Longtime Sweet Neck Farm oysterman Jack Blake has a new business partner, with selectmen voting to add resident Dan Gilkes to Mr. Blake’s aquaculture lease at their meeting on Monday.
Mr. Blake, something of a founding father of oyster aquaculture in the town, has been looking to transfer or add other residents to his lease in recent years. Mr. Blake founded the one-acre Sweet Neck Farm in 1995. The addition of Mr. Gilkes to the lease is part of a broader transition at the farm that is expected to take place as Mr. Blake lightens his workload.
“We are transitioning to get Dan on the farm and Jack off the farm,” shellfish constable Paul Bagnall told the selectmen on Monday. “But only when Jack is ready.”
Selectmen approved the addition unanimously.
“Thank you, Jack,” selectman Margaret Serpa said. “You’ve done a lot.”
In other business, residents along Mill Hill Road in Katama expressed concerns during a public hearing about a request by Eversource to move an electrical pole and install a 60-foot conduit to provide service to a property at 14 Mill Hill Road.
David Burke, who lives near the property of the original pole at 17 Mill Hill Road, said his property is also serviced by the existing pole and that moving the pole presented safety issues regarding the wire conduit. He added that the location of the new pole would be in the path of his driveway.
“It is going to be relocated, but in a position that is where we back out of our property,” Mr. Burke said. “It’ll be in our way . . . the plan has some inaccuracies.”
Mr. Burke also voiced concerns about the state of the road more broadly, arguing that it was too narrow and that the town had allowed developers and builders unbridled access.
“Mill Hill Road is a problem, and it has been for awhile,” Mr. Burke said.
Dudley Cannada, an architect who is designing a future home that will receive electrical service from the re-located pole, said he believed the pole would be built on the property line so that it did not block a driveway. He also said he thought Eversource planned to run the wiring underground. Town right of way agent Jessica Elder said she also believed that was the case.
After hearing from abutters, selectmen decided to continue the public hearing until Jan. 6, asking the residents and town highway superintendent to figure out the exact location of the pole.
“I would like to vote on where the pole is going to go,” selectman Michael Donaroma said. “When that is ready, I would say let’s come back.”
Selectmen also extended the deadline for cleaning up an oil spill on Main street until the middle of January. According to a representative from Bennett Environmental Associates, the company found another tanker leak that has caused an increase in the time needed to remediate the spill. Work will not occur from this Thursday through Sunday due to the Christmas in Edgartown weekend.
Selectmen also approved the replacement of an electrical pole at 82 Water street.
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