MICHAEL HELFGOTT, president of Save Cedar Beach/Cedar Island Supporters, stands in front of the beach access point he and others have worked so hard to preserve for the public. In the photo on the right, residents enjoy Cedar Beach in Harpswell on Friday.
Cedar Beach has been a part of island life for as long as Harpswell residents can remember.
“People talk about their great-grandfathers swimming on the beach,” said Joan Lester, who owns beachfront property immediately adjacent to Cedar Beach. “It’s so painful to lose it.”
On Tuesday, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court vacated an earlier ruling that stated the public had a right to access Cedar Beach via a small pathway over private land. The high court ruled that the public did not have a prescriptive easement over the path in question, effectively preserving the private rights of the landowners over decades of common practice.
While the owner of the land, Betsy Atkins, has made public her intentions to allow access to the beach via her land indefinitely, many are concerned that she could change her mind at a moments notice and prevent the public from using the path.
For some on Bailey Island, threats to close off Cedar Beach represent how much Maine has changed in recent years.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said one woman traveling to the beach with her husband. “It’s happening all over Maine.”
“I’ve lived here for 74 years, and the only thing that bothers me is people who move here and say ‘my beach,’” said Steve Johnson, a lifelong resident of Harpswell and a former lobsterman.
Johnson recalled in his younger days being able to walk the entire circumference of Bailey Island without anyone being unfriendly or telling him that the land was private. The idea that someone would close off a section of beach that generations of Harpswell natives have been able to access is anathema to the way lifelong residents think of the land.
While many have expressed bitterness over the recent court battle, it has also brought many in the community together.
“This fight has brought the islanders and the non-islanders together,” said Lester, who has lived on the island for decades.
Michael Helfgott, president of Cedar Beach/Cedar Island Supporters, said that any public opposition to his group has simply not been visible.
Helfgott notes that he was also “from away,” having moved to Maine from southern New England. Not wanting to interfere in a community that he hadn’t grown up in, Helfgott was initially hesitant to get involved on the issue. However, once he finally brought up the issue in a public meeting, he was overwhelmed by the warm responses.
“This issue has built a sense of community,” said Helfgott.
Along with several others in the community, Helfgott founded Cedar Beach/Cedar Island Supporters to fight to keep the the beach accessible for Harpswell residents. Ultimately, they took the case to court, winning a temporary victory in 2014 when a court ruled in their favor. Now that that ruling has been vacated, the group is largely left to the whims of the property owners as to the future of Cedar Beach. While the group has a short window to ask the court to reconsider, Helfgott admits that the court very rarely reconsiders cases.
“I would say the odds are kind of long,” said Helfgott.
Ultimately, the case of Cedar Beach may be the future for other Maine lands. While Mainers have long allowed public use of private lands, new owners “from away” are often less keen on the practice. As new owners close off land that was once shared with the public freely, Maine’s courts will have to navigate the path between respecting property rights and respecting time-honored traditions.
What happened?
• ON TUESDAY, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court vacated an earlier ruling that stated the public had a right to access Cedar Beach via a small pathway over private land. The high court ruled that the public did not have a prescriptive easement over the path in question, effectively preserving the private rights of the landowners over decades of common practice.
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