CapeCodTimes.com – Private property owners along White Path Lane and Bay Beach Lane are being asked to give permanent easements on their property to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make way for dredge spoils from the Cape Cod Canal.
Some lashed back as fiercely as the waves that hit what’s left of the dunes in front of their homes this winter, because the easements would allow public access to the beaches in front of their homes, including inside their property lines. At times it was if all 20 people were talking at once.
“You’re taking our land and letting people sit in our yard. It’s ridiculous,” Sharon Schneider of 4 White Cap Path said.
The dredging would provide 150,000 cubic yards of dredge materials and would be used along a 2,500-foot stretch of coastline to protect the private homes. Easements are only needed for some of those properties affected.
The total cost of the project is $5.2 million, and depositing the sand on the beaches would cost an additional $1.65 million, with the town’s portion being $575,000, Michael Riccio, project manager for the Corps, said.
Irene Davis, who owns a cottage at 8 White Cap Path, said she and other homeowners will be paying taxes on property for the benefit of others. “That’s not fair,” she said.
Because the federal government is paying 65 percent of the project, there has to be a public benefit, Riccio said.
“Do you realize what we’ve done to try to get this?” Town Manager George “Bud” Dunham said. “When you buy next to salt water, there’s inherent risk.”
So the bottom line is this. These people live on the ocean and their beaches are eroding so their houses are in danger. The government is spending millions of dollars to fix it for them. Because it is a government project they are asking for a few public easements to satisfy the need for public benefit from the taxpayer funded project.
Here’s where it gets hilarious. Irene Davis and a slew of other neighbors are pissed about this because they… “will be paying taxes… for the benefit of others” and “that’s not fair”. Well, I have a question for Irene and the rest of the homeowners that are against this… Why is it not fair for others to benefit from your taxes, yet you want to use millions of dollars of our money to fix your beach? Kinda hypocritical no? It takes a special kind of entitlement to actually call other people entitled in your argument for your entitlement. Blood just trickled out of my ear.
I’m all for property rights, and the government shouldn’t be able to force these people to do anything with their property. That said, if you want the rest of us to pay for your sand, then you can shut right the hell up about a few easements. Should I ask the government to use taxpayer money to build me a pool and a new deck? If you don’t want the stipulations that come with government funding, pay for your own sand. There are a few social programs we need, but we sure as hell don’t need you people calling in on Obama phones from your private beach for government sand and paying for it with EBT cards.
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