Chatham land dispute turns acrimonious
“When a Barnstable County sheriff’s deputy came to his door last week with a summons, Selectman Sean Summers half-wondered what he’d done. But inside was a notice for a preliminary injunction hearing naming Summers, his fellow selectmen and the town as co-defendants as the Chatham Bars Inn seeks to stop the board from getting an easement on inn-owned land through eminent domain.
For most of his 11 years in office, Summers has been party to the town’s fruitless effort to secure permanent rights to park on a portion of two parcels owned by the inn next to the town fish pier. The land now provides nearly half the parking spaces in the lower parking lot used by commercial fishermen.
Parking is in short supply in Chatham and especially at the pier. Fishermen say they need parking in the lower lot to bring gear and supplies to their vessels and transport their catch.
“Commercial fishermen have been urging us for years to come up with a permanent solution,” said Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Florence Seldin.
Negotiations between the town and the inn “were never that friendly” but the tenor changed significantly with the inn’s new owners in 2006, Summers said.
“From the town perspective (they) were constantly threatening to shut the lower lot unless they got other land in trade, or they used it (the parking dispute) when other situations cropped up,” Summers said.
Chatham Bars Inn General Manager John Speers said he would relay a request for comment to the corporate offices in New York, but no one contacted the Times.
According to the inn’s filing, a prior owner of the inn leased a portion of the lots to the town. Summers said that the lease was a small amount.
After the inn was sold in 2006, the new owners wanted more than a token payment. They ultimately worked out a memorandum of understanding with the town in 2009 that granted the inn spaces in the upper public parking lot.”
Fraser, Doug. Cape Cod Times 14 August 2014.