[{"_1":2,"_86":-5,"_87":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6203036,"mediaKeyId","3784595-63b2d6f480cd4f5d1db34069f4ba7458","parentId",3784595,"title","Nantucket panel debates housing solutions: Land Bank role, transfer fees and repurposing existing stock","audioSeconds",2740,"startMs",4072000,"endMs",6812000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3784595-63b2d6f480cd4f5d1db34069f4ba7458&start=4072&end=6812","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3784595-63b2d6f480cd4f5d1db34069f4ba7458/thumbnail_4072000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6203036/Nantucket-County/Massachusetts/Nantucket-panel-debates-housing-solutions-Land-Bank-role-transfer-fees-and-repurposing-existing-stock","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6203036-a01a3f4ef28ae6882ca11763913c286d/orig.mp4?Expires=1771148974&Signature=dVx5EOC1vg45oAykHkmwPdeINHXLb5-AU42u9gdp22yBTnHKB8W49GGCphuuRhke81HFZnJ37nDQ54Wu7o46ixI6~UprGyXJEcwIzhyOh58~TzjfoHIrvWHCY4OGCUciUl~1yDX2bjlP54aMQIylvUVmGKsxWFU4Yw4XUKDIwlOTaSKMYlEs7MVDMkGEVpL1SlDEtEQES9WbpBbhAtbtL2jvK79jvXfH~PpKErfMOcEUhc-3qPn~wsx3KBQ9Eh9TMu2tI9QmEIAzUMxFg~09DzpcP5sL~cWcw4KhEfZ-WwBy5IMJXvMatgMRPcEVxhG8--J~KmH7yBTK03nv8vFMlQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Town-County of Nantucket, MA","date","2025-06-12T16:02:06.363Z","article","Speakers at a public forum in Nantucket discussed the town’s shortage of housing that is affordable to year‑round workers and seniors, and they debated policy tools — from Land Bank collaboration and transfer fees to repurposing existing inventory and incremental, low‑cost projects.

Beth Anne Meehan, a loan officer and commissioner at the Nantucket Housing Authority, said maintaining a year‑round community is her priority. \"My dream is to maintain our year round community in any way possible,\" she said, calling for courage to identify where to site affordable housing. Rachel Freeman, executive director of the Nantucket Land Bank, described the Land Bank as created by the state legislature and publicly supported in 1984, and said the agency is \"spending a lot of time listening and learning about the community and trying to think collaboratively about how we can be creative and cooperate to do that dreaming.\"

Panelists discussed several concrete constraints and options raised in the session. Chuck, the visiting planner, said conservation alone does not exhaust developable land and suggested more productive use of existing footprints: \"Without going over two stories, if you want to keep it that, you could triple the number of housing units you have just by using space better.\" Penny Dye and others flagged conservation as a factor in limited supply; the audience heard a Land Bank staff summary that roughly half the island is in conservation or open space.

Speakers and questioners offered operational ideas: reuse and repurpose existing structures (the panel noted that \"the most sustainable building is the one that's already built\"); create lower‑cost entry points for entrepreneurs, such as Muskegon, Mich.'s storage‑shed retail example; and use transfer‑fee revenue or other subsidies to keep units reserved for year‑round residents. Several panelists and audience members urged prioritizing people who already live and work on the island: one planner noted that for certain town lotteries (Wiggles Way was cited) there were hundreds of applicants who meet year‑round residency requirements.

Attendees raised workforce housing and staffing for long‑term services such as nursing homes and the hospital. A clinician in the audience said staffing shortages are tied to housing: many health‑care workers now rotate and bring families or pets and cannot afford local rents, creating turnover in critical positions.

Panelists repeatedly contrasted two approaches: (1) continuing to pursue larger grant‑driven, infrastructure‑heavy projects that can be expensive and slow, or (2) staging many small, rapid steps that improve daily life and allow the community to test and learn. Several speakers urged combining both approaches: craft an agreed community vision and use it to prioritize which small steps to take first.

Ending: The forum closed with requests that attendees remain engaged with the planning process and with panelists offering to continue follow‑up conversations.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Nantucket Master Plan Visioning Process Kick Off","oneSentenceSummary","Panelists and audience members discussed affordable housing for Nantucket’s year‑round residents, Land Bank collaboration, the transfer fee proposal, and practical steps such as repurposing existing buildings and creating low‑barrier entry points for local entrepreneurs.","taxTitle","Nantucket County, Massachusetts","taxId",61456,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":79,"_47":80,"_49":81,"_51":82,"_53":83,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":84,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":85,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6203042,"Strong Towns presenter: 'Our cities are broke' and town planning should 'start small'",0,1533000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3784595-63b2d6f480cd4f5d1db34069f4ba7458&start=1533&end=1533","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3784595-63b2d6f480cd4f5d1db34069f4ba7458/thumbnail_1533000.jpg","/articles/6203042/Nantucket-County/Massachusetts/Strong-Towns-presenter-Our-cities-are-broke-and-town-planning-should-start-small","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6203042-3c85aba22756467af544da7488453c59/orig.mp4?Expires=1771148974&Signature=dufDCIurJmUviHi5ZmgDOKdtgqYYFcl5cBfLfc7fyAl6uXS1VvitK9dFujmWwlrjBo5RBxH5POyR69RzwWYma-NX8IIV6t1w-QblzI9LH4kFh0JoRz9EBUS88gAKyfcgArymZmYHfCFEx26o42r7nCCQVmHkt9NHPb5WPfh62xRzqkMqhZMeFpFylEzC4hiwtgDnORQeslztouFFC4HhWNgU3aY7BPDgs8dxW~puNfMZiudlV6yvPf~vkpAANUSPgwECMyIo6p6ODONXbElb92pj40zQY1BMqjc7RI5UoZMgJ8~0hKEfhNy6s93HC3~4~t7Rjgb4MrN8~aEPJ7FeZQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Chuck, a planner and engineer from Brainerd, Minnesota, told a Nantucket panel on [date not specified] that many North American cities cannot pay to maintain the infrastructure built during post‑World War II growth and that towns should prioritize small, observable fixes over large, grant‑driven projects. \"Our cities are broke. They are financially insolvent,\" he said during a presentation that compared historical downtown patterns with suburban growth.

Chuck said that before the Great Depression most cities matured incrementally — small wooden buildings replaced over decades by denser brick structures — producing neighborhoods with high value per acre. He argued that the post‑war “cookie‑cutter” growth model was designed to grow population quickly but left municipalities with far more pipes, roads and hydrants per resident than earlier patterns required. \"Where is the wealth that we are going to tap into to pay for that investment?\" he asked, pointing to a block in his hometown where half a million dollars of public infrastructure exists but the adjacent parcels no longer produce the same tax base.

The presentation used maps and examples from Brainerd, Fresno, Lafayette (La.), Buffalo and other cities to show how pre‑Depression downtowns and neighborhoods often produce higher tax revenue per acre than sprawling post‑war development. Using an analysis done for Lafayette, he said the city had grown in population but its ongoing service liabilities had grown much faster; he cited a road maintenance backlog that had increased from about $40 million to roughly $160 million and a median residential contribution the city would need to collect rising from about $1,500 to $9,200 a year to maintain existing commitments.

Chuck said Strong Towns — the organization he represents — recommends a four‑step, low‑risk approach: observe where people struggle using existing public space; make the smallest feasible improvement; implement it quickly without extensive delay for studies; then repeat, gathering rapid feedback. \"Go out and humbly observe where people in the community struggle,\" he said. \"Then ask the question, what is the next smallest thing we can do right now to address that struggle?\"

Panelists and attendees responded by discussing how that approach might apply to Nantucket. Several panelists agreed that small, visible projects can build public support and provide rapid feedback; others stressed the need to combine incremental work with longer‑term planning for sea‑level rise and infrastructure decline. Rachel Freeman, executive director of the Land Bank, described the Land Bank’s role as evolving and said the agency’s authority stems from state law and local votes. Beth Anne Meehan, a loan officer and Nantucket Housing Authority commissioner, said her \"dream is to maintain our year round community\" and urged bravery on zoning changes to support affordable housing.

Chuck also cautioned that places like Nantucket are not constrained only by acreage; rather, he said, better use of existing land (for example, more housing units on the same footprint without excessive sprawl) can increase overall productivity. \"Without going over two stories, if you want to keep it that, you could triple the number of housing units you have just by using space better,\" he said.

Panelists and audience members asked how to reconcile small steps with larger visions and major projects. Chuck and others urged that a shared community vision can guide prioritized small steps, and that iterative, low‑cost experiments provide faster feedback than long consultant studies.

Ending: The session closed with a reminder to stay engaged in planning processes and to balance short‑term, low‑cost improvements with long‑range infrastructure planning.","Chuck, a planner and engineer visiting Nantucket, told a public forum that North American post‑World War II growth patterns left many cities with infrastructure liabilities that outpace local revenue. He urged incremental fixes and local experiments rather than large, grant‑driven projects.","actionData","errors"]

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Nantucket panel debates housing solutions: Land Bank role, transfer fees and repurposing existing stock

Strong Towns presenter: 'Our cities are broke' and town planning should 'start small'