Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank accepts gift of Lagoon Pond beach

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Photo by Ralph Stewart

The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank commission announced Monday that it had received a donation of a nearly 1,000-foot-long beach plus its backland dune and pond system on Lagoon Pond in Oak Bluffs. The donors are descendants of the Moses and Alvin Strock families, the Land Bank said. The property will be named the Doug’s Cove Preserve, in honor of a beloved member of the Strock family, according to a press release

The total property is 4.4 acres and is well known to anyone who regularly travels over the Lagoon Pond bridge. Traveling from Tisbury to Oak Bluffs, it is the stretch of beach that curves from the bridge to the right and encompasses the opening of a tidal pond that is part of the new preserve. The property has an assessed value of $108,600.

Preliminary management goals for the property call for recreational visitors to park at the county’s adjacent Eastville Point Park, on the opposite side of Beach Road. Individuals engaged in traditional harvesting will be able to park on-premises and may back up to the beach itself for loading and unloading, although vehicles will not be permitted on the beach itself, according to a press release.

Overnight storage of any items, including boats, will not be allowed anywhere, with a limited exception for beach-outhauls; the Land Bank will work with the town harbormaster to devise a licensing system for a modest number of such outhauls, given the desire not to interfere with other beach uses, the Land Bank said. Trails will be sited, possibly connecting to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. In addition, the causeway will be restored to native vegetation and a viewshed will be created that provides Tisbury-bound motorists and bicyclists a view out to the Lagoon.

The Land Bank is funded by a two-percent fee on real estate transactions.

Land Bank purchases and management plans are approved jointly by town Land Bank advisory board, made up of appointed members in each town, and the elected members of the Land Bank commission.

James lengyel, Land bank executive director, said members of the public with any questions about this acquisition are encouraged to attend one of the land bank commission’s regular Monday evening meetings or one of the meetings of the Oak Bluffs town advisory board.