An appeal from a Chappaquiddick property owner could put to rest a years-long debate over whether the Trustees of Reservations has the permits it needs to operate its oversand vehicle trails.
Chappaquiddick resident William Gazaille filed an appeal with the Edgartown zoning board on June 24 that alleges the Trustees, which manages 16 miles of trails on the small island, needs to get a new special permit to allow four-wheel drive vehicles to travel out to the beaches.
The appeal echoes some questions that came up during the planning board permitting process earlier this year, but the Trustees insists that the conservation nonprofit already has all the necessary permits in hand.
The Edgartown select board is scheduled to talk about the Trustees’ operations on Monday, and a hearing on the appeal with the zoning board is set for August 5.
Management of the trails has been controversial for years and snarled in hours and hours of public meetings and several appeals, both in the courts and with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
For many beachgoers, it’s a battle over practical access to Chappy’s pristine beaches. For residents on Chappy, the concerns have been about the encroachment and growing commercial operation in their backyards.
The current argument stems from a permit that the Trustees appeared to have received in 1990 for its Chappaquiddick properties, but now cannot be found in town records. With no permit to look back on, the zoning board voted in 2024 to require the Trustees to get a new permit from the town planning board.
The Trustees applied for a permit for several of its buildings and boardwalk on Chappaquiddick and received approval from the town this May. But during that process, many argued that the Trustees needed to apply for a permit for the use of the oversand vehicle trails themselves.
Mr. Gazaille said it is clear that the intensity of use has increased since the 1990s.
“The issue was never a few boardwalks, fences, gatehouses or other small structures….The questions that brought everyone into those hearings were about vehicle traffic, commercial activity, beach use, management practices and the overall impact of [the Trustees’] commercial operations on Chappaquiddick,” Mr. Gazaille wrote in his June 24 appeal.
The issue hasn’t been so cut and dry for the town, though.
Mr. Gazaille asked the building department in May to issue a cease and desist to the Trustees for allegedly not following the zoning board decision. Later that month, building inspector Reade Kontje Milne, who has since left for a job in Chilmark, declined to issue the cease and desist, saying the zoning board decision didn’t explicitly require a permit for the trails.
“Unfortunately, the decision itself does not identify the particular subjects of the required special permit, saying only that the Trustees were required ‘to file for a new special permit with the Planning Board by 12 July 2024 or cease operations within the DCPC.’”
Ms. Milne said there wasn’t a clear enough case to find that the Trustees violated the zoning board’s decision, though there were broader issues that she planned to address in the future.
The need for a permit to operate in the residential area also came up with the town planning board, which dealt with the special permit application after the zoning board’s ruling.
In December 2024, some planning board members asked the Trustees for more details about the trails used by thousands of drivers each summer. At the time, then planning board chair Michael Shalett called on the Trustees to include the trails as part of the application, saying it was part of the consideration for the town in 1990.
“I think it’s distinct to me that when looking back, the planning board in 1990 certainly thought trails were part of what they permitted,” he said.
Planning board member and current chair Julia Livingston echoed the sentiment at the time as well.
“I really hope that the Trustees will come to us with an application that gives information about intensity of use and how that intensity of use has changed over the years, and also about the trails,” she said.
On May 19 of this year, the planning board approved the Trustees application for the buildings, but made no requirement for the trails. After the vote, Ms. Livingston told the Gazette that she believed that the Trustees still needed a permit for the trails, but the board could only vote on the buildings’ portion as that was what was in the application.
That doesn’t mean the Trustees shouldn’t still be required to have another permit, but the board can’t make decisions on something that wasn’t applied for, Ms. Livingston said. If someone is doing something that requires a permit, the issue falls under the purview of the building inspector and the zoning board.
“We might try to explain to them what we think they should be doing,” Ms. Livingston said. “All we can do is say yes or no to the application in front of us.”
The whole process has been frustrating for Mr. Gazaille, prompting him to file the appeal.
“The ZBA ordered [the Trustees] to come back with a Special Permit that addressed the actual zoning concerns about its operations and intensity of use — not simply to file any Special Permit application on any subject and call that compliance,” he told the Gazette. The Trustees has maintained that only the buildings need approval.
“The Trustees has all of the state and local approvals required to allow the public to continue enjoying this special place, including approvals from MassDEP, the Edgartown Conservation Commission, and the Edgartown Planning Board,” spokesperson Mary Dettlof wrote in a statement.
“We are confident that we are in full compliance with all state and local requirements governing [Cape Pogue], and that these requirements and the Trustees’ stewardship are more than adequate to protect this special place now and for future generations,” she added.
The issue has resulted in a flurry of emails and letters to the town, many of which were supporting historical access to Chappy’s beaches.
The area is prized for its fishing, shellfishing and wide expanses that are some of the few available to be accessed by oversand trails.
“This matter has been reviewed by local boards, state agencies, environmental regulators, and the courts,” Patricia Sanson wrote to the zoning board. “After years of proceedings, I believe the community deserves certainty and the opportunity to enjoy the public access that has been approved.”
The select board is scheduled to talk about the issue on Monday. Town administrator James Hagerty said that the board plans to hear grievances from all involved, reiterate who has jurisdiction in the matter and discuss the potential for a memorandum of understanding with the Trustees over a property known as the Jetties.
This article appears in July 17, 2026.
For the People
That’s right
Folks expect to drive and park in nature nowadays. Years ago I would hike in 10 miles to hunt, in the Pacific Northwest, I would have nature all to myself. Now I hike in and find a parking lot. Chappy beaches have always been open to everyone, but now everyone’s feels entitled to park on the beach.
Pave the beaches!
The Trustees refuse to do what is asked of them. ZBA issued an order more than 2 years ago. They still have not complied. They have no special permit for any activity or buildings on any properties other than AP 32-2and AP 49-1. I couldn’t get a permit to build an house in Ocean Heights and use that permit to go build an house in Katama. Until they have what they need to expand their commercial operations elsewhere, they should be shut down. Enough is enough. No special treatment!
The Trustees of Reservations keeps asking everyone to pretend that one thing is another. A permit for structures becomes a permit for commercial operations. A permit for two parcels becomes a permit for every parcel. A permit they wanted somehow becomes the permit the ZBA ordered. None of those things are true simply because someone says they are. Why they refuse to apply for what was ordered is beyond me, but the residents aren’t to blame for this organization’s inability to follow the rules.
If an applicant can decide for itself which zoning orders it wants to follow, then we don’t really have zoning—we have suggestions. This case isn’t complicated. The ZBA ordered one thing. TTOR did something else. The question isn’t whether they filed a permit. It’s whether they filed the permit they were ordered to file.
If Town boards don’t enforce their own decisions, then those decisions become suggestions instead of orders. This isn’t about reopening old issues. It’s about finishing unfinished business. The answer isn’t more politics. It’s reading the record and enforcing the decision the Town already made.
One of my biggest concerns is a procedural one.
Over the last three years, this issue has been reviewed by the Conservation Commission, MassDEP, the Planning Board, the courts, and numerous public hearings. In 2024, the ZBA directed the Trustees to file a new Special Permit application with the Planning Board. The Trustees did so, the Planning Board spent months reviewing it, and ultimately approved it unanimously.
If anyone believed that approval was wrong, there was a legal appeal process available.
Instead, we are now being asked to return to the ZBA and revisit many of the same issues after the Planning Board has already acted and the appeal period has expired.
Whether you support the Trustees or oppose them, there must be a point where a decision becomes final. If an applicant follows the process required by the Town, obtains approval from the permitting authority designated by the ZBA, and no appeal is filed, endless re-litigation should not become the norm.
At some point, the community deserves certainty, finality, and confidence that the established permitting process means what it says.
Wow! So many anonymous commenters who are vociferously telling us not to dare go to Cape Poge…Seriously? If you feel so strongly on the matter, tell us who you are. Yeah, I thought so.
My name is Chris Kennedy and for 32 years I managed the beaches and lands for The Trustees of Reservations on the Islands before I retired in 2020. In the late 1980’s and early 90’s I spent hours and hours with the donors of the lands at Cape Poge and I asked them, “Why did you leave these beaches, marsh and meadows at Cape Poge to The Trustees of Reservations?” Their responses were universal, because they wanted their donated family lands to be accessible to the public and to protect for future generations these lands they cared so much for. They wanted a proven land manager–The Trustees of Reservations. They had the option to leave these lands to their heirs, but they chose The Trustees. Wise choice, if you ask me!
When I applied in 1990 for The Trustees’ permits, I asked the zoning inspector what I needed to include in the Special Permit to the Planning Board? His answer? “If it needs a building permit, it needs a Special Permit at Cape Poge. Do oversand trails need a building permit? No,” was his answer.
Did the zoning inspector in 2026 require The Trustees to apply for a Special Permit for their oversand vehicle trails? Nope. So, why is Mr. Gazaille, who is not an owner of record on Cape Poge, asking the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Edgartown Selectboard for relief?
I would ask the Edgartown Selectboard and Zoning Board of Appeals to reject this empty request for what it is. The written record from the donors is pretty clear concerning their intent to leave these lands accessible for future generations in the care of The Trustees.
Why is this so difficult? Can an average Islander go to Chappy beaches or are the residents there just trying to exclude us? Is this what our island is coming to?
Sadly, “How many lawyers does it take…….” is not the start of a joke when it comes to Chappy.