Chris Perry

Harbored View

Maybe the New York Times article from a few weeks ago was right after all. You know the one I’m referring to — front page above the fold.

My initial reaction to the article was mixed. My head was sympathetic to its point of view while my heart believed otherwise.

However, in light of the events which took place recently on Union Street, Orange Street and Cash’s Court, maybe the Times was right.

Maybe the attitudes of some of our “new residents” on Nantucket are spoiling all the fun.

The residents of Union Street enjoy a terrific, in-town location. The street is dotted with stately, historic houses. Most have meticulously maintained yards. There’s easy access to Main Street and most homeowners have the luxury of off-street parking.

Just above, the residents of Orange Street and Cash’s Court enjoy much of the same. Plus, many homeowners have spectacular harbor views since they sit up higher than those properties down below on Union. Between the two streets, there is a dense, natural embankment which runs from one end of Union Street all the way down to the Union Street Inn.

This land slopes sharply and acts as a natural buffer. Some homeowners have landscaped their particular plot while the majority of abutters have left it to grow naturally as one of the few undisturbed pieces in the downtown area.

The owners of 37 Union St. enjoy their backyard just like everyone else does. In fact, they were in the early stages of a landscaping plan in anticipation of the August house tour. They had generously donated their house to the tour and certainly wanted things to be in order by next month.

Between their last visit to the island in June and their return trip for the July 4 holiday weekend, the abutting owner directly above them on Cash’s Court/Orange Street had a little surprise for them. Without warning or notice, the Cash’s Court commandos cleared the land between the properties.

The sloped embankment below Cash’s Court went from a buffer zone of trees, brush and plantings to a barren hill of discarded debris. Tree trunks measuring 21 inches in diameter, stumps, broken branches and damaged plantings were left behind and the peaceful backyards of several properties on Union Street now viewed something resembling a poorly maintained strip mining site from Montana.

“We were devastated when we got back to our house, walked around the corner and looked up and saw that nothing was left on the hill,” said Michael Kovner, who owns 37 Union St. along with Jean Doyen. “We had no idea something like this could happen on Nantucket without any notice.”

“Above the stone wall, we knew it was their property. But to remove trees that large and access the embankment through our property without our permission is outrageous,” Doyen said last week, still unable to understand the motivation behind his abutter's move.

“Plus, those large trees and their root systems held firm. There is a real concern now about runoff and erosion. A phone call — some sort of communication — and we could have worked together to avoid something like this,” he added.

I was curious myself and viewed the property and embankment. It was clear that the visiting loggers had climbed through the Union Street property to clear a portion of the hill.

With hydrangeas stepped on and a clear path outlined in the mulch to the embankment above, it was obvious that the Nantucket Chain Saw Gang had successfully removed several of the trees via the Union Street property.

It appears the Cash’s Court homeowners have the legal right to do this. Unfortunately, the trees were not protected American Elms nor town trees within 15 feet of a town road. More definitive answers will be coming from the town’s Tree Advisory Committee this week.

However, isn’t there something more? Isn’t there some sort of ethical or moral obligation to one’s neighbor? Isn’t this the kind of unbecoming behavior the New York Times was referring to?

When confronted by the Union Street owners, the commandos from above indicated they were more interested in moving forward than rehashing what had already taken place.

Considering that the damage was done, I’d say that’s a pretty good bargaining position. Moreover, they were supportive of the Union Street owners, investing some of their money into landscaping the newly mined hillside, since the only additional landscaping plan the Cash’s Court owners offered was to plant a small tree along the property line to cover a “neighbor’s unsightly stockade fence.”

It was pretty obvious where everyone stood by then.

In the scheme of things, this probably doesn’t seem like much to most people on Nantucket. With congestion out of control, prices skyrocketing on the island, affordable housing a lost art — people’s attention is obviously directed elsewhere. What the hell is the big deal about a few trees coming down?

The big deal is that maybe the New York Times was right. And as a Nantucket resident, that bothers me. For all of us to see, it appears the attitudes on display on Union Street/Orange Street/Cash’s Court are exactly the kind of characteristics we should be ashamed of. With our heads turned and under cover of darkness, the peace that existed between several neighbors was needlessly undermined like the root systems of the beheaded maple trees.

Maybe it is one bad apple. Maybe it was an isolated incident. But why does it bother me so much to think that the Times was right and my head was smarter than my heart?

I don’t know what the answers are. For Kovner and Doyen, they had no choice but to buy some large shade trees and redo their landscaping in anticipation of the August house tour.

Frustrated to think this type of “neighborly behavior” goes on, I guess the only thing I can do now is boot up Grant Sanders on Nantucket Yack and offer one additional committee to his list which he penned in his Independent column last week.

My suggestion would be to form the “Committee to Oversee Rude and Boorish Behavior.”

If he does get that one off the ground, I have a candidate for the first agenda item in meeting number one.