HomeMy WebLinkAboutRight-of-Way Minutes - September 20, 2011 (Draft)_201402041507572770NANTUCKET ROADS AND RIGHT OF WAY COMMITTEE DRAFT MINUTES
September 20, 2011
CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Allen Reinhard called the monthly meeting of the Roads and Right of Way
Committee to order at 4:00 PM on Tuesday, September 20, at the Town Building at 2
Fairgrounds Road. In addition to Mr. Reinhard, the following Committee members were
present: Nat Lowell, John Stackpole, Bert Ryder, Sylvie O’Donnell. Joe Marklinger was
also present.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The DRAFT Minutes of the August 16, 2011 meeting were unanimously approved with
corrections provided by Andrew Vorce.
2012 ATM warrant articles: Paper Roads
Chairman Reinhard then introduced Planning Director, Andrew Vorce to discuss two warrant
articles he has prepared for 2012 Annual Town Meeting regarding the taking of unconstructed
ways, so-called paper roads, the result of prior approved subdivisions going back to the late
1800’s and early 1900’s. He has divided the ways into two lists, one containing those ways that
provide public access to Town property or provide open space, and a second list of ways that may
be considered for the Town’s yard sale program. The committee reviewed each of the ways on
both lists, concurred with the recommendations and strongly supported the articles. Significant
island acreage is tied up in these paper roads and these roads do not appear on the tax roll of the
Town. The designation of a portion of these roads as Open Space will have an impact on the
Town’s need to provide affordable housing as these unconstructed ways are counted as potential
areas for development as the Commonwealth calculates appropriate affordable housing density. A
further benefit is the resolution of legal issues concerning abutter liability and other legal issues
surrounding these ways. Development of these articles is based on the success of the warrant
articles in past years dealing with paper roads in the Dionis area and in Surfside with the object of
improving the stewardship of these lands and placing unproductive land on the tax roll.
Nantucket Downtown Sidewalk Project
Next followed a brief discussion of the status of our Town Sidewalks Project. Chairman Reinhard
reported that he had reported to the BOS at their September 7 meeting on our two priorities for
the coming year: a sidewalk and other improvements along First Way from Hooper Farm Road
to the schools to improve the safety of children’s access to the schools, and the completion of a
sidewalk from the end of the Prospect Street multiuse path to Vestal Street while the Board
considers an alternate bike/pedestrian route via Mill Hill. The Chairman will meet with
transportation planner, Mike Burns, to develop a plan to solicit resident input for the alternate
route. In the meantime, a sidewalk along the remainder of Prospect Street and a portion of
Quaker Road remains a priority for the safety of pedestrians traversing this very dangerous
passage. The Town Sidewalk Project is a work in progress. It was felt that the committee should
focus on specific problem areas and egregious encroachments in the downtown area. Nat Lowell
raised several issues that the Downtown Road and Sidewalk Committee studied several years ago.
There seems to be no alternative to parking on sidewalks on the narrower streets of town.
CPC Grant Funds
A brief discussion of use of our CPC grant to improve public access revealed that this is also a
work in progress. Andrew Vorce suggested the one use of these funds would be to hire an
engineer/consultant to look at gaps in existing trail systems throughout the island and identify any
missing links. He announced that the path across town property adjacent to Dionis Beach had
been cut and stairs over the dune will be constructed over the winter with a possible ribbon
cutting in the spring. This will complete the western North/South trail leading from Nantucket
Harbor to the South Shore, part of our Nantucket Greenway Project. It was suggested that some
of the grant funds could be used to support the taking of certain paper roads for use as public
access to the Greenway Trail System.
Encroachments on Public Ways
Further discussion followed of encroachments on Public Ways, especially in Nantucket town.
The chairman and Joe Marklinger will meet to discuss what can and might be done to address
various encroachments.
Conflict of Interest Presentation
The chair briefly discussed the Conflict of Interest presentation by Town Counsel’s office held
yesterday. Highlights of the presentation were covered with a reminder that if a committee
member is concerned whether they might have a conflict of interest on any issue that comes
before the R&ROW Committee, feel free to check with the chairman. The only powers our
committee has is to make recommendations to the Board of Selectmen. We do not enter into
contracts and rarely expend Town funds or deal with financial matters directly.
Adjournment
Having reached the end of our agenda with no further business presented, the meeting was
adjourned at 5:20.
Respectfully submitted,
Allen Reinhard, Secretary Pro Tem