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Nantucket Lighthouse School seeks clarity on deed restriction, maintenance and accessibility for grant-funded rain garden
Summary
At a May 20 Community Preservation Committee meeting, Emily Miller, head of the Nantucket Lighthouse School, asked staff to clarify how a grant-funded rain garden at the school’s Rugged Road site would be encumbered, who would maintain it and what accessibility requirements apply.
Emily Miller, head of school at the Nantucket Lighthouse School, asked the Community Preservation Committee on May 20, 2025, to clarify how a grant-funded rain garden at the school’s Rugged Road property would be restricted, maintained and made accessible to the public.
Miller told the committee she and the Lighthouse School board wanted to understand whether any deed restriction associated with the grant would apply to “the entire 2-acre property at Rugged Road” or only to the rain garden itself, and what would happen if the school later sold or moved from the site. “We’re very grateful for the support for the grant and very excited about the opportunity, not just to remediate the flooding, but also to install the rain garden, which will have public access,” Miller said.
A committee member replied that, based on the information available at the meeting, deed restrictions would apply strictly to the rain garden. The committee member said a future owner who acquired the property would be required to maintain the rain garden or the school could transfer the rain garden’s title to another public caretaker such as the parks and recreation department or the land bank. “The short answer is that would be a great question to call the coalition in Boston,” the committee member said, recommending the school consult the statewide coalition that oversees similar grants for precise deed-language questions.
Committee members and other speakers said Lighthouse School is expected to maintain the rain garden while the school owns the parcel and that, if the parcel is later sold, the restriction would remain attached to the parcel unless the parties legally transferred maintenance responsibility to another public entity. Committee members offered examples of past projects in which deed restrictions remained with property parcels and noted there are multiple legal mechanisms to transfer long-term upkeep.
Several committee members also discussed handicap accessibility requirements for the public rain garden. One member said the site must provide handicap access both for vehicle parking (if parking is provided) and for the rain garden area itself and advised the school to consult the Americans with Disabilities Act and accessibility guidance from the Architectural Barriers Act when detailing design plans. “If somebody is providing parking, then that parking space, at least one of them, has to be handicap accessible. But if a private property owner is providing no parking, then the handicap accessibility is from the bike path,” a committee member said, noting local examples where stabilized stone-dust paths and boardwalks were used to meet access goals.
Speakers recommended the school consult with local and regional accessibility advisers named during the meeting, including Brenda McDonough at the Handicap Commission on Disability and a design contact group referenced as “ComDis.” Committee staff said they would follow up with the state coalition in Boston to obtain more explicit guidance about the deed restriction language and report back to the Lighthouse School board.
No formal action was taken at the meeting; the discussion was recorded as committee guidance and follow-up was assigned to staff for clarification with the coalition and local accessibility advisers.
