the town spends a tremendous amount of money on surveying," said Reinhard. "Some of the [town-hired] contractors have a conflict of interest and can't do it all the time. Having our own surveyor will better serve the town in terms of these takings and in terms of identifying the property the town owns. I think ultimately, it's going to be a cost-saving to the town."

The other seven recommendations include:

• Marking public ways and access points to beaches, ponds and public lands with uniform monuments inscribed "Public Way,"

• Marking public roads, especially in rural areas, with uniform monuments with road names,

• Determining which private roads and ways currently access public property or property open to the public and updating the Priority Takings list on an annual basis,

• Establishing a policy statement encouraging planners and town county officials, as a p o licy, to co nsider pedestrian and public access when reviewing new development and land acquisition projects,

• Establishing a policy to bury utility lines and service cables, wherever possible, throughout the Town and County of Nantucket,

• Requiring an annual budget for maintenance and oversight of public ways and future county takings of private ways where appropriate,

• Including access and maintenance of the island's public and historic cemeteries in the budget for Right of Way issues and maintenance.

Kopko agrees with the Roads and Rights of Way Committee on the creation of these positions.

"It was actually part of a larger kind of vision about the Planning Board and town," said Kopko. "There are a lot of these right-of-way issues that we do and a lot of times we have a hard time getting them done in a timely fashion because surveyors are busy, so it made sense to have someone on staff."

The selectmen meet tonight at 6 p.m. in the Town & County Building at 16 Broad St. Call 228-7255 for details.