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Conservation commission approves Land Bank pruning at 70–74 Washington Street with conditions
Summary
The Nantucket Conservation Commission granted a waiver and issued an order allowing the Nantucket Islands Land Bank to prune groundsel shrubs at 70–74 Washington Street, subject to a vegetation-management plan, seasonal limits and other conditions. The vote was unanimous.
The Nantucket Islands Land Bank received a permit from the Nantucket Conservation Commission on June 26 to prune a cluster of groundsel shrubs at 70–74 Washington Street after the commission found no additional adverse impacts and granted a regulatory waiver.
Commissioners said the work should be limited by season and details should be submitted before it starts. The commission required the land bank to file a vegetation-management plan as a minor modification listing the exact pruning height and schedule and barred pruning between April 1 and Sept. 30. The commission granted the waiver under the commission’s regulations for “no adverse impacts and no reasonable alternatives.”
Liz Phelps, representing the Nantucket Islands Land Bank, told the commission the site contains three adjoining naturalized parcels where two houses were removed and the area restored with beach grass. “The pruning that we're proposing to do is to maintain the viewshed along Washington Street,” Phelps said. She said the land bank uses similar view-shed management across the island and that pruning would be done to preserve plant health and dune stability. “We do not believe that pruning for viewshed management impacts the health of the shrubs,” she said.
Commissioners debated whether the site qualified for an exception that allows maintenance pruning along public pedestrian access ways, and whether the work met the commission’s view-shed management guidelines. John Shaffer and other commissioners said the area is traversed by the public and that a compact plan and seasonal timing would reduce ecological risks. RJ Turcotte cautioned that trimming could accelerate sand movement in the dune and potentially harm the resource area if done incorrectly.
Will (staff member) advised the commission that the condition package should require filing a vegetation-management plan that specifies pruning height, methods and timing, and recommended the seasonal restriction already adopted by the commission. Commissioners added a condition that any plan be submitted as a minor modification and subject to staff review.
The motion to approve the order and grant the waiver passed unanimously in a roll-call vote: Mike Mizzarelli, Arjun Turcotte, Joe Plandowski, Tim Brane, John Shaffer, Linda Williams and Chair Seth Engelborg all voted aye.
The order allows pruning limited to the scope in the approved plan, with the listed conditions intended to preserve dune vegetation, sediment stability and habitat values while allowing Land Bank-managed views to be maintained.
