Conservation commission splits over whether quarter-roll beach protection is a 'coastal engineering structure'; decision deferred

The Nantucket Conservation Commission debated on Feb. 6 whether proposed quarter-roll ("Wilkinson") beach-protection systems at 72 and 78 Pacoima Road should be treated as coastal engineering structures under the town's local wetlands regulations. Commissioners split on the legal and regulatory question and asked staff to draft permit language for multiple outcomes before the next hearing.

The dispute centered on regulatory definitions and local discretion. Dan Bailey, counsel/consultant for the applicants, said DEP precedent and recent adjudicatory decisions treat quarter-roll systems as soft, bioengineered solutions rather than coastal engineering structures under the state Wetlands Protection Act. "Under DEP precedent . . . these core roll systems are not coastal engineering structures," Bailey told the commission and pointed to prior Nantucket orders that used…