NLWC News
NLWC Appeals Surfside Crossing to Protect Critical Water Resources
Once again, Nantucket Land and Water Council (NLWC) has filed an appeal in Superior Court of the latest decision of the Housing Appeals Committee (HAC) about the controversial Surfside Crossing c. 40B project on South Shore Road. This is the third such appeal after two prior successful cases in which the Court ruled in favor of NLWC. Both the Town of Nantucket’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) and Tipping Point residents group have also filed appeals of the same HAC decision.
“The NLWC appreciates the need for affordable and attainable housing on Nantucket, and recognizes the level of effort and the significant progress being made by the Town. We also know that the protection of our water resources, particularly our drinking water, is critical to the health of our community.” Emily Molden, Executive Director said about the NLWC’s move to appeal. “Creating much-needed housing on the island does not need to come at the expense of clean water. We can do this differently, but all parties need to be willing to work towards a solution”.
The now clearcut Surfside Crossing Development
Last Spring, the ZBA denied a comprehensive permit for the revised Surfside project because “the stormwater management system, as proposed, poses undue risk of harm to the Town’s public water supply.” (Apr. 14, 2025 ZBA Decision, p. 7, ¶ 11) That decision was based on input from NLWC’s experts at the public hearing who asserted that the project would render more than half the 13.6 acre site impervious (52%). State and local regulations limit impervious coverage to just 15% in the Zone II wellhead protection area and Public Wellhead Recharge Overlay District in order to protect groundwater quality that feeds the public water supply wells.
If the developers were to stay within the 15% coverage limit in the protected wellhead area, two acres of the site could still be built on. But the Developer wants 3.5 times that amount, yet submitted nothing in their proposal to show how its stormwater system would protect the integrity of the Town’s groundwater quality. To the contrary, the ZBA and NLWC engineers determined that the stormwater system does not comply with even basic standards. All efforts by the ZBA to address these issues during the public hearings were rejected by the Developers with no willingness to engage. Despite the developer's inflexibility, and the evidence before them, HAC reversed the ZBA decision and ordered a comprehensive permit to be issued.
As a sole source aquifer, Nantucket’s Zone II wellhead protection area is regulated by federal, state and local regulations to protect the potability of the Island’s public water supply. Nantucket withdraws water from the aquifer under a Water Management Act Permit, last renewed in 2021. That permit depends on compliance with the stormwater regulations that HAC purported to waive. If carried out, such a violation of those regulations would jeopardize the integrity of the Town’s permit to withdraw groundwater, and threaten to degrade the groundwater quality of the aquifer.
The developers proceeded to work, at risk, and the stormwater system was installed at the Surfside Crossing site without first receiving a water quality permit. As currently designed and installed, the system does not comply with local, state or federal regulatory standards. For example, the bylaw requires at least 95% of the precipitation that falls on the site to be recharged into the groundwater. Currently, under existing conditions, all of the rainwater is recharged. If constructed with the current stormwater system, even the Developer’s engineer admits the required 95% recharge requirement would not be met. HAC excused Developer from complying with this bylaw, yet never mentioned that the reason it did so is because the stormwater system has already been installed and buried underground. NLWC looks forward to addressing these issues in Court to protect the groundwater that supplies the public drinking water wells.
A copy of NLWC’s appeal Complaint filed on May 14, 2026 is enclosed here.
