Nantucket Planning Board Endorses 'Anti-Chain' Amendment

In what was good news for Nantucket's locally owned retailers, on March 6 the town's planning board endorsed an amendment to the town zoning laws that would keep large chain stores out of the historic downtown. Bookseller Wendy Hudson, who runs the independent Nantucket Bookworks, sponsored the proposal, which will be voted on at the Town Meeting, scheduled for April 3. It needs two-thirds of the vote to pass.

Wendy Hudson

Hudson told BTW, "I am confident that the majority of people are for it, but I don't know if two-thirds are," she said, adding, "The town council says it's good."

It was in early 2005 that Hudson first raised the issue of amending Chapter 139 of the Code of the Town of Nantucket to, simply put, keep large chain stores out of historic downtown Nantucket. Now, a year later, Hudson reported that -- after failing to get the amendment on last year's docket due to legal technicalities -- she worked with the town's Planning Board to put the "anti-chain" amendment in the proper legal language.

The amendment would keep "formula businesses" -- defined, in part, as retail sales establishments, restaurants, taverns, bars, or take-out food establishments that are under common ownership or control or are a franchise with 14 or more businesses or establishments worldwide -- from opening in Nantucket's historic downtown.

The proposal notes that the goal of the zoning amendment is "to address the adverse impact of nationwide, standardized businesses on Nantucket's historic downtown area. The proliferation of formula businesses will have a negative impact on the island's economy, historical relevance, and unique character, and economic vitality.... Formula businesses frustrate this goal by detracting from the overall historic island experience and threatening its tourist economy."

Though there has been limited opposition to the amendment on the local level, Hudson's proposal has still managed to kick up some controversy. Hudson told BTW that on Friday, March 17, at 5:00 p.m. ET, Fox News Channel's The Big Story With John Gibson is scheduled to air a story regarding Nantucket's amendment to ban chain stores. The show's crew was recently on the island to interview Hudson. The opposing view will be represented by Rick Berman of Berman and Company, a research, communications, advertising, and government affairs firm. Berman is also the executive director of the Center for Consumer Freedom -- a nonprofit coalition of restaurants, food companies, and consumers "working together to ... protect consumer choices."

For Hudson, however, the amendment is all about maintaining the uniqueness and charm, and with it, the economic viability, of downtown Nantucket.