NLWC News

NLWC Recommends Vote YES on Article 2 at Special Town Meeting

Anna Day • September 15, 2024

Dear Members and Friends,


As you likely know, Nantucket’s 2024 Special Town Meeting is being held this coming Tuesday, September 17th at 5:00pm in the Nantucket High School Auditorium.


If you are a Nantucket registered voter, we are writing to ask that you join us on Tuesday and help us vote for the future health of Nantucket’s environment and community. The Nantucket Land & Water Council’s 2024 STM Recommendations can be found on our website (HERE) and will be available in paper form at the entrance to Town Meeting.


The Nantucket Land and Water Council (NLWC) has been working to preserve the health of Nantucket’s environment and community through the protection of our land and water resources since 1974. We accomplish this through research, education and advocacy. We are and have been the island’s trusted environmental advocate for over 50 years. Today we are writing to provide you with our position and recommendations for Tuesday’s Special Town Meeting in regard to the Short-Term Rental articles.


The NLWC has observed that the rise of the commercial short-term rental (STR) industry contributes to and incentivizes an intense (re)development of properties on Nantucket designed to deliver the highest rate of return. This is often accomplished by maximizing properties with buildings, bedrooms and amenities intended to meet the expectations of prospective occupants. This decreases open space and habitat in neighborhoods, escalates the intensity of use, and puts increasing pressure on the island’s resources jeopardizing the health of our drinking water, ponds and harbors, and our shared infrastructure such as solid waste and storm-water management, water and sewer.


While this type of development and the intensity of use that it facilitates will certainly maximize the return on an investment, it comes at a severe cost to our island. The Nantucket Land & Water Council is not opposed to all STRs. We support regulation that is consistent with Nantucket’s local tradition of residents renting their homes. NLWC opposes STRs for purely commercial or investment purposes. Our priority is to eliminate or reduce the pressure and incentive to turn our limited resource of homes into businesses that profit individuals and/or corporate entities while at the same time cumulatively harming the long-term health of our environment and community.


This year’s Special Town Meeting Warrant contains several articles relevant to Short-Term Rental regulations. NLWC recommends a YES Vote on Article 2 as it upholds Nantucket year round and seasonal residents’ ability to short term rent their homes while limiting existing and disincentivizing new investor ownership of STRs. The other articles will not accomplish this priority. 


The NLWC has worked with the proponent of Article 2 on a Positive Motion (as Article 2 was not supported by the Planning Board or Finance Committee), to be presented on the floor of Town Meeting. The NLWC supports this Article 2 Positive Motion as presented HERE which makes several amendments to the original article simplifying its provisions and accomplishing the following goals:


  1. Allow short term rentals as an Accessory Use to the Principal Use of a property as a residence. It also clarifies Accessory Use of STRs as simply renting a property for at least one day less than it is used as a residence.
  2. Require owners or their immediate family members to utilize the property for at least 30 days (need not be consecutive) in a calendar year.
  3. Allow for the short term rental of only one property per owner at a time and only one dwelling on the property at a time.


This article has been reviewed by the Town Moderator and approved as “within the scope” of the original article.


As drafted these provisions will support and clarify the language that currently exists in our Zoning Bylaw, and will allow the use of short term rentals year round while reducing investor incentives and intensity of use. 


The NLWC does not support Articles 1, 3 or 4 (see comments in NLWC Recommendations below).


While Article 1 appears to limit the number of STRs that a person can have, it establishes a clear loophole for a person to set up multiple different legal entities to own and utilize multiple properties as STRs. It does not require the property to ever be used as a residence by the owner, and the limits on STRs for new owners are not enough to disincentivize investor ownership. The NLWC recommends a NO Vote on Article 1.


Nantucket has come to measure economic success in terms of each year being bigger and better than the last. This type of growth is not sustainable and it is critical that we implement measures to manage our growth in a way that ensures a viable future for the island we all love.


If maintaining a healthy environment, community and quality of life on Nantucket is important to you, please join us and attend the Special Town Meeting on September 17th and Vote YES for the Positive Motion on Article 2.


Your vote is extremely important and your vote matters. Many articles have been decided on fewer than 10 votes and some by a single vote. Please encourage your family and friends to attend and vote too!


– Emily Molden and All of Us at NLWC

The NLWC’s Lane
– Reflections on STM

December 22, 2025
As the end of the Fall season approaches, we would like to take some time to reflect on Nantucket’s recent Special Town Meeting, held on November 4th. The Nantucket Land & Water Council has been engaged in Nantucket’s discussion about short-term rental (STR) policy and regulation for many years. As an organization, we have, at times, faced questions from residents about the relevance of STRs to the NLWC’s mission . The NLWC’s mission is to help preserve the long-term health of Nantucket’s environment and community through the protection of our land and water resources. Development impacts the environment. This simple fact should come as no surprise. Our actions on the land have a direct impact on the health of our waters. Nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus from septic systems and fertilizers, along with other contaminants such as those found in stormwater runoff, don’t just disappear. They travel through the soil and into our ponds, harbors, and drinking water. The accelerated development, repurposing of properties, and intensity of use associated with short-term rentals (STRs) as a business put increasing pressure on the island’s infrastructure, reduce habitat and biodiversity, and endanger our water quality. Of course, a community needs to change and develop and grow, but the health of our environment and the ability of a place to naturally support the people who live there are directly related to the intensity and type of development and growth that we, as a community, choose to allow and encourage. The NLWC has always made it clear that we are not opposed to all short-term rentals. We support the ability of island residents to short-term rent with reasonable restrictions. We have, first and foremost, sought to reduce the impact from investor-owned STRs, and reduce the intensity of use and development from properties that are maximized solely for the use of short-term rentals because of the cumulative environmental impacts that this type of use and development creates. We were very disappointed by the November STM vote, which resulted in the full codification of short-term rentals across all residential zoning districts of the island. It is clear that much of the community was incredibly alarmed by the simple messaging provided by Article 1 proponents that asserted this was a matter of maintaining an important property right or losing that right. Alternatively, we, as proponents of Article 2, attempted to communicate a more nuanced message that memorializing this right with reasonable restrictions would actually allow most residents to continue short-term renting in a meaningful way while helping to protect the future of our environment and community. As the dust settles, and our media expresses the reality of the inadequacy of our existing regulations ( https://nantucketcurrent.com/news/nantucket-banned-corporate-owned-short-term-rentals-a-loophole-is-allowing-them-to-continue ) , there is clearly more that needs to be done. All of our policies and practices relative 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. It is easy to make the claim that STRs as an issue is not “in our lane” and to suggest that how we use and develop our properties are somehow separate from: PFAS issues, contamination of our public water supply, nutrient pollution, and water conservation , but these are the exact concerns that compel the NLWC to engage in community conversations about growth, development, land use, and STRs. We are the voice for Nantucket’s environment, working to safeguard the present health and future sustainability of the island. This is our lane. We thank all of our members and friends for your support , regardless of your position or vote at STM. We know that, despite differences in opinion, we all share a deep care for this special place and a desire to protect what makes it unique. Together, we can shape policies that reflect both the needs of our community and the limits of our fragile island environment. Your willingness to stay engaged—ask questions, share concerns, and offer ideas—continues to strengthen our efforts. There is more work to do, and we look forward to doing that work with you.

Vote Environment First at Special Town Meeting on November 4th!

By Anna Day • October 27, 2025
At the upcoming Special Town Meeting on November 4th, Nantucket voters will once again consider how best to regulate short-term rentals (STRs). After years of debate, two competing proposals, Articles 1 and 2, offer very different paths forward. The Nantucket Land & Water Council (NLWC) supports Article 2 , which encourages sustainable use of island resources and provides a balanced, long-term solution. Click Here to read the NLWC’s recommendations on the warrant articles. Click Here to read our Letter to the Editor. Join Us and Vote Environment First! Tuesday, November 4 at 5:00 pm in the Mary P. Walker Auditorium of the Nantucket High School.

Surfside Crossing Appeal Hearing Completed - NLWC Defending Clean Water for Nantucket!!

By Anna Day • October 2, 2025
Last week, the appeal hearing for the Surfside Crossing 40B development was conducted remotely by the state’s Housing Appeals Committee (HAC). The NLWC participated as an intervening party to defend clean drinking water for Nantucket. The proposed 156 condo unit development on 13.6 acres known as Surfside Crossing (SSX) off of South Shore Rd is of inappropriate density (13 x the local zoning) and would compromise our drinking water supply. Following the comprehensive permit review by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) that took place throughout last fall and winter, the application for SSX was unanimously denied by the ZBA. This denial was subsequently appealed to the state by the developers, Jamie Feeley and Josh Posner, in April of this year. During the comprehensive permit review last year by the ZBA, the NLWC hired an engineering expert and water quality specialist to review the project’s stormwater management plans. The review and testimony of these experts revealed that the stormwater infrastructure proposed for the Surfside Crossing development does not meet the specific state and local standards for projects within the Nantucket Wellhead Protection District (the area where groundwater contributes to the public water supply wells), or for projects that meet the state’s criteria as a Land Use of Higher Potential Pollutant Load (LUHPPL). Given recent public well contamination by elevated PFAS levels, it has become abundantly clear that these standards are incredibly important to uphold, especially for a project of this scale within our public water supply recharge area. The local ZBA agreed with the importance of protecting clean water , and asked the developers to address the stormwater management design to ensure that it meets state and local standards and protects not only the residents and direct abutters of the development, but the public water supply that we all share. Unfortunately, the developers refused to make any changes to their proposed design, in part because it would require a reduction in the number of units to make the necessary changes, and in part because they have already installed their stormwater infrastructure, “at risk”, without the benefit of a permit, and without a water quality certificate issued by the Water Commission as required in Nantucket’s Zoning Bylaw. They simply do not want to have to take it back out of the ground. Based on concerns for the health of the community’s drinking water, as well as other concerns relative to public safety and traffic, and considering the developers’ refusal to consider any changes whatsoever to their proposal, the ZBA unanimously denied the project. As an intervening party in the developers’ appeal of the ZBA’s decision, he NLWC has been working closely with the counsel for the Town of Nantucket’s ZBA, and the residents group, Tipping Point, 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 last week, the developers’ counsel chose not to cross-examine any of these witnesses, and so their written testimony stands unchallenged, leaving the hearing office no basis to question their expert opinions. This hearing on the Surfside Crossing matter follows a similar appeal by developers in the Town of Walpole for a Chapter 40B development that was also denied by the Town’s ZBA due to similar concerns over improperly designed stormwater infrastructure, and the degradation of the Town of Walpole’s public water supply. As we await a decision from the HAC, we are grateful to Nantucket’s ZBA for their due diligence during the public hearing process, and for the opportunity to prepare for the appeal hearing in partnership with Town Counsel for the ZBA, as well as the residents’ group Tipping Point.  Stay Tuned for Updates!
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