Nantucket's Anti-Chain Amendment Passes

On April 3 at Nantucket's Town Meeting, an amendment to the town zoning laws to keep chain stores out of the historic downtown went unchallenged. This means the amendment automatically passes and will be adopted by the town, pending approval from the state attorney general, according to Wendy Hudson of Nantucket Bookworks, the sponsor of the proposal.

Wendy Hudson

"I'm very excited and very glad," Hudson told BTW. "[The hard work] seems to have all paid off." She said she is "guardedly optimistic" that the attorney general will approve the amendment.

It was back 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 chain stores out of historic downtown Nantucket. This year, 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 that 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."

The adopted warrant article, barring formula businesses from downtown Nantucket, can be found on the New Rules Project website, www.newrules.org. --David Grogan