Nantucket Airport Commission unanimously backs $3 million fuel farm expansion

Other Committee · Meeting of March 24, 2026

Nantucket Airport Commission votes 5-0 to pursue a $3 million fuel farm expansion and defer a disputed TSA lease. Meeting entirely by video conference on March 24, the commission authorized adding up to four above-ground jet fuel storage tanks adjacent to the existing fuel farm, funded from the airport's fuel revolver account, and approved a separate $50,000 engineering authorization from the professional fees budget to advance design and pricing. Airport Manager Smith flagged that MEPA-NEPA environmental review will not be complete until fall 2027, but the commission, led by Chair Arthur Gasparro, reasoned that locking in capital funding costs nothing if permitting proves a barrier.

Three other contracts — a $150,350 McFarland-Johnson amendment, a $348,460 Track Builders hardstand construction contract, and a landlord waiver for Nantucket Island Rent-A-Car — were approved unanimously, while a 10-year TSA office lease at $55 per square foot was held after Commissioner Levitt objected that it carried "no type of policy that has us entering into long-term rents that each year have us receiving smaller and smaller percentages of market rent." The commission also directed staff to produce a dormitory bed-mapping plan before the next meeting, noting that seven of eight dorm rooms have been vacant since the building opened in August 2025.

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Source: the Other Committee meeting of March 24, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.