No Ruling On Gerry Island Causeway

If Peter Noyes was waiting on the town counsel to issue an opinion on whether he has the right to drive trucks across a causeway between and , he learned Tuesday that he may have a long wait.

In a meeting with Town Administrator Tony Sasso and Town Engineer William Lanphear, Noyes was told that the town will not issue an opinion on whether he has a right to drive vehicles across the causeway to on the island.

He was also told he would have to hire his own lawyer to issue an opinion on the question, and that opinion could be challenged by the town or by individuals opposed to expanded use of the island.

Noyes said he had taken the question to the Board of Selectmen and thought the board had referred the matter to Lisa Mead, the town's legal counsel. He said he was told an opinion would be issued in “a couple of weeks.”

But Sasso told Noyes that neither the Selectmen nor the Conservation Commission would ask Mead for a legal opinion.

Noyes wants to confirm that the owner of Gerry Island, Ted Moore's Redstone Realty, has the right to allow him to use the causeway as part of his controversial plan to renovate and rebuild seawalls on the island. Noyes denied last week that he plans to buy the island from Moore.

At issue is the use of a rock and gravel causeway. At low tide cars and trucks can cross the naturally formed causeway.

Noyes' plan has drawn sharp criticism. Last week an to voice their objections and skepticism about Noyes' plans for the island.

Opponents appeared individually and as part of a newly formed group, called Friends of Little Harbor.

The commission members made a second site visit to the island Tuesday evening to study the area where Noyes proposes to build a 30-foot by 60-foot pad with three-inch thick gravel for unloading boats or trucks.

Commission members said their recollection from the first site visit was that the area had too great a slope for the pad and would require that Noyes remove large boulders and bring in fill material. That much construction might impact the protected coastal bank area.

Noyes and his engineer, Peter Ogren of Hayes Engineering disagreed with the commission members.

Following his meeting with Sasso and Lanphear, Noyes said he does not understand why so many Marblehead residents oppose his plan and are skeptical of what he wants to do on the island.

“If at the end of the day, I do exactly what I say I am going to do, what then?” he said.

Noyes, who owns the Rockmore Floating Restaurant and the Hannah Glover, told Commission Chairman Walter Haug last week that he plans only to rebuild the walls to “stabilize” the island. In the future, he would ask federal, state and local agencies for permission to use the island as a boat yard.

Opponents of the project doubt that he would be willing to spend money on permit fees, engineering studies and attorneys to gain permission to store a few boats.

“It's my money,” Noyes said. “Living in Marblehead is expensive.” He said he pays $50,000 in taxes to the town each year. “Nobody minds taking that money from me,” he said.

He called the attacks on himself personally as being “without foundation. He referred to his opposition on the project as “thuggery.” He said, “That's my new favorite word.”

The commission is scheduled to meet again on Noyes' proposal on June 9.