ECHLA Legal Action on Hart Bay Trail
The Association (ECHLA) is battling in court against a quiet title and declaratory judgment claim that would give an individual landowner the right to develop a vehicle road through a beautiful and long-undisturbed natural area of our community, the trail leading to ECHLA’s Hart Bay beach park. Essentially, this one owner is seeking to use this common area benefitting all ECHLA owners for a private purpose benefitting him only, which would eliminate or impair other folks’ use and enjoyment of this natural area. There are various opportunities for individual members to support the Association’s efforts, which will help ECHLA to protect this natural area.
ECHLA member Adrian Cenni (and his company Max Arc LLC) seek to build a vehicle road down to his property at the beach, through mangroves and wetlands and alongside a lagoon with bird habitat, destroying the character and quality of the existing pedestrian trail to the ECHLA beach park at Hart Bay. Building a road would require substantial construction and “development” that would violate ECHLA governing document provisions going back to the Association’s formation in the mid-1980s, which require the trail area to remain an “undeveloped right of way" (more on that further below).
ECHLA’s Board, and most or all ECHLA members to our knowledge, see this owner’s effort as unacceptable, as it would violate all the other Owners' rights to have that beautiful natural area surrounding the trail be preserved for our common enjoyment. That area is a priceless community resource, almost like having a National Park hiking trail right within our Chocolate Hole neighborhood.
The Trail and Beach Park: The scenery and natural resources that would be impacted are exceptionally beautiful and contain extensive mangroves and prime habitat for certain bird species, as shown in the 7 photos and painting below of the area (and also in the Tradewinds article about the Hart Bay Trail on our website):
1. See two photos below showing the lagoon and trail area from a distance — the natural area / pedestrian trail we are talking about is along the other side of the lagoon in this view, containing mangroves, bird and fish habitat, etc:
2. Other photos below taken from the lower Trail area show the wetlands habitat located there, including the many threatened mangrove trees within it:
3. The topography / slopes within this area require steep stone stairs to get down to the lower wetlands / mangroves — those stairs have been there ever since they were built in the early 1990s as part of the Trail (along with another set of stairs on the trail at the south end of the Hart Bay beach park, allowing for a natural “loop” hiking trail). The area at bottom of those stairs, including much of the lower Trail, is also often underwater during rainy periods, as you can see below, making it particularly unsuitable for development:
4. The photos below shown the Hart Bay beach that is accessed by the Trail (a 2.6 acre beach park parcel owned by ECHLA), along with the trail on the south side of the beach (with stairs constructed onto it, leading back up to Bovocoap Road – this and other trails allow members to enjoy using the Hart Bay beach park as part of a “loop” route for walking, jogging or just for appreciation of the natural and scenic beauty of our Chocolate Hole community:
5. The painting below, which is the cover of Elaine Estern’s 2017 St John calendar, shows the lovely current view of this area and its contribution to the beauty that surrounds us and the appeal of our properties, along with its environmental benefits:
The Trail leads to the Hart Bay beach, where ECHLA owns 2.6 acres as a beach park for benefit of the ECHLA community and the public. We would urge you to walk the Trail down to the beach if you haven’t already so you see what we are talking about. ECHLA is in process of installing signage for the Trail to show our members where it starts (on Chocolate East Road, right in the “dip”) and to identify the trees and other natural resources in the area. We have several volunteers already for that project, but we are seeking others for installing signage, trail maintenance / bush trimming that is needed now, and otherwise working to help ECHLA to protect and enhance our appreciation of this beautiful area.
It would will be helpful to the case (and get this matter resolved sooner) if additional individual ECHLA members “join" ECHLA's counterclaims in the legal action against Cenni’s road proposal — particularly, folks who feel that their property's value would be adversely affected by Cenni’s proposed grading of the pedestrian trail to the beach park to build a roadway. People who have property immediately adjacent to the pedestrian Trail / ROW or who have a view of the natural pond / Trail / beach park area have an obvious economic benefit from that area, but anyone who enjoys using the Trail to access the beach or appreciates this natural area could join also. This will help Cenni and the Court understand how serious the concerns of the community and the counterclaims against him for this really are. About 15-20 people have joined so far; members would not have to pay to join the action, as it is part of ECHLA’s ongoing legal work.
In legal terms — Cenni wants to develop the Trail for a vehicle road, but the right of way for vehicular use was eliminated in 1985 in accordance with the settlement agreement. He has no right to undertake the development he wants, because he does not own the trail — he just has the same rights we all have, namely to use the trail to get to the ECHLA beach park as well as to get to his parcel. The former “paper roadway” that was shown on a map at one time was eliminated by a 1985 settlement agreement between ECHLA and Massac, which converted the ROW to “an undeveloped right of way,” to protect the natural habitat and steep slopes in the area and provide a scenic resource. Cenni bought his parcel in 2004, long after these requirements were recorded in the public record and shown on the registered maps for the area, putting him on notice that it came with pedestrian access only. Additionally, the Trail has been there for at least 40 years, and many ECHLA members have enjoyed for many years using this footpath to access the Hart Bay beach park and the natural areas leading to it.
Cenni therefore does not have the legal right to build a road through this area, and has no legal interest or equitable interest in the Traill that would give him the right to a CZM permit that would allow him to "develop" it at all. Nonetheless, Cenni and his legal team appear to believe that if they push the issue hard enough, they can make this road happen, regardless of the negative impacts on the entire Chocolate Hole community and our environment.
Please feel free to contact ECHLA President Kevyn Salsburg if you are concerned about this and interested in becoming involved or would like more info, or speak with any Board member.
