Cease and Desist Order Issued after Vehicle, Goats, Driven Onto Gerry Island
After allegedly driving a truck across the causeway and out to Gerry Island at low tide Tuesday, Peter Noyes was issued a cease and desist order by the town's Conservation Commission.
Town residents who own property overlooking Little Harbor were reportedly shocked to find that developer Peter Noyes had driven a vehicle out to Gerry Island at low tide Tuesday morning that allegedly began moving boulders and left behind a handful of brown goats.
According to police, at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, a local resident reported that a black truck with high wheels had driven out to Gerry Island during low tide. Chief Robert Picariello reportedly told the resident that a Conservation Agent was on scene and would be the one in charge of handling the matter.
Soon after, another resident called police to report that she could see a worker on the island moving boulders, which she said was against orders from the town's Conservation Commission. As a result of the situation, Noyes was issued a cease and desist order for construction the island.
Noyes wants to confirm that the owner of Gerry Island, Ted Moore's Redstone Realty, has the right to allow him to use the causeway as part of his controversial plan to renovate and rebuild seawalls on the island. Noyes denied last month that he plans to buy the island from Moore.
At issue is the use of a rock and gravel causeway. At low tide cars and trucks can make it across the causeway.
Noyes' plan has drawn sharp criticism. Last month an overflow crowd appeared at a hearing before the Conservation Commission to voice their objections and skepticism about Noyes' plans for the island.
Opponents appeared individually and as part of a newly formed group, called Friends of Little Harbor.
The commission members made a second site visit to the island last month to study the area where Noyes is proposing to build a 30-foot by 60-foot pad with three-inch thick gravel for unloading boats or trucks.
Commission members said their recollection from the first site visit was that the area had too great a slope for the pad and would require that Noyes remove large boulders and bring in fill material. That much construction might impact the protected coastal bank area.
Noyes and his engineer, Peter Ogren of Hayes Engineering disagreed with the commission members.
It was also reported that there are now four brown goats on the island and, according to Wayne Attridge, Director of the town's Board of Health, there is no permit necessary to keep goats on the island. Although keeping goats on the island is legal, a local resident reportedly sent out an email inquiring what would happen if the goats were to wander off of the island.
In a recent meeting with Town Administrator Tony Sasso and Town Engineer William Lanphear, Noyes was told that the town will not issue an opinion on whether he has a right to drive vehicles across the causeway to reconstruct seawalls on the island and ultimately to store boats on the island.
Police Chief Robert Picariello said Tuesday that "as of right now, there is nothing going on that would involve (the police department)."
Noyes, who owns the Rockmore Floating Restaurant and the Hannah Glover, told Commission Chairman Walter Haug last month that he plans only to rebuild the walls to “stabilize” the island. In the future, he would ask federal, state and local agencies for permission to use the island as a boat yard.
Mhead Guy
8:41 am on Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Here we go........The guy can't clean up his floating trash pile in Salem harbor, yet he has the time and money to do this..........And Ted Moore is allowing it on his land? Both of these guys could care less about the community. Moore wont be happy until he developes every last piece of open land in town, and then he will probably move away.
Concerned Citizen
11:03 am on Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Wow. So many kids and other unsuspecting people have gone out to the Island for years. Putting goats out there is dangerous to kids and the goats. I am surprised the police simple allow wild and dangerous (and completel unattended) animals to be in residential area.
Elbridge Gerry
11:13 am on Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Does the public have the right to review Noyes' agreement with the owner of the property? Does Noyes' have the right to drive across Gas House Beach? Does Noyes have the right to deposit unattended farm animals in an unenclosed area within the center of town? What will happen when the goats wonder off the island and start to munch on neighboring gardens? One thing is for sure, the goats will start pooping all over town. Familiar story?
john warren
12:01 pm on Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Oh my goodness A marbleheader is using his land with-in his rights as has been for hundreds of years. What a tradgedy for the newcomers and thier views of the water. Should we ban all those messy lobster pots and boats too???
Elbridge Gerry
2:49 pm on Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Mr Warren, Methinks thou protest too much. Are you certain that Gerry Island is zoned for raising unattended and unenclosed farm animals? Gerry Island has been in a natural state for the last century or so I've been told. The coastline vegetation that provides nesting grounds for migrating birds is now exposed to a herd of marauding goats. And what shall become of their waste? Will it line the sands of Gas House Beach at high tide?
Ebridge Gerry
(1744-1814)
Frank L. McElroy
2:38 pm on Thursday, June 2, 2011
Mr. Warren please consider that the Wetlands Protection Act protects all of Gerry Island, a fact arising from its location and topography. Mr. Noyes, ostensibly a tenant of the owner and not the owner, must proceed through the Conservation Commission in order to do just about anything on the island because all activity on the island is likely to impact the interests identified in the Act. Those include protection of the vital lobster nursery which surrounds the island, a nursery which is demonstrated to be critical to the fishery from the Cape all the way to the Maritime Provinces. You are wrong when you suggest that Mr. Noyes is acting within his rights. He has been issued a cease and desist order. He has disobeyed it. Additional orders are likely from ConsCom and DEP. Consider that Mr. Noyes has filed with ConsCom two Notices of Intent and a Request for Determination of Applicability, all under the provisions of the Wetlands Protection Act. Consider that Mr. Noyes is represented before the ConsCom by Hayes Engineering of Wakefield, a respected surveying consultant. Mr. Noyes knows what the rules are and has simply decided to act outside of them. Is Mr. Noyes, as you suggest, above or beyond the law because he is a Marbleheader?
Cheers, Frank L. McElroy
Frank L. McElroy
10:49 am on Wednesday, June 8, 2011
ConsCom Meeting, Thursday, June 9, 7:00 p.m., Abbot Hall Auditorium. If you care about what's happening on Gerry Island; if you care about what happens in Marblehead waters; if you care about sustaining the northeast lobster fishery; if you care about not ceding our marine environment to pollution; if you care about Town government acting to enforce the laws almost all of us live by, then you must attend the hearing on the three applications for work on and around Gerry Island.
Jim Penn
12:01 pm on Sunday, June 12, 2011
Don’t call me Tolstoy and don’t tell me to take it “easy”. Verbosity is not easy. OK gotta slice this up in several parts…
One “Concerned Citizen” writes, “…Putting goats out there is dangerous to kids and the goats. I am surprised the police simple allow wild and dangerous (and completel unattended) animals to be in residential area.” Granted, though numerous instances of unprovoked goat attacks exist ( no they don’t ) it is inaccurate that Gerry Island is a “residential area”. Well, unless you characterize the birds, vermin, insects, and now the goats as residents. If we call them residents it sets a president that will surely come back to haunt us. It is the “The law of Unintended Consequences”, don’t you know. Consider if any of these “residents” show up at town meeting and begin to assert their rights as residents of Marblehead, what then? Snow plowing, water, street lights, and schools for Gerry Island? Further, are the “”danger”” to kids” the goat’s kids or the human kids of other residents of Marblehead and surrounding communities? Do goats eat their young, is that the danger? Will the human kids eat the goats or their kids?
Jim Penn
12:02 pm on Sunday, June 12, 2011
How the heck is Elbridge Gerry born 17 July 1744 and DIED 23 November 1814 able to even write and where the heck did you get a computer? This is eerie.
Add to all of this the former Vice President of The United State’s warning, “And what shall become of their waste? Will it line the sands of Gas House Beach at high tide?” Indeed, a goat dropping line in the sand. Which begs the question: Can It Be Crossed? Of those who do cross it, shall there be consequences? What? How’s my syntax and spelling, by-the-way?
Lastly, this is a pretty nice quote, VP Gerry, and as relevant today as when you said it so many years ago: “"What, sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. Whenever governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins." Remember President Eisenhower’s speech as he left office 17 January 1961? Similar sentiments. In conclusion, there are already too many people on the planet. Don’t encourage goats or kids to make more by providing easy access to a secluded island.
Thank you … J. Spaulding Trout-Pouch