Posted on February 16, 2021
(Feb. 11, 2021) D. Anne Atherton is asking the Select Board to reject a contract for long-term planning to protect the houses on Baxter Road from toppling over the Sconset Bluff.
Atherton, a member of the Nantucket Coastal Conservancy, is worried the $157,000 contract with coastal-engineering firm Arcadis is being fast-tracked, and will consider hard-armored solutions similar to the Sconset Beach Preservation Fund’s geotubes at the base of the bluff. Her group has led the charge in opposition to the project since it was installed on Sconset Beach eight years ago.
She also argued an engineer who would be working on the proposed study could pose a conflict of interest, since he has previously worked for the SBPF.
The town has already contracted Arcadis to conduct an ongoing, island- wide sea-level-rise mitigation plan. The new contract would authorize the company to look at four potential solutions on Baxter Road: relocating the street, bluff stabilization through an engineered structure, beach-sand nourishment, or taking no action. The Select Board was scheduled to vote on the contract last night, too late for this issue of The Inquirer and Mirror.
