Dear Friend,

As part of our effort to keep Nantucket leaders informed about our new project to limit erosion on the 'Sconset Bluff, we're writing to provide an update on our activities since we wrote to you in February.

As you recall, we've proposed a new erosion control "pilot project," one that is very different from the one that we proposed in 2008 and then withdrew in response to major local opposition. Our new proposal entails a small project along the portion of the 'Sconset Bluff most severely affected by erosion.

Initially, it would focus on only six homes in two contiguous segments and involve the installation of "marine mattresses and gabions," which are heavy, rigid-plastic baskets filled with rocks, placed on the toe of the bluff and covered with sand. Their purpose is to stop the toe of the bluff from washing away and the area above from sliding down, thus enabling much of the area above to be re-planted. In addition, the project would put beach compatible sand on top of the baskets, in the same amount as would move up or down the beach if erosion were to take its natural course.

Since February, we've made progress on the current proposal, including completion of its engineering design and receiving permission by a unanimous vote of the Nantucket Board of Selectmen to begin the regulatory review. Since then, we filed our formal application-the Notice of Intent (NOI)-with the Nantucket Conservation Commission, which we hope will begin its review of the project in July. That process will include the hiring of a professional engineering firm to review our plans and to advise ConCom, with the cost of that borne by SBPF as the applicant.

Meanwhile, the Town of Nantucket is developing a set of principles for coastal management so that fair and objective criteria can be applied to all proposals for erosion control, wherever those might be proposed on Nantucket. Adoption of these principles is required to meet the terms of a 2008 Town by-law, which established a moratorium on erosion control projects on the eastern end of the island until guidelines for such activity are adopted. We hope that those guidelines will be in place and the moratorium will be lifted about the same time that ConCom completes its review of our project.

If all of this happens over the summer and early fall, the new project could possibly be installed before next winter's storm season. If these developments take longer, the project might be delayed another year.

To keep everyone as informed as possible about our new proposal, we're updating our website and we've created a Facebook page, both places where visitors can find pertinent information about the plan and interact with us. Revision of our current site is in progress and should be completed later this month. There you will find a summary description of the project, schematic plans, maps showing the exact location, case studies of six other locations with similarities to the proposed project, photos of the effects of erosion on our bluff, FAQs and the entire NOI. We also answer questions, including technical ones that we've received over the past few months from various Nantucketers. We invite further questions from anyone, to which we'll respond in a way that helps those who inquire to learn more about our proposal and the related issues.

During the summer months, we plan to attend a number of local community civic association meetings to explain the project and to answer questions in person. If you have a community event that you would like us to attend, please let us know.

This time around, we're working especially hard to remain open and responsive to the public. During the planning stage last fall we spoke to over 50 Nantucket leaders, to review our project: fishermen, environmental activists, nonprofit leaders, elected officials, town administrators and more. We also met with individuals and groups who were opposed to the previous effort.

We're committed to remaining open and as transparent as possible as we go through the upcoming review process. If you have any comments, please feel free to phone, write or send an email to any of us, or visit the website and Facebook page to submit your comments.

We hope that we will receive approval to install this new, modest erosion control pilot. We're determined to avoid any destructive environmental effects, and the new project should have no impact on fishing.

We also hope that if it's successful, then the whole Island will benefit from what's learned in the process. This is a different kind of project, one that takes an incremental approach in small steps, with the hope that we can learn what works and what doesn't. As we move forward, we'll write again to update you.

Sincerely,
Caroline Ellis
Bob Felch
Josh Posner
Kermit Roosevelt
Beth Singer
Helmut Weymar