HomeMy WebLinkAbout20140726-SacktonLtr-QSAad_201407301255570321From:Libby Gibson
To:Bob DeCosta; Bruce D. Miller (midasack1@comcast.net); Rick Atherton (rickatherton@comcast.net); snatural@nantucket.net; Tobias Glidden (integrity11@gmail.com)
Cc:Erika Mooney
Subject:FW: "Sconset Bluff Erosion
Date:Monday, July 28, 2014 8:32:10 AM
BOS – fyi
Erika – put this on the website please
C. Elizabeth Gibson
Town Manager
Town of Nantucket
(508) 228-7255
From: jsackton@seafood.com [mailto:jsackton@seafood.com] On Behalf Of Toby SacktonSent: Saturday, July 26, 2014 3:17 PMTo: Libby GibsonSubject: 'Sconset Bluff Erosion July 26, 2014 Hinckley Lane, Nantucket
Siasconset beach bluff erosion
To the Nantucket selectmen
Our family has been summer residents (and some full time residents) of Nantucket since after
the civil war when Lorin Lowe Dame taught at Nantucket high school, and continued to return in the summers, eventually buying Hinckley Farm where some in our family still have
homes.
Naturally we have seen many changes in Nantucket over the years, but most of us have felt the heart and soul of this unique island has remained intact despite the impact of enormous homes
and wealthy visitors. For some Nantucket may be interchangeable with other prestigious destinations.
But Nantucket also has many families who have been here and nowhere else for multiple
generations and who love the Island as it exists. We do not believe that wealth buys the right to harm our unique heritage of open beaches and yearly changes in response to natural forces.
We have followed with interest the Concom hearings regarding hard armoring the bluff below
Baxter rd, and were relieved the commission has denied the geo tube project.
I feel that SBPF's approach to Nantucket is to destroy the Island in order to save it. Unless you propose to create a rocky headland instead of Siasconset beach, there is no long term
solution to the erosion along Baxter rd. I am sorry for those affected, but I feel buyers on this Island should know the risks they face, and not come running to taxpayers with a futile plan
that harms everyone else just for the sake of a few extra years.
Six of the eight threatened homes on Baxter road were purchased since 2000. Did the buyers not understand how the bluff was eroding? Did they not know that part of the Sconset Bluff
path had already been lost to erosion, or that Sankaty light would have to be moved westward.
My wife's grandfather owned four lots on Maine Avenue in Madaket. Today they are a few hundred yards out to sea. Once there were dozens of lots on that street. Today 5 or 6 remain.
We accepted that as a failed investment, and did not ask the town or the tax payers to make us whole. I would expect the same from those on Baxter road who have not pursued alternate
plans.
I am not sure where this issue currently stands. I am writing because the advertisement of the Quidnet Squam Association in the Inquirer and Mirror caught my eye.
But I urge the Selectmen to sever all ties to SBPF, not to co-sponsor or enter into any future
projects, and to expeditiously begin the proceedings to secure alternate access to the north end of Baxter road so when the road is cut by natural erosion, or becomes impassable, the
town will have the appropriate plan in place to meet its obligations.
Spending town money on anything else at this point..such as partnering with SBPF and assuming enormous liability if their schemes fail and they abandon the Island, is just not
being a proper steward of Nantucket.
Sincerely
Toby Sackton12 Hinckley Lane