Nantucket Capital Committee Backs Harbor Barge, Flags Sewer Risk Before Town Meeting

NANTUCKET -- April 23, 2026, Nantucket's Capital Program Committee reviewed three infrastructure items at its April 23 meeting, none requiring a formal vote but all headed toward Town Meeting action. Deputy Police Chief Gibson and Harbormaster Sheila Lucy presented a new 30-foot aluminum mooring barge quoted at $237,980, with the Great Harbor Yacht Club covering half the cost; Lucy said the existing 2005 Carolina skiff has "zero freeboard" and forces the town to hire private contractors to move its largest buoys. Gibson also updated the committee on the Harbormaster building reconstruction, projected at $4.9 million with a professional estimate due April 30 and demolition targeted for just after Labor Day; prior HDC approvals have lapsed and must be restarted. Public Works Director David Gray presented the most urgent item: a Fairgrounds Road sewer main installed in the 1950s that is already surcharging into manholes, with projected flows set to nearly double to 70,000 gallons per day once Tacoma Green and surrounding developments come fully online, almost triple the line's original permitted load of 287 bedrooms. A technical amendment to fund a replacement 12-inch line will be presented at Town Meeting.