During the winter of 2023/2024, southerly storms caused significant erosion along the south shore of Nantucket, and especially at the Land Bank’s Cisco Beach bluff. Eventually, the erosion undermined the front row of parking at Cisco Beach, which resulted in a permanent closure of the front parking area to maintain safe conditions for the public.
The loss of this parking lot to erosion was not unexpected, and the Land Bank had been preparing for this moment for several years. NOAA’s “High” sea level rise scenarios (as pictured below), predicted the entire front parking lot would be eroded by 2030. Because the Land Bank had access to this data, we began working in 2021 to plan for a new parking lot with habitat protection and coastal resilience in mind.
We began this project by surveying the surrounding habitat to see which area would be most suitable for the new parking lot. The habitat inland of Cisco Beach is an example of sandplain grassland and coastal heathland. Though this habitat is globally rare, Nantucket is fortunate to have a large extent of this habitat from Head of the Plains in the west through Smooth Hummocks to the sewer beds east of Miacomet Pond. To comply with state regulations, the Land Bank embarked on a series of seasonal ecological surveys of the area in 2021, which continued each spring and summer through May 2024.
After taking many factors into consideration, including several placement options and the results of the state-mandated surveys, the Land Bank Commission chose to locate the replacement parking lot to the west of the Beach Access Road. One major factor was coastal resilience. As such, the Land Bank decided to orient the parking lot perpendicular to the shore, so that fewer parking spots will be lost at any one time as erosion continues to shift and shape this coastline.
The Lank Bank received permits to install this 65-space parking lot in June 2024, and got right to work! In order to have this much needed parking available for the summer beach season, the Land Bank will phase construction. The first phase is already completed, and the lot is available to be used by beachgoers today. This summer, visitors can expect a mowed grass surface to the lot, which allowed the Land Bank to expedite its installation. We are exploring the installation of a sand/gravel surface, like the pre-existing lot at Cisco, after the summer 2024 season.
We are committed to maintaining public access to this beloved beach, and we appreciate our community’s patience as we work to fast track this property improvement.