A dispute between a Vineyard Haven resident and a senior living facility over access to the Vineyard Haven waterfront landed in front of a state court last week.

Melinda Loberg, a former Tisbury select board member, filed a lawsuit against Havenside, saying the guests and tenants of the facility were illegally crossing her land to get to Vineyard Haven harbor. The state Land Court suit had an initial hearing on Tuesday, and a hearing to consider a preliminary injunction is scheduled for June 16. 

Ms. Loberg owns a home on Crocker avenue along the harbor that borders Havenside, a nonprofit that provides housing to 36 seniors. Havenside says it has an easement for a small path across Ms. Loberg’s property and the nonprofit has installed a gate in her fence to allow residents to get to the water. 

Ms. Loberg’s 16-page suit, which goes through the history of the property’s title going back to 1964, asks the Land Court to declare that Havenside has no right to traverse her property.

The issue began in June 2024, when the Lobergs received a letter from Havenside stating that the independent living facility would be offering residents the beach access by traversing over a 13-foot corridor on the north side of the property, according to the lawsuit.

The suit claims that when Ms. Loberg and her husband Michael Loberg purchased the property in 1992, the deed contained no express references to any access easements. Any purported easement rights were extinguished before Havenside took over the property, and since she has been using the land for more than 30 years, this nullifies any past Havenside claims to the land, Ms. Loberg claims.

Havenside disputes this, arguing that Havenside has a perpetual easement that dates back to 1890.

The area in question was undeveloped and overgrown when the Lobergs bought the property, and Ms. Loberg claimed that Havenside had also been using the parcel as a trash dump. When the Lobergs cleaned up the parcel in 1993, they had to remove tires, bottles, car mats and chunks of macadam, according to the lawsuit.

After the cleanup, the Lobergs installed a 170-foot fence along the parcel, meaning access had been cut off for more than 20 years.

Havenside allegedly told the Lobergs that the facility would be cutting the grass between the Lobergs’ garden beds and the fence, and it planned to install a gate on the eastern corner of the fence for entry and exit by residents. 

The Lobergs said they met with Havenside in July 2024 to talk about access. 

“The Havenside representatives were not inclined to discuss alternative solutions and instead insisted upon the existence of the purported access easement,” the Lobergs lawyer wrote in the suit. 

Later that month, Havenside offered to remove the easement in exchange for money, according to the suit. Havenside attests that the Lobergs have refused any negotiations over the dispute for nearly a year.

Havenside filed a plan with the town’s conservation commission in October 2024 seeking to make improvements in the disputed area, and, over the objections of the Loberg family, was approved in November. 

In February, the Lobergs said they found Havenside in the process of cutting their fence, and they called the police. Havenside eventually installed the gate and put up a sign stating that Havenside residents are allowed to use the property.

“[Ms. Loberg] feels harassed and threatened by the conduct of Havenside’s tenants and does not feel safe on her property as a result of their conduct,” the lawsuit states.

An initial hearing on the matter was held on May 20. While Havenside finds an attorney to represent the facility in the case, Land Court judge Kevin Smith ordered that no residents or members of Havenside are allowed to walk across Ms. Loberg’s property, and Ms. Loberg is not to interact with Havenside.

Ms. Loberg’s attorney Alexander Eddinger declined to comment. 

In an interview with the Gazette on Monday, Havenside property manager Lucinda Kirk called the lawsuit’s claims “bogus” and said she felt that the lawsuit was filed in hopes of outspending her nonprofit. The living facility is attempting to find a pro bono lawyer to continue to give residents access to the waterfront. 

“The issue for Havenside is to provide equal access for our residents,” Ms. Kirk said. “We have residents with limited mobility and chronic health conditions who need safe and easy access to the beach. Serenity and saltwater are important for our senior’s health.”