LI's shore losers: Riverhead residents sue to bar beachgoers
This has got to stop somewhere, before all the access on the north shore is locked up!
LI's shore losers
Residents sue to bar beachgoers
By KIERAN CROWLEY
Last Updated: 12:10 PM, September 13, 2010
Posted: 5:05 AM, September 13, 2010
Comments: 5
Life's a beach -- especially if you can't get your local authorities to stop people from driving and camping on your beautiful private Long Island shoreline property and leaving it a mess.
Five families -- from among those who own beachfront homes in Wading River, on Suffolk's Long Island Sound -- have filed a federal lawsuit in an effort to enforce what they say are their rights to keep crowds and cars out of their back yards.
The residents own the land down to the mean high tide mark, and the public is allowed access between that and the water under federal law, according to the lawsuit.
SURF & TURF: Wading River beachfront homeowner Harry Wood walks his dog on what a federal lawsuit against the town of Riverhead claims is his private beach.
The smaller homes in question are valued at almost $1 million, and the larger homes with larger property are valued higher.
"I've had family barbecues, and people walk up and join us," said Amy Csorny. "They set up tents. Last weekend, we had four tents and about 28 people." They left behind "condoms, feces and toilet paper," Csorny, 53, said.
She said some trespassers blast music and scream in the middle of the night and drive fast and dangerously close to her kids. "I would like to be able to enjoy the property I pay my taxes on without my family being at risk," Csorny said.
"I don't have enough stress in my life I've got to have these knuckleheads on the beach," said her husband, Jim Csorny, a former city fire lieutenant.
He claimed Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter "is telling law enforcement not to enforce the laws in this town" by allowing motorists to drive and hang out on their property.
Walter scoffed at the charge and said that, historically, the area was always considered a public beach and that he has an old document that proves it. He said it was only in recent decades that the homeowners "got it into their heads" that they owned part of the beach.
"The public has a right to access these beaches," said Walter.
In past decades, at least one homeowner would fire a rifle to scare off rowdy trespassers, locals said. "At least we're not shooting at each other," joked Walter.
"This is not the Hamptons," said the homeowners' lawyer, Jonathan Sinnreich. "These are not millionaires who want to keep the rabble off their beach. All they want is some respect for their rights.
"All of my clients own the beach. The town is definitely violating its own law every day," said Sinnreich.
"The town politically favors fishermen because there are a lot more fishermen than there are residents. They are looking the other way," said Sinnreich. "They have never issued a single ticket to a single fisherman."
Other residents disagreed.
"They want to own the whole beach," said town resident Chris Anderson, who was strolling on the allegedly private beach recently. Anderson, 47, called the homeowners' no-trespassing signs "a blight."
"I guess when they spend that kind of money, they don't want to see people," said beachgoer Anton DeMartino, 66.
kieran.crowley@nypost.com
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/l...#ixzz0zo8rZfbP
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Bunch of elite limp-wristed tea-drinking with the pinkies in the air clueless people. I understand them being PO'ed about the trash, but they have no right to kick us all out. If they win, we all lose on the NS. We should watch this closely.
Originally Posted by Tom Farrell
Spot on, Tom. Thanks for all you do.
Thanks Tom.
