The trailer dubbed “the ugliest building on Nantucket” must leave its current location next to the old fire station on Pleasant Street after the Historic District Commission voted 4-1 Tuesday night to deny a request for an extension of the temporary permit it had granted to the town.
The vote sets up a showdown with the town administration over the fate of the controversial trailer, as hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars have already been spent to move the structure to its current location.
“I think it stinks. It’s one of the worst things I’ve seen happen to this island,” said HDC member John McLaughlin, who voted in the majority to decline a permit extension for the trailer. “I’m sorry. It’s not right. It’s a piece of trash. It doesn’t meet anything on Nantucket unless it’s the garbage bin.”
Erika Mooney, the town’s operations administrator, began Tuesday night’s hearing noting her concern regarding previous statements made by HDC chair Ray Pohl and member Diane Coombs regarding the prospect of a permit extension, stating they were “pre-prejudiced” against the request. Pohl quickly interjected to say he would “happily, happily recuse” himself from the hearing, but Coombs was adamant that she could fairly judge the town’s request, and did not recuse.
Mooney repeatedly emphasized the town’s need for meeting space, that the trailer was a temporary solution, and that the HDC itself had permitted the move to the current location two years ago.
“I realize the building is considered unattractive, but it hasn’t changed since it was first permitted as a classroom at the elementary school or since it was a temporary clubhouse at Miacomet,” Mooney said. “It’s no surprise how it looks, we haven’t tried to pull anything over on the HDC, we’ve been incredibly transparent. With COVID our plans got put on the back-burner.”
Mooney vehemently objected to the suggestion that the town had “bullied” the HDC into approving the move of the trailer.
“The HDC voted to move this building,” Mooney said. “We wouldn’t have moved it and expended all this money if they hadn’t approved it. We would have never moved it here…It’s not worth moving again, if you don’t approve it, it’s going to the landfill. That’s not a threat. It’s a fact.”
The mobile trailer had previously bounced around the island in multiple locations with various uses, including as a classroom at the elementary school, and as Miacomet Golf Course’s temporary clubhouse. Two years ago, with municipal leaders searching desperately for additional meeting space, the town administration sought a temporary permit to move the building to 131 Pleasant Street, adjacent to the old fire station that had recently been vacated. The Historic District Commission voted to approve the town’s request, and the trailer was moved to its current location and installed into the property at a cost of more than $225,000. But when the pandemic hit, in-person meetings were prohibited, and the trailer has sat empty ever since. With Nantucket residents and visitors decrying the sight of the trailer at one of the busiest intersections on the island, an additional $24,500 contract for landscaping to shield the structure from view was approved in July, but the plantings have not yet been installed.
Despite those investments, the members of the HDC had seen enough of the trailer, and noted the feedback they had received from the public suggested the community had seen enough too.
“I don’t say get rid of it, but if you want to use it as a meeting house, put it behind the police station. There’s plenty of room,” Coombs said. “I don’t think we need it in the middle of the place that everyone comes to, coming in from Madaket and Sconset, going out of town. I don’t think visitors, and this is what we’re concerned about, find it attractive. One of the missions, and I’ve stated this many times, the mission is to get a building to fit in with the surroundings – for the tourists, the trades and businesses. It should fit in easily. This building does not fulfill that.”
Associate member Carrie Thornewill agreed.
“I don’t understand why the town of Nantucket would want to display this in a space that is so prominent,” Thornewill said. “I think they would want to help the HDC comply with our mission.”
The lone vote of dissent was cast by HDC member Val Oliver, who noted the temporary nature of the trailer, the investments the town has made, and the disruption caused by the pandemic that prevented it from being used.
“This is an innocent little trailer serving the town. Let’s let it go,” Oliver said. “The money spent to move it here would be flushed down the toilet if we said ‘there’s an ugly building here, let’s move it’.”
The next step in the trailer saga is unclear. Historic District Commission administrator Kadeem McCarthy noted at the end of the meeting that he would like to confer with town counsel as the state legislature had voted local permits issued prior to the state of emergency would be tolled until it was lifted. In theory, that could add another year to the existing permit for the trailer.
The town could also appeal the HDC’s decision to the Select Board.
