Nantucket Current

An NRTA Wave bus at the Washington Street station in downtown Nantucket. Photo by Jason Graziadei The Select Board has approved a lease with the Nantucket Regional Transit Authority (NRTA) for town-owned property on Industry Road, where the NRTA plans to build a new maintenance garage. The garage is currently located on a parcel of land owned by the Nantucket Memorial Airport at 35 Bunker Road. The airport told NRTA it won’t renew its lease when it expires in 2028, forcing the relocation.

It's no secret that Nantucket's seal population has exploded and inevitably attracted a growing number of shark species, including great whites. But it's not every day that someone witnesses a white shark attacking a seal just feet from shore and records a video of the predation. But that's just what happened on Sunday near Great Point when Carrie Drayton and Tyler O’Brien were driving out to the point to do some fishing and caught a glimpse of something moving in the waves near the wash over.

This Whaler sports roundup includes an update and photos from the girls soccer team and the volleyball team following home victories on Friday, the boys soccer team following a road victory, and the football team following a road defeat. Harper LeBrecht greeted by sophomore Ruby Steadman following her second goal of the match.

A utility pole on Dave Street where AT&T plans to install new wireless antennas, one of numerous location around the island. Photo by Jason Graziadei It was another terrible summer for cellular phone service on Nantucket, with the usual epidemic of dropped calls, unreliable signals, and apps and web pages that won’t load. But help could be on the way - at least for AT&T customers.

A new fall deer hunting season on Nantucket begins today, Monday, Sept. 21st. The special hunt was approved by the state last December for just two areas in Massachusetts: Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. It was proposed as an initiative to reduce the large deer herds on the islands, which have been blamed for the high incidence of tick-borne diseases, as well as increased deer/vehicle collisions, habitat damage, and coastal erosion.

This Whaler sports roundup includes an update on the boys soccer team following a shutout victory over a Cape & Island rival, the field hockey team following their first win of the season, and the volleyball and girls soccer teams following road matches on Wednesday. The boys soccer team is off to a strong start this fall with a 3-1 record through their first four games.

A portion of Amelia Drive will soon be a one-way street, at least temporarily. The Select Board approved a pilot project making a portion of the side street one-way, with traffic flowing toward Ticcoma Way. The pilot initiative will run until January. The change only applies to the portion of Amelia Drive between Waitt Drive and Ticcoma Way. The part of the street above Waitt Drive, including the parking lot for the Nantucket Meat and Fish Market, will remain two-way.

Nantucket’s Flock cameras are coming down. The Select Board voted unanimously on Wednesday to stop the use of the controversial automatic license plate readers at the corner of Easy Street and Broad Street, joining a growing wave of towns across the state and the country that have ended contracts with the surveillance company. However, the Select Board left the door open for the police department to come back with an “alternative technology” to replace the cameras.

The Select Board voted unanimously to oppose a request to lift a prohibition on short-term rentals (STRs) in a portion of the Richmond Great Point affordable housing development. Select Board members and community leaders were sharply critical of the request, which sought to reverse a condition of the memorandum that allowed the town’s largest affordable housing development to go forward over a decade ago.

Nantucket will play host to another major film production this November. The Select Board voted unanimously on Wednesday to grant Faraway Films permits to film scenes for the upcoming film “A Woman in the Sun” on November 12th and 13th. The initial request was for November 10th through the 12th, but it changed slightly before the Select Board’s meeting.