Boch Park — the fenced-off, Beach Road construction site and creation of millionaire car salesman, philanthropist and Edgartown homeowner Ernie Boch Jr. — has a new name.
Plans to turn the empty harborfront property owned by Ernie Boch Jr. into a park were welcomed by the Tisbury selectmen this week, but new questions surfaced around public access.
Tisbury selectmen will take steps to remove a derelict building on the harborfront property known as Boch Park, owned by Ernie Boch Jr. Mr. Boch said he is happy the building will come down.
Vineyard Haven Boch Property Is Centerpiece of Future Plan
By JAMES KINSELLA
Nearly two decades ago, the late Ernest J. Boch Sr. paid $600,000 for what he called "a nice little spot" on Vineyard Haven harbor.
Today, despite the property's current scruffy appearance, members of the Tisbury planning board could not agree more.
Board members recently unveiled a master plan for the waterfront and downtown area that identified the parcel, known as Boch Park, as a crucial element.
After nearly four years of negotiations between attorneys representing the town of Tisbury and Ernest Boch Jr. about the so-called Boch Park, no progress has been made, Tisbury selectman Tristan R. Israel announced last week.
Mr. Israel said at last Tuesday's meeting of the board that the town is closing the door on the saga surrounding the waterfront land and building near the Five Corners intersection that have been vacant for most of the last two decades.
For two decades, so-called Boch Park on Beach Road in Vineyard Haven has sat in a limbo made of court battles and subsequent, drawn-out negotiations between the Boch family and the town of Tisbury.
The scruffy condition of the parcel, which overlooks Vineyard Haven harbor, is a sad and continuing testament to a failure to reach resolution on what could be one of the bright spots of the town waterfront.
