A plan by the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank to cut a public footpath through an ancient way known as Swimming Place Path is before town officials after a year of no action by the Edgartown Select Board. But abutters claim the town can’t approve a plan for a footpath after a title search found the town doesn’t own the land.
Land Bank officials want to restore public trail access on a portion of Swimming Place Path from Herring Creek Road to Road to the Plains through a six-foot-wide, natural surface footpath, for walkers, non-motorized bicycles, and horses in an effort that goes back several years.
The road was historically used by farmers traveling from Edgartown Great Pond to Swimming Place Point, where farmers herded livestock to grazing points and swam them across Katama Bay to Chappaquiddick. According to Charles Edward Banks in “The History of Martha’s Vineyard,” the path was first recorded as a “cross path” in 1675.
A document on the Edgartown planning board’s website, submitted by Land Bank trail planners Bill Veno and Emily Josephs in August of this year, said longstanding “public right to pass” laws trump private ownership. They said most ancient ways on the Island are owned by abutting residents, and those residents usually own only to the centerline of the ancient way.
Veno told The Times in June 2024 that ancient ways are old roads and former cart paths, and for some of them, a public right to access exists even through private property but proving that right can be challenging.
In 2011, the Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld a controversial Superior Court ruling that the public has a right to use Rogers Path, an ancient way in West Tisbury, after it had already seen years of public use and town work on the path.
Brae Eddleston, planning and zoning administrator for the planning board, told The Times Tuesday that Swimming Place Path is considered an ancient way in Edgartown and has been for many years. Those ways, she said, are acknowledged and protected for public use.
“The recommendation was voted three to two by the planning board to recommend to the select board to enter into a land management agreement. The planning board does not have any jurisdiction over land management agreements … that exists between the select board and the Land Bank,” Eddleston said.
Residents who live along that property line, however, don’t want a path behind their houses. Their concerns were aired at a public hearing on Sept. 15 when the planning board voted 3-2 to bring the issue to the Edgartown Select Board.
“I don’t think the select board is going to vote it in,” Paul Bonetti, 83, who attended the meeting on Sept. 15, said in an interview with The Times. “If it does, all hell is going to break loose.”
Bonetti and his wife Sandra Bonetti, 80, bought their house on 34 School House Road almost two decades ago. Bonetti said he owns four houses abutting Swimming Place Path; 19 Suttons Way, 21 Suttons Way, 23 Suttons Way, and 34 School House Road. He said the path is only nine feet from the deck of his residence on School House.
“They are going to allow on this path, walking people, unmotorized bicycles, and horses, and I’m not against horses at all, but who’s going to pick up the crap nine feet from my back door?” Bonetti said.
The history of the project to restore Swimming Place Path as an ancient way began back in 2022, when the town voted to appropriate $66,420 in Community Preservation Act funds for the project on the assumption that the town owned the path. But 2024 title search found that the town doesn’t.
According to a document titled “Swimming Place Path Chronology of Milestones” on the Edgartown planning board’s website, submitted by Veno and Josephs, the Edgartown Estates Homeowners Association, which Bonetti is a part of, owns about 75 percent of Swimming Place Path. The document from August of this year, says nearly 70 percent of the path would cross association land, and the remaining 750 feet, near Road to the Plains, crosses four other resident-owned lands.
After the title search in 2024, the Edgartown Select Board took no action on the project for a year, and this time around, James Hagerty, town administrator for Edgartown, said that might happen again.
“I don’t see that getting actioned anytime soon,” Hagerty said in an interview with The Times.
Bonetti said he and his wife aren’t against public use paths, but 31 houses sit close to the path, and residents have already made their concerns clear in meetings and through emails to the planning board. Aside from the fact the town doesn’t own the land, Bonetti said they are worried about decreased privacy as well as decreased property values, an increased likelihood of trespassing, and the clearing of old trees, which residents are concerned is inevitable to revitalize the path.
“Most of us are not against the path,” he said. “It’s just 30 houses, five feet, nine feet [from the path], and the town doesn’t own the land. That’s why we are fighting it. Wrong location, and they can’t put that path on land they don’t own.”
Bonetti’s wife Sandra added, “Everybody is close. You don’t see anything except in people’s backyards. They’re taking away our privacy.”
Despite resident opposition, the planning board and Land Bank said they do have the right to restore the public use path.
Based on Land Bank documents, Veno and Josephs agree that neither landowners or trail users generally prefer trails situated near residents, but they said in a Q and A file that “the reality is that trails and residences are frequently within eyeshot of the other.”
“The Land Bank has worked with dozens of landowners in all of the towns to create new trails while protecting homeowners’ privacy,” Veno and Joseph wrote. “Planting of screening vegetation or erection of fencing can enhance privacy.”
“Routing of the path through [Swimming Point Path] will impact some abutters more than others. A property-by-property assessment with each landowner is recommended to determine a workable arrangement,” Veno and Joseph wrote in the document.
When it comes to the safety concerns and concerns over property value from the residents, Veno and Joseph said the Land Bank is unaware of any concerns from local police regarding criminal activity on trails or of insurance companies taking into account the presence of a trial when determining risk or premium costs.
“Nevertheless, to help appease landowner concerns, when the Land Bank obtains a trail easement or enters into a trail management agreement with a town board, it indemnifies the landowner and/or town should damages occur,” Veno and Joseph said.
Veno and Joseph also wrote that trail users are “normally respectful to the natural environment.”
“Litter is a rarity but does happen. Other trail users are just as likely to pick up the random wrapper or bit of debris. However, when under Land Bank management, Land Bank staff would work to see that trail users stay on the trail by keeping the trail clear and well marked,” Veno and Joseph wrote.
Bonetti said some residents are ready to take the issue to the court, if the Edgartown Select Board ever votes to approve the restoration of the path.
“There’s going to be so many lawsuits it won’t even be funny. We are hoping the select board nixes the whole thing,” Bonetti said.
In letters sent by abutting residents to the Edgartown planning board, other residents aired similar concerns to those of Bonetti.
Maureen Schwab, who’s been an abutter of Swimming Place Path for 17 years, said in a letter to the board in April 2024 that she was told the path behind their homes “would never be developed.” She was not specific in her letter about who told her that. Also in April 2024, Jenny Goerge sent an email to the planning board, where she attached 17 objection letters from residents in the area and a list of 300 signatures opposing the path.
The Land Bank held a site visit on Sept. 15 to evaluate the specific route for the trail as well as any need for screening or fencing and forwarded a recommendation to the select board as to whether or not to proceed with the trail.
“Unless the plan further develops past what is shown in past iterations, I don’t see the select board putting that on the agenda,” Hagerty said.
