Clarence (Trip) Barnes, owner of Barnes Trucking and a well-known community volunteer and charity auctioneer, appeared before the West Tisbury selectmen on Wednesday to plead for resolution to a rapidly escalating struggle over his property on State Road.

The town building inspector wants him to clean up the property, which has been the subject of numerous zoning violations and legal disputes over recent years. But Mr. Barnes is asking the town for leeway as he works to complete an affordable housing project he is personally funding in the back of the property.

Mr. Barnes asked selectmen to intervene. “I thought I was doing something good, and evidently it turned into a nightmare for the town. I ask you: Is there something you can do so this can be resolved, so we could move ahead without going to court?” he said.

Town building inspector Ernie Mendenhall has tried to get Mr. Barnes to clean the property at 534 State Road since 2006; he has issued tickets for zoning bylaw violations and taken the matter to court. Last March an Edgartown judge ordered him to clean the property within six months and to get a certificate of occupancy for a small apartment on the back of the property.

Mr. Barnes has stated publicly that an elderly friend lives in the apartment rent-free. At the same time he is renovating the apartment building to add two new studio apartments on the first floor. He is using his own money to renovate the building, and he has pitched it as a three-unit affordable housing project.

Mr. Barnes said this week the project will be completed by this summer, after which he will focus on cleaning up the property.

But in a phone conversation with the Gazette, Mr. Mendenhall said it’s not that simple; the entire property is cluttered and unkempt, which cannot be explained by an affordable housing project in the rear of the property.

“It is my belief that property meets West Tisbury’s definition of a junkyard,” Mr. Mendenhall said. “He has someone living in an apartment without a [certificate of occupancy], and that’s illegal. Plus he is starting to store unregistered vehicles again, which the town takes very seriously.”

He added: “All we want is compliance with zoning laws, that’s it.”

And while there is a long history of violations at the property, the latest controversy has flared up because a judge recently dismissed the court order against Mr. Barnes; so for the first time in many years he is not in violation.

Mr. Mendenhall told selectmen at their Feb. 24 meeting the court order was dismissed because he did not show up for a day in court.

“I am sad to report that after spending at least one day a month at the Edgartown court house, starting in March of 2008, trying to deal with the various zoning violations on [536} State Road, I missed a date, which they did not inform me was going to happen, and the probation department suggested dismissing the charges,” Mr. Mendenhall said.

Mr. Mendenhall then asked for permission to consult the town counsel to start the whole process over, indicating he will likely take a different approach this time. Instead of simply writing notices of violation, he will seek a court-ordered injunction on the property.

Mr. Barnes this week urged selectmen to do something before it got that far. He admitted the affordable housing project was behind schedule but noted that unlike many other projects, his does not involve any taxpayer money.

“I just want to make sure the selectmen don’t lose sight of the fact that more money is being spent on affordable housing not far from my site. And we have three units that are going there at no cost to the town or taxpayers . . . maybe I’m a fool. Maybe I should have gone after some grant money and hired a lot of people, but this isn’t costing the town a nickel,” he said.

Mr. Barnes said there are other reasons his property is in disorder. When the historic Henry Beetle Hough house was torn down last year, Mr. Barnes said he went in at the last minute and pulled out a number of old doors, windows and other items now being stored on his property.

Mr. Barnes said he already has been forced to put a fence around the whole property, at a cost of $15,000, because the planning board was concerned the headlights from tenants in the back would upset the neighbors.

Mr. Barnes also said progress is being made on the affordable housing units; the wall partitions are up and a plumber and electrician were working on the property last week. Overall he said the property does not look that bad.

“When the leaves are raked and blown away and piled up, the place looks entirely different. And I wouldn’t call leaves a garbage dump, and I wouldn’t call the trailers full of lumber a garbage dump. . . I thought I was making some great progress in the last six months. You should take look yourself,” he said.

While selectmen listened to what he had to say, in the end there was little they could do.

“This is an issue for the building and zoning inspector and the zoning board of appeals,” selectman Richard Knabel said. “We’re not the enforcers of the [zoning] code, as such.”

Mr. Barnes thanked them for their time, and offered one last thought.

“I wish it didn’t come to this. But in any small community it’s not easy to hide things,” he said.