Changed Face Of North Beach Poses Access Questions

by Alan Pollock

            CHATHAM — With warm weather around the corner, questions are beginning to emerge about access rights to North Beach by camp owners and property owners.

            Chatham Police Lt. John Cauble said the beach patrol officer has already had inquiries from a number of property owners about obtaining a camp owners’ ORV permit that allows access south of Exit 7.  But some of those people have lost their camps to erosion, demolished their camps, or relocated them to temporary quarters on the Hammatt property on the northern end of the First Village, Cauble said.  It is not clear whether those people are entitled to camp owners’ access permits, he said.   

Mobile home…The Shea camp (left) is towed up the beach Monday to its temporary home on the Hammatt property.  On the right is the Thayer camp.  ALAN POLLOCK PHOTO

         Cauble said he believes the purpose of those permits—and the accompanying program of shorebird escorts—is to allow current camp owners to access those buildings.  If the camp is gone or the land is washed away, the owner has no valid need for a permit, he said. 

            Likewise, those whose camps have been moved to the Hammatt property have agreed not to use the buildings while they are in their temporary quarters.  Cauble said he doesn’t think these people need access permits, though some other accommodation might be made to allow them to travel out and check their camps.

            On Monday, the Shea camp was moved to the Hammatt land from its position near the end of the beach; the Fitzgerald camp was demolished last week.  Preparations were underway to move the Kelley camp later this week.  Camp owners are scrambling to move camps now; after April 1, heavy equipment may not be able to get onto the beach due to nesting shorebirds.

            Rule-setting authority for North Beach lies with the parks and recreation commission, whose chairman, Gary Anderson, said the policies need to be clarified.  This week, the commission was set to consider a measure to separate North Beach Island from the ORV access regulations governing the portion of the beach attached to the mainland.

            Andersen said he personally favors allowing some kind of access for those who own or owned property in the First Village, though the matter has not yet been considered by the commission.

3/27/08