http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?36426
We have some odd rules here in Mass. Ownership is to some low water mark (Storer case calls for Ordinary Low Water, 1991 SJC Rockwood v. Snow Inn was supposed to answer the question, but they skirted the answer) and all ponds greater than 10-acres in their natural state are owned by the Commonwealth. The house that Clinton and Obama stayed in on Martha's Vineyard fronts on a Great Pond, but the owner lost a Land Court Case where he tried to claim prescription to the ocean over a barrier beach. Now they are going political and trying to codify that as a barrier beach migrates (natural process perhaps expedited due to sea level rise) over any public lands, the fee is retained in the public.
While the target of the case are these great ponds on MV, the language of the bill is loose and has (un)intended consequences. It does call for Any public lands which would include the land below 'Ordinary' low water and as the beach migrates, private ownership would terminate. I can see some benefit to the public, but at an extreme detriment to the littoral owner.
I agree with Dave, seeing very little benefit to the public. And as far as the tax relief, I dont think anyone who owns beachfront property on MV should be too worried.
-V
Being from a Town with many barrier beaches, I can see a great public benefit. The trouble with this and similar laws is that the people who have proposed them don't understand and did not take the time to review the consequences.
I was the one who brought this up to Dave and I am still on the fence as to whether MALSCE should really have an opinion. After all, we are not advocates, well, we are not supposed to be advocates.
We have so much shoreline wouldn't it be nice if they could set some rules and straighten it all out so everyone knew where the limits were.
Connecticut certainly has different laws but they also have a great deal of shoreline and are in the process of defining the water lines along the coast and up the Conn. River. Jay Doody gave a great presentation at the CALS convention last year about the process they were using to define the high water lines in Conn. A mathematical model of the high water line for the state has been built and Jay is going around the state checking it (with GPS) against the observed tide lines, incrustation lines on docks, etc. To date the model has been pretty accurate. I guess the next step is to get the legislature to accept it and make it law. A really useful piece of work if you are near the water. It would be great if MA could do somthing similar.
T.W.