New Alabama Avenue fence angers property owner
BY PETER B. BRACE
Millie's Cottage owner Charlie Ryan is feeling fenced in from 4,530 miles away in his Moscow, Russia flat.

Town land on one side, private on the other. The town installed the new split-rail fence above at what it believes to be the northern boundary of Alabama Avenue to delineate Charlie Ryan's property on Hither Creek from the public way.

In response to the town erecting a split-rail fence at the north end of the driveway to his cottage at 343 Madaket Road to delineate Alabama Avenue, a public way, Ryan's attorney is preparing a letter to send to Marine Superintendent Dave Fronzuto asking that the fence be removed.

Ryan, incensed that the fence went up without his knowledge, wants what the town wants: to allow people to park their vehicles and bikes on this public way so they can use a public path down to Hither Creek to launch kayaks and fish for blue-claw crabs. But he wants to be part of the process.

"One of the reasons we bought 343 Madaket Road was to stop the construction of a huge spec house on the lot, and to preserve Millie's cottage," said Ryan. "The town did not just block off complete access from Millie's cottage to Ames Avenue, they built a 35-foot fence right through her front walkway and completely cut off her driveway. That's not the kind of historical/environmental preservation we had in mind for Millie's cottage."

Fronzuto is acting on behalf of the Shellfish & Harbor Advisory Board (SHAB), which is trying to keep the path to Hither Creek open and encourage people to park in the way that Ryan uses as his driveway. SHAB's and Fronzuto's beef is that Ryan did not cut a driveway out to Madaket Road but continued to maintain the existing shell driveway off of Ames Avenue as if he owned it.

Additionally, someone keeps removing the town's public way sign Fronzuto keeps putting at the entrance to the driveway, which marks both the parking and the path to water.

"It's something we've talked about for a long time," said Fronzuto. "The fence is what SHAB has wanted to do to protect the public access."

Ryan, who does not use the cottage personally but uses the house at 345 Madaket Road that he also owns, said he is not the one removing the signs - Fronzuto purchased 10 more last fall - and that he wants to work with the town. Fronzuto confirmed Ryan's intentions.

"The owner did call me a couple days ago and was quite concerned about the signs and said he's going to be sending me suggestions on how we can protect that access without the fence," Fronzuto said on Feb. 8.

The town's geographical information system (GIS) Web site clearly shows three lots owned by the town running east-west along Ames Avenue with the longest, easternmost lot containing the north end of Alabama Avenue and the western lot showing a public way to the water. According to Planning Director Andrew Vorce, these lots were created when the town established Ames Avenue in the early 1940s.

With Alabama Avenue not available to Ryan for access to his property, Vorce said his driveway on his 345 Madaket Road property should run east out to Madaket Road and that he should not be using Alabama Avenue as his access. However, Vorce said the town is not currently trying to get Ryan to build a new driveway out to Madaket Road.

For his part, Ryan said his tenants hardly ever use Alabama Avenue to get to the cottage and that he wants to work with the town on other solutions for keeping it and the path down to Hither Creek open for all to enjoy.

"We are disappointed that the town built the fence without contacting us," said Ryan. "We always wanted to ensure, and never did anything to prohibit, public access to the creek. In fact, we let boaters store their equipment in our boathouse, let boaters store their dinghies on our property and regularly clean up the trash that washes up and is deposited on the

edges of the creek." I