HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-7-30.A -,A
ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF NONVOTING TAXPAYERS 012
Minutes of meeting 10 A.M., SATURDAY, July 30, 2016, at A y G
4 Fairgrounds Road % 0
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1. Attending: Gary Beller, Howard Blrtman, David Brown, Don
Green, Peter Halle (10:07 — 10:45), Peter Kahn, Bill Sherman and 9So C�tn'.
Jay Strauss, and guest Allen Reinhard. Members absent: Lou
Bassano, Sue Matloff and Tony Walsh. Ox
2. ACNVT Chair Jay Strauss opened the meeting at 10:01 a.m., noting
that a'quorum was present after 10:07 a.m. and, without objection,
the proposed agenda for the meeting was adopted. He invited any
corrections to the 7/16/16 minutes. Hearing none, he declared the
minutes approved.
3. By way of brief introduction, Allen Reinhard in the past was a
selectman, President of the Nantucket Civic League, and Secretary
of the Town and County Charter Commission, and is currently
Chair of the Land Bank Commission, Chair of the Roads and Right -
of -Way Committee, Chair of the Nantucket Water Commission,
and Chair of the Cemetery Committee. Allen has served for some
26 years as Nantucket Conservation Foundation ranger, currently in
the Middle Moors.
4. Allen explained that the Land Bank, created in 1984 following a
State legislation enacted upon the initiative of Nantucket Planning
Director Bill Klein, currently holds the second largest acreage on
island (total purchase price — $300M), the Nantucket Conservation
Foundation holding the most. Per that act the 5 Land Bank
commissioners with respective 5 -year terms are responsible for
acquiring and managing land in permanent conservation.
Operations are year -round with open meetings of the commissioner
(and executive sessions when legally appropriate).
5. A 2% fee charged buyers on the price of real estate provides the
funding for the Land Bank. Other holders of conservation land
include Trustees of Reservations, the Audubon Society and the
Sconset Trust. These entities work together, also with the Nantucket
Land Council as an important facilitator, to achieve shared goals.
About 47% of island land is in conservation.
6. Responding to a question whether funding for open land acquisition
should now be diverted to affordable housing, Allen noted the
Town seeks a Y2% fee to support affordable housing (House bill
H.4317) without diminishing Land Bank efforts well spent on
conservation to make the island even better. A pending Home Rule
13. With a maintenance staff, the Land Bank has fostered good water
quality, adding to benefits of property purchases to that end, eg, in
Madaket where failed septics have been removed after purchase.
Restoration efforts in the rare sand plains habitat have augmented it.
14.Don Green urged that the Land Bank address the Rotary, especially
on the value of its maintenance program.
15.Harborfront acquisitions will facilitate the in -town bike path
running south from Washington Street extension. Phase I starting in
the fall should approach Marine Home Center. At the Milestone
rotary end, the Ottison property is slated to be Land Bank's subject
to a life interest. A parallel harborfront walking trail is envisioned.
16.Traffic is seen as a serious seasonal though intermittent problem.
Traffic Planner Mike Burns offers some mitigations, subject to
funding. A further head tax on incoming seasonal vehicles or
passengers is politically fraught. Current high level of island
construction entails many contractor vehicles on the roads.
17.In addition to Land Bank monuments marking its property bounds,
Allen called attention to existing and proposed monuments marking
waterfront public access ways. He also felt good about markers and
other improvements to island cemeteries.
18. Chair Jay Strauss set the next ACNVT meeting for August 20,
2016. Tucker Holland has agreed to join us then to deepen our
understanding of affordable housing issues
19.The meeting was adjourned at 11:24 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bill Sherman, Secretary
Draft minutes e- distributed 8/2/16. Minutes adopted 9/3/16,
posted 9/5/16 and hard copy submitted to Town Clerk 9/6/16