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Nantucket planners present three Easy Street designs after $500K planning grant and $1.2B risk estimate
Summary
At the Nov. 17 NPDC meeting, the town’s coastal resilience coordinator presented three concept designs to reduce downtown flood risk on Easy Street and Broad Street — a flood wall, adaptable road‑raising to 6.5 ft NAVD88 and a full raise to 8 ft — and said a planning grant of just over $500,000 supports design and modeling work.
Abby D'Amelina, chair of the Nantucket Planning & Economic Development Commission, convened the commission on Nov. 17, 2025, to hear a coastal‑resilience update that placed the downtown Easy Street area at the top of the town’s priorities.
Leah, the town’s coastal resilience coordinator, told commissioners the Coastal Resilience Plan (endorsed in 2022) has moved from recommendations into design and implementation work. She said the town received a planning grant “a little over half a million dollars” from the Office of Coastal Zone Management to fund the first structural project and updated risk modeling. “If we took no action … we could expect to see $1,200,000,000 in damages and losses,” she said, and estimated the scenario would adversely affect about 85 buildings and 33 year‑round residents in the downtown study area.
The presentation laid out three structural options to reduce flood and stormwater risk on Easy Street and adjacent corridors: replacing existing bulkheads with a continuous flood wall augmented by raised, extended speed‑hump features to block flank flooding; an adaptable road‑raising that would elevate roads to about 6.5 feet NAVD88 with provisions to increase height later; and a more aggressive initial elevation to roughly 8 feet NAVD88. Leah emphasized the designs are land‑based (not in‑water) and explained that any chosen option will require pump‑station infrastructure to remove stormwater and harbor inflows.
Key planning steps she listed include updated coastal modeling to test each option, a groundwater model for downtown to assess rising table impacts, cost estimates for each alternative, a pump‑station study, and a historic‑structures review to inform design choices and permitting. Leah said the town will refine graphics and engagement materials and include community and stakeholder outreach in the design process.
Commissioners pressed staff on how the designs would be presented to the public and how flank flooding would be prevented. Leah described the speed‑hump elements as a way to keep water from entering Easy Street from side pathways while acknowledging the project would not guarantee streets remain entirely dry in every event. Transportation staff and commissioners said they will verify that historical‑commission comments and prior community input are incorporated before releasing materials for public review.
Next steps: staff will incorporate the three options into updated modeling, prepare cost estimates, carry out a pump‑station study and schedule public engagement opportunities as designs are available. The commission asked staff to post preliminary materials and a project page when 25%‑level designs and the public information session are scheduled.
