"Children's Beach really only operates for two months. It's July and August," Select Board member Bob DeCosta said at the board's meeting on Wednesday, September 30, which the Inquirer and Mirror reported on October 2. He was making a case about one concession shack. The same reasoning is now shaping all three public beaches on the harbor side of Brant Point. At Cliff Beach, at Children's Beach and at Jetties, the decisions made over the past five months lean the same way. Keep the buildings small, keep them in place or remove them, and leave more of the shoreline to sand.
None of these is one big project. They are separate decisions by separate bodies, made at different meetings. Taken together, they will change what you see from the shoreline by next summer.
Cliff Beach Swapped Six Houses for a Dune
The clearest example is at 41 Jefferson Avenue, across from Cliffside Beach Club and the Galley. The Nantucket Land Bank bought the property, which had six housing units, and then moved most of them away. Three units left on May 12 for 158 Madaket Road, where the Affordable Housing Trust plans to sell them to middle-income households. Two more left on May 19 for 159 Hummock Pond Road to serve as Land Bank employee housing. The garage is staying on the property, moved to a new spot and used for storage.
That freed the land for a public beach. Over the summer, the setup was simple: 14 parking spaces with two of them accessible, MobiMats over the sand, two portable toilets and a spigot for washing your feet. At its May 26 meeting, the Land Bank kept the garage where it was until a move planned for the fall. Cliff Beach had its grand opening on Saturday, July 11. At the July 14 meeting, Land Bank Executive Director Rachael Freeman said she was very happy with the turnout for what she called a low-key event. Commissioner Mark Donato mentioned a Facebook post from Our Island Home about its residents visiting Cliff Beach the week before.
The more interesting work is what replaces the houses. The Land Bank is working with the Woods Hole Group on a small dune with sand fencing and native plants such as American beach grass. The project page explains why. The dune is "expected to replicate the sediment holding function of the existing structures." The houses had been holding sand in place. Now grass and fencing will do that job.
Those pieces are still planned work. The Land Bank's schedule calls for an accessible boardwalk to the water, beach wheelchairs kept on site and the dune, with all work finished in December 2026. The project page does not list any of them as complete yet. The Land Bank chose this beach for accessibility because of its "short, flat route to the shoreline."
Children's Beach May Try a Truck Before Spending Millions
At the other end of the harbor, the Town owns the Children's Beach concession, and the question is whether its building is worth fixing. The current contract is in its last year. Since 2017, the shack has earned the town $158,566. A major renovation is estimated at $2.5 million to $5.5 million. Parks and recreation manager Charlie Polachi told the board that the renovation would take 45 to 66 years to pay for itself.
Staff suggested a lighter option. The existing building would hold storage and refrigeration, and a food truck would come to the site each day. Board member Brooke Mohr backed trying it under the next contract. "For Children's Beach, I really like the idea of not doing a major project, not triggering the coastal resiliency stuff and trying with this next contract, the food truck model and see if it works before we do anything major to the building at all," she said.
Tearing the building down or moving it also came up. Preservation planner Holly Backus said historic preservation rules might limit both. For now, the board will put the contract out to bid when it expires. That gives the town more time to decide what to do with the building.
The food truck idea already had a recent trial run at this beach. Nantucket Restaurant Week's Food Truck Festival was scheduled for Children's Beach on October 4, with October 11 as the rain date.
Sandbar Can Only Go Up
Jetties Beach has the most successful building of the three, and the town has the fewest options for it. Sandbar, owned by island residents George Kelly and Nick Nass, opened in 2017. Since then it has paid the town $1.67 million. The Inquirer and Mirror reports that its lease has been renewed for $1.13 million plus a 7.5 percent annual revenue share. Nantucket Current's coverage of the bid explains how that total adds up. No one else bid. The new lease runs from 2027 through 2031, starting at $200,000 in the first year and rising to $256,000 in the last, plus an average 7.5 percent of food sales. When the Current wrote its story, the Select Board's final vote had not yet been scheduled.
The building needs work. Polachi listed an electrical panel that is maxed out, corroded pipes under the building, and second-floor windows and doors that need replacing. Renovations to the bathhouse next door are underway, and the town is considering restroom upgrades. The bigger issue is the lower parking lot, which floods during storms.
One option was moving Sandbar south toward South Beach Street. That raised historic preservation concerns, and public feedback was mostly against it. Town staff prefer raising the building where it stands, which they see as a reasonable balance of flood protection, accessibility and preservation. Even raised, it would still be exposed to waves in a 100-year storm. Sustainability programs manager Vince Murphy explained the limits.
"The existing building is within the dune, it's in a resource area. In order to do anything on that site, you have to more or less stay within the remaining footprint. I don't think we could even pick it up and turn it much. It's either pick it up and elevate on site or retreat it."
So Sandbar cannot get bigger. At most it will be lifted in place or moved back from the water. The three beaches face the same choice in different ways.
| Cliff Beach, 41 Jefferson Ave. | Children's Beach | Jetties Beach | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns it | Nantucket Land Bank | Town | Town |
| Building decision | Five of six housing units moved off; garage kept and moved on site | Rebid the contract; test a food truck; renovation on hold | Raising Sandbar in place preferred; moving it south drew mostly negative feedback |
| What fills the space | Dune, boardwalk, MobiMats | Daily truck, with the building used for storage | Same footprint, possibly higher |
| Next milestone | All work done, December 2026 | Contract expires and goes to bid | New lease begins 2027 |
Why the Town Is Holding Back
The town's spending plans point the same way. During its fall review of the capital plan, the Select Board cut or deferred more than $600 million in proposed projects over ten years. That included coastal work at Easy Street, Steamboat Wharf, Codfish Park, Washington Street and Polpis Road. The Current reported that those projects could come back later. Steamboat Wharf and Easy Street sit on the same stretch of harbor as Children's Beach. A board that is deferring work there is unlikely to spend millions on a beach shack that is busy for two months a year.
That is why each site is getting the cheapest version that works. The Land Bank removed most of the buildings at Cliff Beach. The town may try a truck at Children's Beach before deciding about the shack. Sandbar may be raised on the spot it already occupies.
What Changes Before Next July
- Fall 2026: The Land Bank planned to move the Cliff Beach garage in the fall, to a new spot on the same property.
- December 2026: The Land Bank's target for finishing all work at 41 Jefferson Avenue, including the dune, boardwalk and beach wheelchairs.
- End of the current contract: The Children's Beach concession goes out to bid, and the food truck model may get its first full season.
- 2027 season: Sandbar's new five-year lease begins at Jetties. The Select Board made no major decisions at its meeting about the building's future.
If you walk from Children's Beach past the lighthouse to Jefferson Avenue, these changes will show up gradually. Next season Cliff Beach should have a planted dune and a boardwalk where houses used to be. Children's Beach may have a truck parked beside its old shack. Sandbar will most likely sit where it does now and may eventually be raised.
We follow these meetings and records for the families who rent and own along this stretch of harbor, because who can get to the water, and where, matters at the shoreline. If you have questions about a home near Jetties, Children's Beach or Jefferson Avenue, or about how these plans could affect a summer rental, Sanford & Sanford Real Estate is glad to talk it through. Buy, sell, or rent with Sanford & Sanford.
