ROCKPORT — In a legal wrangling years in the making, a trial related to questions of ownership of Back Beach is slated to begin Monday.
The trial pits several Back Beach residents against the town of Rockport. The dispute began after questions arose about divers being allowed to use the beach.
The Back Beach Neighbors Committee filed a complaint in March 2021 claiming rightful ownership of Back Beach and its neighboring properties including portions of Beach Street and the plot where the American Legion stands. The committee believes the town failed to fulfill stipulations made by private landowners who gifted their Back Beach properties to the town early in the 20th century. Thus, the land should default back to the committee members — the inheritors of the former landowners.
A ruling in Land Court in May 2022 dismissed two of the nine counts brought against the town by the Back Beach Neighbors Committee, but the ninth count — on the land taking and compensation — is the focus of the trial. The other counts will not be heard until the court makes a decision on the ninth.
Justice Michael Vhay of the Land Court has overseen the pretrial proceedings involving Count IX as a justice of the Superior Court.
The Back Beach Neighbors Committee is represented by attorney Michael Walsh of the Lynnfield firm Walsh & Walsh. Several efforts to reach Walsh before publication were unsuccessful.