CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Residents, town officials and regulators gather at the gazebo at Nauset Beach in Orleans earlier this summer for a hearing held by state environmental officials.
ORLEANS – Selectmen in Orleans decided last month to file a civil lawsuit against Eastham in state Land Court, over the contested 4-acre piece of the Nauset Spit.
They made that decision public August 5th, in the wake of Eastham seeking to overturn a decision made last month by the state Department of Environmental Protection which allows Orleans to have an over-sand driving arrangement on the beach.
Orleans is currently using a fence to prevent drivers from crossing over into what Eastham claims is its own territory. Eastham issued a cease-and-desist order last year which negotiated a fine for any Orleans use of that land.
Orleans selectman John Hodgson said there is no reason to have the fence up any longer.
“The state agrees, they gave us the superseding order, so we checked that box,” he said. “At the end of the day, we believe not only is the spit in the town of Orleans, but that we own the entire spit, so we want to get our residents back on the beach again.”
Hodgson called the appeal Eastham is making against the state “sad;” he said it was an opportunity for the two towns to come together to make an agreement.
But now that Eastham has sought the appeal, Hodgson said Orleans’ main argument in court will be based on boundaries.
He says the town boundary is where the edge of the inlet is, the middle of the cove entrance.
“Eastham really has no authority over anything that happens there on that spit, not their board of selectmen or bylaws,” he said.
Going forward, Hodgson believes it is critical to take down the “fence” of wooden posts with signs which are still preventing drivers from crossing over.
“Those signs have got to come down immediately, otherwise it’s just going to be very difficult to ever take them down,” he said.
A case management conference regarding the Land Court is slated for September 10th.
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