Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Planning board requires joint valet plan, 1-year check for Cliffside Beach Club membership expansion
Loading...
Summary
The Planning Board agreed to let Cliffside Beach Club proceed toward increasing memberships only after the applicant and neighboring Galley restaurant update a joint valet parking management plan and attach it to the MCD decision; the board ordered a one-year public review and asked Cliffside to increase its on-paper parking commitment.
The Nantucket Planning Board on April 13 reached a compromise in a months-long dispute over parking tied to Cliffside Beach Club's requested MCD amendment to increase memberships.
Cliffside's representative told the board the club can accommodate extra members if a joint valet-service arrangement continues to move cars in the shared parking area. Abutting owner Galley Beach, represented by counsel Arthur (speaker 15) and co-owner David Sullivan, said no permanent, written valet agreement currently covers the proposed increased demand and sought greater protections for spaces in the shared easement area.
After extended discussion the board directed Cliffside to update its parking-management plan, increase its on-paper contribution from 11 to 13 valet spaces, and make the joint valet plan an exhibit to any MCD modification. The decision requires the two property owners to cooperate on a single valet service while the uses remain as today and establishes a one-year public check-in to evaluate the arrangement.
Arthur, representing the Galley, said the club's proposal lacked equitable detail about who contributes which spaces in the easement and how the arrangement would survive a possible change of ownership. Cliffside's counsel said the parties had a long-standing, informal handshake agreement and agreed to work with staff to memorialize a plan that's tied to the MCD decision and revisited in a year.
The board's action did not require parties to rewrite the underlying easement; instead it placed a condition on the MCD modification that the parties present a cooperative valet plan acceptable to staff and recorded as an exhibit. The board also asked staff to schedule a public meeting in one year to review parking operations and impacts.
The vote was unanimous. The board said the arrangement gives both businesses an interim path to expand operations while preserving a mechanism for public review if the joint valet system fails.
