A contractor ordered off a disputed piece of land in Broad Cove Wednesday told police he was sent by the Broad Cove Association, which he believed owned the land, a path to a small beach.

The contractor refused to leave at the request of property owner Paul Woods, who then called the police.

Officer Paul Gaspar responded to the call. He said the contractor was reluctant to leave the property at first. Gaspar told the contractor that because there is a dispute over property rights, “he could possibly be construed as trespassing.”

It is the latest development in a growing dispute over access to “Secret Beach,” a 325-foot stretch of rocks, seaweed and sand tucked between two spits of rocky coastline. Woods and the association have hired lawyers – the association is asking neighbors to pitch in $750 per household – while Woods’s neighbor, Dr. William Holt, said he has no problem with people using the part of the beach he owns.

Beach access became a contentious issue over the summer when Woods began questioning which residents in the approximately 245-household neighborhood actually have rights to the easement over his property and the beach, whose formal name is Maxwell Point Beach.

Woods, who has lived at 20 Running Tide Road since 1999 but only bought the property last year, said it was abuse of the beach by teenagers and adults that led him to research the subject.

The neighborhood association owns the entire 2,500-foot Broad Cove Beach nearby, and two easements from Salt Spray Lane to that beach, but Woods said it is a misperception within the neighborhood that the association also owns Secret Beach.

The association has maintained the easement for years, and residents of the neighborhood claim they have the right to use the path and the beach because they have been using it for so long.

Woods’s attorney said in June, after researching subdivision plans and deeds, that only residents in 18 homes have the right to use the easement and the beach area between the mean high and low tide marks.

Raising money for lawyers

After the association began arguing that all its members were allowed on the path, Woods posted a “No Trespassing” sign at the head of the easement. The sign listed those households with the legal right to use the easement. Woods began confronting those who used the path and beach, taking pictures to document their alleged trespassing and demanding to know where they live.

Broad Cove residents have made claims of harassment and complained to the police department. Woods, who has also called police on people he says were trespassing, denies any allegations of harassment.

At a neighborhood meeting held last Thursday, more than 100 Broad Cove residents were told about the property dispute and mobilized for a legal fight against Woods. The Broad Cove Association and the newly formed Resident Secret Beach Access Group organized the meeting, which was held at St. Bartholomew’s Church.

Neighborhood association President Beth Hess, who bought her house in 2002, said the neighborhood has two choices: do nothing and let the rights to the beach slip into history or fight for those rights.

The association has hired attorney Andrew Sparks of Drummond & Drummond to handle the case. He attended the meeting Thursday night and told the audience to prepare for a court battle. “Your rights to Secret Beach have been challenged,” he said.

David House, a member of the Resident Secret Beach Access Group, said residents of the Broad Cove neighborhood have used the beach for at least 40 years and, to his knowledge, have never been challenged.

House said the loss of access to the beach would hurt property values within the neighborhood and “could have implications to the access of Broad Cove Beach.”

A Broad Cove Association Legal Fund has been created and Peter Connolly, a member of the Resident Secret Beach Access Group, said $17,000 has already been raised, of a goal of $50,000.

Sparks said rights to the easement and the beach are available to everyone in the neighborhood. He cited correspondence from 1977 between the family that owned the lot Woods currently owns and the Broad Cove Shore Association, in which rights to the beach are discussed.

Sparks said the letters set a precedent, confirming the neighborhood association’s rights to the easement and the beach. It is too late to question those rights now, Sparks said.

‘Group action at its worst’

In an unsigned letter to all Broad Cove residents announcing the neighborhood meeting, the Broad Cove Association said it does not recognize the legitimacy of the “No Trespassing” sign Woods posted. “We plan to keep using Secret Beach and hope that you will do the same,” the letter says.

Woods said those rights must be proven, not taken. “The mere assertion of a prescriptive right doesn’t make it so,” he said. “And unless they are ultimately proven, I ask of my neighbors the courtesy of not trespassing over my property.”

Woods said he respects the opposition’s right to have a different take on the matter, but doesn’t agree with their tactics.

“What is shameful about this matter is their intense mischaracterization and demonization of me personally in what is, at root, a property dispute, not a personal one,” he said. “It deliberately serves to distract attention away from the underlying facts in order to advance their own agenda. It is group action at its worst.”

At one point during the meeting David Stine, a member of the beach access group, told the crowd that Woods likes to “pick on women” and one mother said she was afraid to let her children visit the beach.

Sparks said the neighborhood association has tried to settle the issue amicably, but to no avail. “That’s been attempted and it will be attempted again,” Sparks said. “If at the end of the day dialogue doesn’t work, you need to be prepared to take this to court if necessary.”

Neighbor: No problem

A final attempt in October would be made to settle the issue outside court, said Stine. “If that is unsuccessful, then we file suit if required,” he said.

Douglas Kaplan, a resident of Winding Way, asked why the association can’t wait and let Woods sue the association. “I think we’d be better off sending everybody down there every day and get him to sue us,” he said.

Since the initial posting of the “No Trespassing” sign, which has been vandalized numerous times and is currently missing, Woods said there has been no attempt at contacting him or his attorney.

“Litigation should always be the last resort,” he said. “I’ve always been open to a reasonable solution to avoid it.”

Broad Cove residents received some good news at the meeting. Holt, Woods’s neighbor at 15 Running Tide Road, said he was content to allow people to continue using the approximately 200-foot stretch of Secret Beach he owns – that is, if they can reach it.

“If you can access the beach,” Holt said, “the entire intertidal zone of Cape Elizabeth is free to use.”

The entrance to the easement over Woods’s land in question is on Holt’s driveway. He said an occasional problem will arise when a bicycle is left in the driveway, but as far as the beach goes, “there’s not been abuse in any way, in our opinion,” he said.

Stephen Taylor, a resident of Hunts Point Road, said the irony to the whole situation is that “99.9 percent” of the people who use the easement to access Secret Beach use the portion of the beach that Holt owns, rather than Woods’s section of the beach.

He also said he has “never seen any outlandish behavior there, ever.”

Maxwell Point Beach, commonly referred to as Secret Beach, is at the center of a contentious property dispute in the Broad Cove neighborhood.