Here and There Redux

Old South Road Nightmare, Some Zoning History, More Restaurants Open

The sun rose at 5:53 this morning and will set at 7:25 this evening.

Days of rain have watered the earth and prompted forsythia to burst into clouds of yellow across the island, while daffodils continue to color our world.

As always, some of the early-blooming yellow daffys, like those along the Milestone Road, will have peaked by the time of the Daffodil Festival, on the last weekend of the month. With global warming giving us milder winters and an advancement of the warm weather, one wonders – should the Chamber and Garden Club consider moving the festival back a week?

Old South Road Traffic Jam Returns

Another sign of the season are all the landscape and construction trucks out on the roads. I was driving to the airport Tuesday morning, and the traffic was backed up all the way past Naushop, past the Richmond development, almost all the way to Macy Lane. Old South Road is a traffic nightmare for six months of the year. It didn’t have to be this way.

Planners should have foreseen that the density of development allowed by zoning on Old South Road, coupled with the potential for industrial development out by the airport, would have resulted in the explosion of traffic along the two-lane roadway serving this area. There should have been an exploration of adding lanes to this road before development prohibited it.

Why Original Zoning Looked the Way it Did

Originally, the idea of zoning – first floated back in the late 1960’s – was not popular. Islanders did not like that some government agency could tell them what they could do with their property. In order to pass zoning in the early 1970’s, the planning board capitulated to large landowners, who opposed zoning, by creating the most dense zoning – 5,000 square foot lots – in those areas of the island they owned. Walter Glowacki was one of those islanders with large land holdings on both sides of Old South Road.

Bill Klein, planning director back then, saw that Old South Road had the capacity to look like Route 132 in Hyannis with continuous dense development. Naushop, the former site of Glowacki’s pit, turned out to be a well-planned and attractive housing development, thanks to an engaged planning board. A bike path was required of the developer as well as other elements that created what we see today.

Unfortunately, when Phil Pasten presented the Richmond Development to the planning board, he encountered town agencies that failed to require infrastructure and design concessions that would have made traffic flow better and delivered a better aesthetic than what we see today.

Does Nantucket have a deer problem? I think so. Wednesday morning, driving down to the 6:30 morning boat, I encountered three young deer: One on the cobblestones in front of the Middle Brick, and two grazing on the front lawn of the Methodist Church right across from the Pacific Bank. When deer are leaving the wild where they live and showing up downtown looking for food, that’s an issue.

Where to Eat

More seasonal restaurants opened this week, and some year-round spots, like Fusaro’s, that have taken a break before summer, have now re-opened. Here are the restaurants that have opened this week.

•Black Eyed Susan’s, my favorite breakfast splurge, opened for breakfast Thursday.
•The Pearl also opened Thursday with a new chef in place, Chris Drown, formerly of Cru. Expect some old standards as well as new introductions to the new chef’s menu.
•The Brant Point Grill reopened Thursday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a brand-new look on the outside terrace, and an exciting new menu.
During the offseason this space was completely redesigned and refurnished with a new, expanded bar with 360-degree seating, a new awning and new furniture. This is my favorite spot for enjoying some shellfish, a glass of wine and watching the comings and goings of boats in the harbor. I’m excited to check it out for my Delicious edition of Near and Afar, which will begin Memorial Day!
•Millies’ downtown outpost on the Strip, Surfside Taco Stand, is now open Thursdays through Monday until the season kicks into full gear. This spot is a favorite of my grandkids for excellent steak and chicken quesadillas. I like their salads.
•Sister Ship, in the Faraway Hotel, is open for dinner and cocktails. I think it is one of the prettiest, most thoughtfully designed places to relax and unwind with a cocktail and small plates.

For those of you wondering if Faregrounds will be open for the summer, after the agreement to sell the place to someone who wants to develop it into housing was announced, all I can say is… that’s a good question.

Apparently, as of press time, the deal wasn’t sealed, although the planning board just approved an 8-lot subdivision proposed by an off-island developer, putting the property closer to a closing with the owners, Bill and Kim Puder. But understand this, the restaurant business is grueling, and they have paid their dues and been part of this community for decades. They deserve a break.

The Faregrounds is the last local, family, bar and grill on the island. That does not happen by mistake. If I were them, after all these years, and got a deal inked so I could take this summer off and not have to worry about restaurant staffing and personal exhaustion? I’d take it.

The week ahead is school vacation week, with Patriots Day on Monday. Keep an eye out for kids on bikes in an ever-busier traffic environment.