The long-raging legal fight over ownership and access to a 4,000-foot-long stretch of beach in East Hampton Town exploded again yesterday, according to 27East. A panel of state appellate court judges threw out the 2016 ruling that dismissed the lawsuit filed by oceanfront property owners in Amagansett and Napeague; the judges ruled that ownership of “Truck Beach” rests with the plaintiffs. East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc then stated that the town would go ahead with its plan to condemn the land in the first step of seizing ownership of the land via eminent domain.
The story till now: the dispute is between Amagansett/Napeague homeowners who claim to own the beach in front of their houses, up to the high water line, and the town, Trustees, and residents who say that the beach is public and they can drive on it. The lawsuit, filed in 2009, states that the various homeowners purchased the land in question at various times. The 2016 ruling threw out the suit, and the homeowners appealed.
At issue is a deed dated 1882 selling 1,000 acres to Arthur Benson from the Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town of East Hampton. The deed contains the following:
And also except and reserved to the inhabitants of the Town of East Hampton the right to land fish boats and netts to spread the netts on the adjacent sands and care for the fish and material as has been customary heretofore on the South Shore of the Town lying Westerly of these conveyed premises.
This, says the town, indicates that the public must have access to the beach. Homeowners say the deed gives ownership to themselves and only allows access for fishing, not 4x4s.
So what’s next? A fight over the true value of the beach; condemnation would require the town to pay the homeowners for the land. Homeowners say the land is worth tens of millions; the town says not, since the land is not developable. The town may also appeal this decision.