The Edgartown conservation commission has cited a pair of Chappaquiddick homeowners for improving their view of Katama Bay in violation of the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act and at the expense of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, who owns the property where trees and other vegetation were cleared.

On Friday the commission issued a cease and desist order for all work on the Harborview avenue property owned Peter and Joan Kumpitch, who live in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands when they are not on Chappy. In a letter to the Kumpitches, the commission notes that “a considerable amount of vegetation has been cut” both on the waterfront side of the property, which is within 100 feet of a wetland, and to the south on property overlooking a small pond owned by the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation. Sheriff’s Meadow executive director Adam Moore said the violation came to his attention from a concerned neighbor who was one of the original donors of the property.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable,” Mr. Moore said on Tuesday. “You can’t go onto someone else’s property and cut down trees. It’s egregious.”

He said six mature pitch pines were felled and understory vegetation was cleared.

The conservation commission’s order requires the Kumpitches to submit a restoration plan for both the view channel and for the Sheriff’s Meadow property within 30 days.

“Number one, they didn’t have permission from the property owner and number two, they didn’t have permission from us,” Edgartown conservation agent Jane Varkonda said on Monday.

This is not the Kumpitches’ first violation on the property. In a site visit in October 2007 conservation commission members found instances of cutting outside the Kumpitches’ original sanctioned view channel. The violations prompted a review of the property and the commission worked with the landowners to approve and write conditions for future landscaping. The conditions stated that no vegetation be cut less than five feet off the ground and that it be done in an undulating manner. Mrs. Varkonda said the most recent cutting has reduced water-facing shrubbery to less than knee height and several pine trees have been removed altogether. She said some pruning and thinning is allowable for maintaining view channels but not the sort of buzz-cutting carried out by the Kumpitches. Unauthorized work on the Sheriff’s Meadow property was more plainly illegal.

“We do have problems with encroachments from time to time,” said Mr. Moore. “We’ve had a couple of instances with this particular landowner in the past, but this was by far the biggest incident we’ve had.”

In a telephone interview yesterday Peter Kumptich said he understands that the cutting was inappropriate.

“My intentions were to improve the surrounding area immediately adjacent to my house,” he said. “It was an attempt at beautification by removing some — and I stress very mature and somewhat disintegrating — pine trees while not at all disturbing the undergrowth. I apologize for any consternation or dismay which may have resulted from these actions; that was certainly not my intention.”

Apart from the actual cutting, the commission was not notified beforehand for an on-site inspection.

Mrs. Varkonda said such cases of illicit cutting are not unusual, but it is rare to see repeat offenders.

A failure to comply with the order to cease and desist and to provide a restoration plan could result in fines or further legal action. The commission meets again on March 9 and has asked that the Kumpitches be represented.