Edgartown can prohibit resident Barbara Boch from landing a helicopter on her lawn, according to a court ruling in a long-running dispute between the widow of car dealership owner Ernie Boch and the town.
As Edgartown tries to go forward with plans for a new airport hangar, it is forced to confront inconsistencies with the Katama airfield helicopter policy.
The Edgartown zoning board of appeals Wednesday upheld a cease and desist order prohibiting helicopter landing at the Boch home in Katama.
While an attorney for Barbara Boch cited Massachusetts law that allows Mrs. Boch, the widow of car dealership owner Ernie Boch, to land a helicopter on her property, the board cited neighbor concerns and precedent in affirming the building inspector’s cease and desist order.
William S. O’Connell agrees he cannot have a heliport on his Chappaquiddick property, but he still believes that he can occasionally land and take off from there in his helicopter. And the town of Edgartown has filed a lawsuit to stop him.
Four people escaped serious injury when a helicopter crashed into the sea off Lake Tashmoo about 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Police said engine failure was the cause of the crash.
Several private fishing and pleasure boats were on the scene, about 1,000 yards off Tashmoo, within minutes and threw life jackets to the passengers clinging to the upturned chopper.
The occupants were then able to swim the short distance to the boats. It is believed three boats ferried them to shore. All were checked at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and quickly released.
William S. O’Connell may have clear-cut a 100 by 106-foot area on his land in Chappaquiddick, put up a wind sock and a sign saying “Heliport,” but that did not make it a heliport, a Dukes County Superior Court judge was told on Friday.
Nor did occasional takeoffs and landings make it one, argued Thomas C. Grassia, appearing for Mr. O’Connell, who is battling the town of Edgartown over its refusal to allow him to fly to and from his Chappy home.
In a few months gulls will patrol the dunes of South Beach seeking the ill-grasped sandwiches of naive tourists, but on Thursday the deserted area was the domain of “the bird.” That’s what contractor Michael Warminsky calls the extremely low-flying, modified Bell 206 helicopter that began sniffing Vineyard beaches this week for what remains of the physical legacy of the Vineyard’s encounter with World War II.
