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Committee removes specific nonprofit mentions, adopts "such as, but not limited to" language for participating parties
Summary
Committee members agreed to remove explicit references to Nantucket Community Sailing and other non-town organizations from responsible-party lists and to use broad "participating parties such as, but not limited to" language to avoid excluding other groups; members also debated whether nonprofits should appear as "responsible" or "participating."
Committee members reviewed multiple instances in the draft harbor plan where specific nonprofits and outside organizations were named as participating or responsible parties.
After discussion the committee instructed staff to remove explicit references to Nantucket Community Sailing and other non-town entities from the plan’s lists of responsible parties. Instead, members agreed to use wording such as "participating parties such as, but not limited to" and to reserve the label "responsible party" for town entities with regulatory or implementation authority. Several members said listing specific outside groups as "responsible" could create problems by implying implementation responsibility that those organizations do not hold and could exclude other interested organizations.
Why it matters: the change aims to keep the plan flexible and avoid giving the appearance of preferential treatment to specific nonprofits. Committee members noted that inviting outside organizations to participate in training, internships or outreach is appropriate, but that the plan should not promise direct implementation authority to groups that do not have it.
Details and context - Committee members proposed combining bullet points that referenced private nonprofits and moving language about internships and maritime-industry speakers into a single, non-exclusive bullet. - Members debated leaving nonprofits listed under "participating parties" versus removing them entirely; they settled on phrasing that recommends lists be illustrative rather than exhaustive and on removing nonprofits from responsible-party lists. - Staff was asked to ensure explanations of the difference between "responsible party" and "participating party" appear in the plan so readers understand that participating parties may provide input but are not legally required to implement recommendations.
Next steps Staff will update the draft plan to use illustrative language for participating parties and to remove nonprofit names from responsible-party designations; the committee will review that text at the next meeting.
