I support continued, responsible over sand vehicle (OSV) access on all Chappy Beaches including Cape Poge, East Beach and Wasque.  

The gorgeous public beaches of Chappy stretch roughly 8 miles and represent 35 percent of the total public beach access on Martha’s Vineyard. Unfortunately, there are only 20 public parking spots,all of which require a half-mile walk to the shoreline, and Chappy has no public transportation options. For comparison, South Beach has less than 1 mile of public beach, but enjoys 460 directly accessible public parking spots, and is serviced by public transportation. Therefore, the ONLY way to access the public beaches on Chappy is by OSV. It is not a matter of preference or indolence. This is the simple reason that supervised, responsible OSV access, which is carefully restricted based on environmental and wildlife concerns on Chappy, has successfully existed for decades. To state the obvious regarding Chappy beaches, denial of OSV access is unequivocally denial of public use. 

Now a small number of Cape Poge landowners seek to abolish (not restrict) OSV access to these public beaches, while maintaining their own private access. They pursue this act of egregious entitlement to advance their goal of enshrining a private sanctuary for their exclusive use and enjoyment. Let’s see — 11 private landowners could be effectively granted 35 percent of the Islands’ total public beach shoreline, thus denying access to 20,000 annual visitors. How could this gigantic wealth transfer possibly transpire in a democracy?  Please join me to ensure this preposterous pursuit of public property NEVER becomes a tragic reality.  Please support continued OSV access to Chappy beaches.  Thank you!