Tisbury Great Pond Property Owners Claim Land Bank Attorney
Misrepresented Sale

By JAMES KINSELLA

A family that unwittingly sold land to the Martha's Vineyard
Land Bank has accused the public agency of misrepresentation - and
is calling for an amendment to the land bank statute to prevent such
practices in the future.

In a Jan. 4 letter to the Vineyard Gazette, the family -
Anthony Lewis and his children Eliza, David and Mia Lewis - said
the land bank used subterfuge to acquire four beach lots on the Tisbury
Great Pond. "We feel violated by what was done and want to put our
thoughts on record," the family wrote.

The letter is published on the Commentary Page in today's
Gazette.

In 2003, the family wrote, a Connecticut lawyer "approached
one of us and said he had a purchaser interested in buying the lots.

"He declined to name his client, but indicated verbally that
it was a group of families who wanted the land for personal recreational
use," they wrote. "We found out months later, by reading the
newspapers, that the client had in fact been the land bank."

Last July, the family sold the land bank four beach lots totaling
1.9 acres on the Great Pond for $320,000.

The land bank used blind trusts to cloak its identity both in the
purchase of the beach lots, and in a $2 million acquisition of 11.1
acres of land at Ice House Pond in early 2003. Land bank officials
concealed the agency's identity because they believed that the
owners would refuse to sell. Created by an act of the state Legislature
in 1984, the land bank buys public conservation land using a two per
cent transfer fee on most real estate transactions.

The beach lots on the Tisbury Great Pond will become an Atlantic
Ocean adjunct to the land bank's Sepiessa Reservation. Ice House
Pond, also known as Old House Pond, is a fresh water glacial kettle pond
situated deep in the woods off Lambert's Cove Road. The land bank
purchase, which includes a small sandy beach, will open up public access
to the pond for the first time.

In its letter, the Lewis family calls for the state Legislature to
amend the land bank enabling legislation to prevent misrepresentation in
the future.

"State legislation gives the land bank large amounts of
money," the Lewises wrote. "Money brings power, and those
who have power are always tempted to use it in unaccountable ways. That
is the arrogance of power. It is time for the Legislature to amend the
land bank's statute to ensure that it acts with openness and
honor."

Edith W. Potter, chairman of the land bank commission, declined
comment yesterday until she had time to review the Lewis letter.

James Lengyel, executive director of the land bank, said he
wasn't present for the conversation between the Lewis family
member and the lawyer representing the land bank, and could not comment
on what was or wasn't said.

As for the family's call to amend the land bank law, Mr.
Lengyel said, "If the land bank commissioners choose to respond,
they will."

In the letter, the Lewis family said the land bank could have used
the public condemnation process to acquire the land, but instead
"dealt deceptively because it thought it could more easily acquire
the property than way. In other words, the end justified the means. That
was a Soviet, not an American, doctrine."

Mia Lewis, in a separate communication with the Gazette, said the
family was "absolutely stunned" to learn that the land bank
was the buyer of the lots.

The Lewis family, she said, wanted to sell to a family or a small
group of families because it felt that such a move would better preserve
the beach.

"We were so concerned about the environmental health of the
beach that we placed restrictions on the future use of the lots,"
Ms. Lewis said. "Far from rescuing the land from opportunistic
developers, in this case, it seems to us, it is the land bank itself
that is most likely to use the land in an environmentally inappropriate
way."

Late last year, the land bank publicly revealed that it had used
blind trusts to acquire the Tisbury Great Pond and Ice House Pond
properties. Mrs. Potter said that she has heard no criticism from the
public about the strategy. Rather, she said, people in the community are
pleased about the purchases.

The acquisitions, she said, "did accomplish something for the
general public."