The Aquinnah zoning board of appeals this week denied two variances for an Aquinnah property owner who wants to build a bridge or culverts across land he owns off Moshup Trail. James Decoulos, a Cambridge engineer, has been trying to win the right to build a house on the two-plus-acre property for 14 years.

A long-running effort by an Aquinnah property owner to build a house on a lot off Moshup Trail was blocked by the town planning board plan review committee this week, which found the lot lacks adequate road frontage under new zoning rules adopted by the town eight months ago.

After a series of public hearings that began in October, the committee voted 7-0 on Tuesday night to deny a special permit for James Decoulos to build on the two-plus-acre property.

The Massachusetts Land Court has upheld the town of Aquinnah in a pivotal case that will ultimately decide whether a large swath of rare, salt-blasted coastal heathland along Moshup Trail remains forever wild or is opened up for development.

Trail of Lawsuits

Moshup Trail is an ancient place, named for the legendary giant of the Wampanoags, the indigenous people of the Vineyard. Its windswept, salt-blasted heathlands are rare and unlike even any other rare place on the Island. The clean air is washed with salt and the light that plays across the trail has a quality all its own. Perhaps it is the absence of trees, the extreme western exposure, or the spirit of legendary giants.