HARPSWELL

Cedar Beach Road ownership has changed hands between codefendants in the midst of a lawsuit to restore public access to the private road.

Two companies led by Floridabased entrepreneur and business executive Betsy Atkins executed the sale on July 18 of both the road and residential property formerly owned by Charles and Sally Abrahamson, according to Cumberland County Registry of Deeds records.

Cedar Beach/Cedar Island Supporters, a citizen group formed to gain access via the private road to the Cedar Beach and Robinhood Beach area and nearby Cedar Island, filed a lawsuit against the Abrahamsons after they had closed the road to public access in 2011.

Prior to the road’s closure, the Abrahamsons approached the town of Harpswell with an offer to sell the road for $945,000, the amount their assessor valued the road at. A second appraisal contracted by the town valued the road at $220,000, and Harpswell residents voted to authorize the use of up to $220,000 of public funds to purchase the road.

A two-day trial took place in May, heard by Justice Nancy Mills at the Cumberland County Superior Court. Currently the trial is pending a decision, which CB/CIS president Mike Helfgott said he hopes will be resolved by the end of the summer, regardless of the sale of the property in question.

“Our case is based on a pattern of activity that occurred over a 30 or more year-long period,” said Helfgott, “during which time we alleged — and I believe we proved — that the people of this community gained a prescriptive right to the road.”

If CB/CIS has proved its case, then this would hold true regardless of who the current or future property owners are, said Helfgott.

The sale of the property was not unexpected, he said.

“It was something people have been talking about this past year,” Helfgott said, “and I also have to emphasize that it’s certainly (Atkins’s) right to do that.”

Neighbors of Cedar Beach LLC purchased a 2.71-acre residential lot from the Abrahamsons, adjacent to Cedar Beach Road and Merry’s Cove.

According to the deed, the land is subject to an easement “for all purposes for which a town road may be used along the twelve (12) foot wide strip of land known as Beach Road, which extends in a northeasterly direction from the Town Road,” as surveyed by Wright & Pierce in 1959 for former owners Julia Francis Sturtevant and Meredith Kells Starbranch.

Gables Real Estate LLC purchased the private portion of Cedar Beach Road, stretching 1,008 feet from public Robinhood Road to “an iron pipe set in the ground,” according to the deed.

The property is described in the deed as a “strip of land being twelve (12) feet in width and running from the Town Road, so called, in a northeasterly direction … shown on a plan of land of Julia Frances Sturtevant and Meredith Kells Starbranch.”

The road deed refers to the easement stated in the residential deed, noting that the parcel “is subject to the rights of others in common to use said Beach Road.” It is unclear in the text of either deed to whom explicitly the easement is granted.

Fundraising contributions for CB/CIS has increased over the past year, Helfgott said that he expected an appeal process was likely to follow any ruling on the case, by either the Abrahamsons and co-defendant Atkins or CB/CIS.

“It really focuses more on the issue of neighborliness — what (Atkins) is really doing is blocking access to a beach that has been used by the public for more than a 100 years,” said Helfgott. “It’s a very serious issue and we believe we’re on the right side and we’re committed to seeing this through to the end.”

In a separate case, CB/CIS negotiated an easement agreement with Jonathan and Rachel Aspatore to Cedar Beach and Cedar Island, though without access to Cedar Beach Roadthis is primarily reachable by boat.

Requests for comment from the Abrahamsons’ attorney received no response, and Atkins’s attorney Christian Chandler, of Curtis Thaxter, was not immediately reachable.

At the request of the Bailey Island Association, CB/CIS members will give a presentation on the status of the lawsuit at 7 p.m. July 30, at Bailey Island Library Hall, located at 2167 Harpswell Island Road.

rgargiulo@timesrecord.com