The Land Bank

Then and Now

Ella Breed

August 4, 2023

Introduction

The Land Bank was established in 1983 in order to protect the island's limited land supply from development. The idea around the Land Bank began with the Kennedy Bill which focused on turning large parts of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard into a national land trust. The bill did not pass but it made people wonder how they could stop the incoming developers on the island and preserve the land. That is when NCF suggested the town start buying up land which is when Land Bank ideas started being mentioned in the news in 1975. The problem is that there was another issue that needed dealing with and that was housing. As we know The Land Bank came out on top between the two agendas leaving housing to become an even bigger issue today. Today the Land Banks mission has expanded beyond conservation and into recreation and agriculture. Due to the housing crisis, we have to question if The Land Bank needs to evolve its thinking as times have changed and the mission needs to change with it.

Land Bank Website

Current Mission

Conservation, recreation and agriculture for the benefit of the public in perpetuity. Since inception, as the first of its kind in the nation, it has served as a model for other communities across the country. For over 30 years, we have worked to acquire, hold and manage key open spaces, provide waterfront access, preserve scenic views, protect ecological resources, promote local agriculture and create outdoor recreational opportunities for residents and visitors alike.

It is time that we start to wonder if their mission should be added upon so it can become a model to look at again.

What Started it All: The Kennedy Bill

The idea behind creating a Land Bank started appearing in the local Nantucket newspaper as early as 1975. Below are articles collected on the Kennedy Bill that passed in July of 1972. The idea of a Land Bank showed up in the news in 1975 with the article, "The Great Development."

Kennedy Bill Articles and The Great Development Debate

In The News: The Beginning of the Land Bank

These are new articles that lead up to the Land Bank passing in the Senate. You can see the reactions from the public and what the Land Bank could've looked like. There was a lot of debate on what the goals of the Land Bank would be.

News Articles Leading up to the Establishment of The Land Bank

Financial Powerhouse

The Land Bank vaulted into success within the first year of establishment and it only continued as time went by. They made $1.6 million dollars just within the first year. Unlike other conservation organizations on the island, the Land Bank’s revenue is derived from a two percent fee which is levied against most real estate transfers. Since this is an island and houses are expensive it's easy to believe that the transfer revenue of the Land Bank is high. This is very different from organizations like NCF where most of their land is donated.

This is a graph showing their fiscal revenue from 1984 to 2019. In 2004 there is a spike which is interesting because this is when The Land Bank was tearing down a lot of structures. Then of course we have the market crash in 2008. Their revenue spiked again in 2019 as Covid made it possible for people to work from home and many wanted to escape to Nantucket.

Land Acquisition Timeline

1980s

The Land Bank was established in 1983 with their first two properties being bought in 1984. Throughout the '80s the Land Bank purchased 70 properties according to their published annual report. In 1989 the Land Bank had 828.58 acres of land with an additional 18.47 acres in conservation restriction. Most of the land bought was geared toward public beach access.

1990s

During the 90s the Land Bank purchased a total of 63 properties raising their total acreage to 1,963 with an extra 105 acres in permanent conservation restriction. Throughout the 90s the Land Bank focused on acquiring large portions of open-spaced land while starting to also focus on waterfront properties. The continued goal was to stop development, add bike and walking paths for the public, beach access, and protect Nantucket's natural landscape.

2000s

At the end of the 2000s, they had 76 properties, with a total of 2,673 acres with an additional 369 in protected conservation restriction. A lot of houses were torn down during this decade. What's interesting is that most of the places torn down were coastal properties.

2010s

The Land Bank purchased 57 properties between 2010 and 2020 making their total acreage 3,322 with an additional 503.4 acres under protection. This decade is important as it was when the Land Bank added agriculture to its mission. It was also when they started thinking and acting on coastal resilience projects. They started to buy up more waterfront properties, especially on Washington and Easy Streets.

The 2020s So Far

Since 2020 the Land Bank has purchased around 28 properties with 65.49 acres. They are currently looking at buying up land to support employees and coastal resilience.

What Are The Numbers?

Nantucket is unique in that almost half the island is under protected conservation. The largest portion of protected land is owned by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and the Land Bank. The other organizations that own land under conservation or for an environmental purpose are the Nantucket Land Council, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and the ‘Sconset Trust.

Area Maps

This map shows property acquisition by decade compared to the latest trail map for the coast-to-coast trail. This is a great map because it shows where each of the major landowners has land. We have the Nantucket Land Bank in green, Nantucket Conservation Foundation in red, and the Massachusetts Audubon Society in blue.

Structures on Land Bank Property

Preservation is an important part of Nantucket as it is a place with a rich history. Structures on Nantucket, in particular, are important to the island due to their age, the stories they can tell, and the scarcity of them on the island. I have mentioned previously about structures on land bank land and this is a map that shows where structures have stood, if they have been moved, demolished or it is unknown. This is by no means all of the structures just the ones I have found while conducting research these two months. Again I will note that it is interesting that the structures moved or demoed were on coastal property. I do not know the reasons for removal or if these properties were salvageable but I think it is important to see a map of what used to be.

Land Bank Structures - Google My Maps

Preservation, Resilience, Housing

27 Easy Street

The former building at 27 Easy Street was demolished by the Land Bank in 2015 to help with coastal resilience. However, the property was determined potentially historic by experts right before it was leveled. Its importance lies in its history. The building was originally built as a coopers shop in the early 1800s and was based around where the Nantucket Yacht Club resides today. It was bought by Charles E. Hayden around the late 1800s expanded and turned into a saltwater bathhouse until it was purchased in 1923 by Florence Lang. Lang, a nationally recognized art patron, moved and turned the building into Easy Street Gallery until it closed in 1943 upon her death. The building had a large influence during Nantucket's artist colony days (1920 - 1940). The gallery was one of the first modern art galleries of its time and a meeting place for many. The "waterfront artists" a group led by Frank Swift Chase frequented the gallery displaying their art but also carving a way for art on Nantucket that would precede them.

27 Easy Street: Then and Now

27 Easy St in 2015 right before demolition started.

27 Easy Street is the last building on the right with the roof walk. This photo was taken in the 1930s looking at Easy Street from the harbor.

A video of 27 Easy Street demolition was posted on The Inquirer and Mirror, Nantucket's newspaper.

A map of where Easy St resides.

Here is an image of what Easy Street looks like today. It is a park that locals and tourists use frequently. It gives a nice view of the harbor but also serves a resilience purpose. You can also see where 27 Easy street used to be. 21 Easy Street was moved to make room for the park.

The garden beds are sloped and contain enough soil to keep the plant's content, but rest on top of a layer of sand. The sand layer means water will drain quickly which will help the drainage of residual flood waters. The garden beds are full of native and flood-tolerant plants, all of which have an increased capacity to withstand coastal weather events. Shrubs such as sweet pepperbush, chokeberry, and beach plum are fresh and salt water tolerant.

The park includes a mural of historic flood events and symbolic waypoints of record high water levels during major storms. This display is meant to raise awareness about the past, present, and potential future impacts of climate change on Nantucket, as we work towards a more resilient island.

Coastal Resilience

Washington Street Properties

The Land Bank has always had a focus on waterfront properties but it was only until this past decade that they changed their view to that of coastal resilience. The initial goal was to buy waterfront properties in order to make beaches more accessible but as climate change continues to advance the island deteriorates. The Land Bank began imagining the island 50 years in the future and decided the island needed to protect the island from storms, flooding, and sea level rise. They started to focus on waterfront properties specifically in the downtown area, the major street being Washington.

A bird's eye view of downtown Nantucket and Washington Street. You can see how Washington Street cradles the water which makes it a high-risk area for flooding.

This is a map that shows which land bank properties are prone to flooding. As you can see Washington Street is among them.

Here is a concept design for the harbor walk by Scape Architecture. According to Laura Marett of Scape Architecture who is helping the Land Bank design the walk the mean high water mark is 1.6 feet, but is likely to increase to 2.9 feet by 2030, and six feet by 2070. They plan to add dunes, raised platforms, stormwater basins, and runoff areas. In addition, there would be a stormwater garden and wetland habitat.

Here is another view of the walk. You have a better view of the runoff drainage and where the habitats would be. PAUSE. It is important to point out resilience because it explains a lot about the thought process of the Land Bank. They would obviously like to open up harbor views but also ensure we can all enjoy Nantucket in the coming years. However, with all of this resilience, we are ignoring the housing and preservation aspect.

Housing

The majority of the houses that used to reside on Washington Street were demolished with only a few moved. We do not need to take down historic properties like 27 Easy Street to be successful. The Land Bank started to look into housing as far back as 2015. Here is a close-up of the Land Banks meeting minutes in 2015. You can see that on the agenda is Housing Nantucket. They also created housing initiatives in 2015 and have even donated housing to Housing Nantucket but we are still in crisis. It has been seven years and we are still seeing articles talking about the lack of housing.

Conclusion: What Now?

Land banks are public authorities or non-profit organizations created to acquire, hold, manage, and sometimes redevelop property in order to return these properties to productive use to meet community goals

The mission of the Nantucket Land Bank focuses on conservation, preservation, and agriculture. Traditionally, Land banks are public authorities or non-profit organizations created to acquire, hold, manage, and sometimes redevelop property in order to return these properties to productive use to meet community goals. The community goals of Nantucket have changed and we are now in a housing crisis that needs immediate attention. The Land Bank has changed its mission twice since its inception, once in 1985 with recreation and again in the late 2000s with agriculture. The times have changed and the mission needs to change with it. It has been done before and it can be done again.

References

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