Advocacy

Current Advocacy Initiatives

Recent Actions   

In 2025, the NLWC engaged expert engineering and water-quality consultants, in addition to our attorney, to review the plans submitted by the SSX developers. Our experts presented their findings to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), highlighting the intense environmental risk associated with the proposal. The ZBA requested that the developers address these and other concerns, but they refused to alter their design or plans. Due to the information and testimony presented by the NLWC’s expert consultants regarding the danger to our public water supply, as well as other public safety and traffic concerns, the ZBA unanimously denied the project. In September of 2025, the developers' appeal of this decision was heard remotely by the state’s Housing Appeals Committee (HAC). 

The NLWC participated in this appeal process as an intervening party to defend clean drinking water for Nantucket. In this role, the NLWC worked closely with the counsel for the Town of Nantucket’s ZBA, and the residents’ group, Nantucket Tipping Point (NTP), to file written testimony from the NLWC’s engineer, the ZBA’s engineer, and several water quality and PFAS subject matter experts. During the HAC hearing, the developers’ counsel chose not to cross-examine any of these witnesses; as a result, their written testimony remains unchallenged, leaving the hearing officer without a basis to question their expert opinions. 

Desired Outcome 

This project threatens the drinking water quality of our public water supply and neighboring private wells, and it must not proceed. The NLWC would support a locally permitted project of suitable density that would preserve our water quality and the integrity of our infrastructure, reduce the impact on the surrounding community, and provide appropriate public benefit in support of island housing needs.

Protecting Our Waters

Artificial Turf

Central Issue 

In late 2025, the Nantucket School Committee approved the Nantucket Public School’s (NPS) request for an estimated $23 million renovation of the Vito Capizzo football field, which includes an artificial turf field and a synthetic track. The proposed turf field’s location lies within our designated Wellhead Protection District, where our sole source aquifer directly recharges our public water supply. Artificial turf fields may contain or release PFAS, often referred to as “forever chemicals,” which could migrate into groundwater over time. As these systems age and are regularly used, the plastic blades can degrade, potentially releasing microplastics, nanoplastics, and associated chemicals into the environment. Given Nantucket’s sole-source aquifer and reliance on groundwater for drinking water, the NLWC believes it is crucial to closely examine the potential implications of outdoor artificial turf installations and remains concerned about the long-term risk of introducing persistent contaminants into the island’s water supply.

Recent Actions
Based on publicly available information, the NLWC has not yet been able to fully evaluate the scope and completeness of testing conducted on the proposed turf field materials. The NLWC has been coordinating with our consultants, the Horsley Witten Group, to assess whether adequate testing has been conducted on all system components and whether appropriate analytical methods and detection limits have been applied. In addition to engaging Horsley Witten and other expert opinions to properly evaluate this matter, the NLWC is supporting the Board of Health to exercise its independent authority to evaluate and address any risks to drinking water resources, including placing a moratorium or implementing a ban on artificial turf installation until the risk to drinking water resources can be fully evaluated by independent third-party analysts.

Desired Outcome

The NLWC’s request for Board of Health involvement reflects our belief that all relevant information should be carefully considered for projects of this scale to fully understand any implications to the community’s health and safety. The NLWC will advocate for comprehensive, lot-specific testing of all project components before any new installation is approved. Additional review is warranted to ensure that any site design and proposed stormwater management include best available technology, particularly given the field’s location over the public water supply. Examining these factors alongside viable alternatives supports sound decision-making that protects community needs and public health.

Well-maintained athletic fields are essential to the physical and mental health of students and the broader community. Grass fields, when properly designed, maintained, and managed, can be improved, repaired, and adapted over time. The NLWC believes that considering these alternatives alongside proposed installations allows the community to make informed decisions that support athletes while safeguarding shared resources.

Recent Actions 

In April 2025, the Nantucket Land & Water Council (NLWC) joined over a dozen Nantucket residents—including members of the Nantucket Coastal Conservancy, property owners in Quidnet, and the Greenhill family—in filing a Request for a Superseding Order of Conditions (SOC) with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). The SOC filing has triggered a requirement for the project proponents to submit documentation to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) Office. MassDEP will not advance its review of the SOC until MEPA review is complete. The NLWC attends every regulatory meeting and will continue to advocate for addressing the sand deficit and against installing additional geotubes.



Desired Outcome
The sand deficit must be provided, and extension of the geotubes should not be permitted. NLWC believes there are less environmentally damaging options to hold the line along ’Sconset bluff while alternative access to Baxter Road is built. In late 2022, the NLWC petitioned the County Commissioners to privatize the current Baxter Rd. By doing so, the Town would remove its obligation to maintain the road in its current position. The road would be private, but public access to their homes and the lighthouse would be maintained. Since then, the Town has been working on alternative access plans for Baxter Road, which are now 90% complete.  The NLWC advocates completing alternative access for Baxter Rd and ultimately removing the geotubes. The NLWC will work with the Town to establish best policies for other parts of the island in the face of sea level rise.

Background/History 

From 2010–2012, the NLWC participated in a Town-sponsored working group to develop best management practices for fertilizer use on Nantucket. These guidelines were incorporated into fertilizer regulations adopted by the Nantucket Board of Health in 2013. Since that time, the NLWC and other island non-profit organizations have continued to promote these regulations and provide educational resources to support their implementation. Nantucket's fertilizer regulations established a comprehensive municipal licensing program. This program requires dedication and commitment from the Town to maintain, as consistent enforcement of the regulations depends on dedicated staffing, sustained resource allocation, and ongoing coordination. 

Recent Actions

The NLWC has been supporting a recent proposal by the Town's Natural Resources Department to design and build a new Fertilizer Education & Licensing Program. This proposal would enable the Town to engage a consulting firm to design an education program for island landscapers and fertilizer applicators, as well as an appropriate, accessible licensing exam to demonstrate understanding of Nantucket's Fertilizer Best Management Practices and Regulations. It would also provide for additional education and outreach for island property owners. 

The NLWC provided a letter of support to the Capital Program Committee (CPC) during their review of this proposal, which was also signed by eight other non-profit organizations that previously participated in our Clean Water Coalition. In addition, we brought three landscaping and golf course management industry leaders to the CPC's meeting to help advocate for our island's need for this program.

Moving Forward
We will continue to provide support and to advocate for the necessary funding to advance the redevelopment of the fertilizer program. A successful fertilizer program and a collaborative island effort will improve the overall health of our island’s harbors and ponds, benefiting our entire community.

Recent Actions  

In 2025, there was ongoing pressure to allow commercial STRs in residential districts through proposed by-law changes by those who profit from STRs. The NLWC worked with our attorney and land-use specialists to extensively review all proposals for
zoning  and regular by-law changes related to STRs, providing legal input and recommendations to municipal committees,
elected decision-makers, and voters in our community  before both the Annual Town Meeting  in May and the Special Town Meeting  in early November.

In May, we shared our voting recommendations  with our members and the community through eNewsletters, printed news inserts, social media, and handouts at Town Meeting. We worked with other island groups to narrowly defeat a measure that would have allowed STRs in all areas of the island by right. Throughout the summer, we worked with Planning Board Director, Dave Iverson and other local partners to refine an alternative (Article 2) that memorialized the right to short-term rent with reasonable restrictions. In November, we again produced a voting recommendation  sheet, submitted our own editorial letter, and drafted and collected support from more than 25 prominent community members for an open letter, which we published as a full-page advertisement in the Inquirer & Mirror in support of Article 2. Unfortunately, Article 1, a measure to allow STRs across the island with no restrictions that was backed by those who profit from the STR industry, garnered positive votes from a 2/3 majority of the electorate, who were alarmed by Article 1 proponents’ misleading assertion that this was a matter of maintaining an important property right, or losing that right.

Moving Forward

As the dust settles, and our media expresses the reality of the inadequacy of our existing regulations, there is clearly more that needs to be done. All of our policies and practices related to growth, development, and land and resource management, including STR regulations, must be scrutinized for their impact on our shared natural resources and adjusted where needed to protect the health of our environment and community.  We will continue to work with our community  to shape policies that reflect  both our community's needs and the limits of our fragile island environment.

Open Space & Resource Protection

Preventing The Increase Of Infill Development through 41-81L Subdivisions

Central Issue 

There is a loophole in Nantucket’s zoning by-law ((Section 139 33-(A)(3)) that has been exploited –often for spec development– resulting in the development of dozens of new lots, creating many problems for Nantucket’s environment - including stormwater management issues affecting our drinking water, ponds and harbor water quality, elimination of open space and habitat, and increasing pressure on our Town infrastructure. 

Recent Actions 

NLWC supported an article for a zoning bylaw amendment submitted by Emily Molden and voted on at the Annual Town Meeting in 2023 and 2025. This article sought to strike the language in our zoning bylaw, which automatically grants buildability to the newly created non-conforming lots created under the state’s preexisting structures provision in the MA Subdivision Control Law (Chapter 41 Section 81L). If the amendment passed, new lots could still be created using the preexisting structures provision, but any redevelopment of those lots made nonconforming by the division would require oversight and a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals. The bylaw amendment required a ⅔ majority to pass and, despite formal Planning Board support, failed to reach that mark by a handful of votes.

Desired Outcome

This article has been resubmitted with Planning Board support, and the NLWC will continue to advocate  that this loophole be closed through a successful ⅔ majority vote at the 2026 Annual Town Meeting.