News comes this week that the Town of East Hampton is moving closer to condemnation of two disputed strips of sand in Napeague. The necessary survey has been done and the East Hampton Trustees have paid for half of it. Condemnation is the first step in seizing ownership of the land via eminent domain.
The issue is that four-wheel drive vehicles use the land to access the beach in the summertime, lining up in the hundreds on a sunny summer weekend. Local homeowners don't like the trucks and say that they actually own the land, a prior owner having purchased it from the town trustees in the 1880s. The town says that the prior owner couldn't have legally purchased it from the trustees, since they didn't have the authority to sell it, and anyway, adverse possession laws would apply. Of course, lawsuits are pending, and even if the town seizes the land, the landowners will sue for compensation. Opponents of the landowners say that public access to beaches is an important right that must be maintained.
What do you think?
· Town Closer to Condemnation of Truck Beach, Receives Trustee Check [EHS]
· Safe Beach [Official]
· Citizens for Access Rights [Official]
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