I’m not sure what’s going on over on the East End, but something’s definitely been brewing over there lately.
As you probably recall, there’s been some major drama over at Hansen Bay beach over the past two months. The land owner, Mr. Ashton, blocked off beach access from the public by installing fencing and barbed wire. Well officials visited the property a few days after our first story ran and the owner removed the fencing and barbed wire … temporarily. We’ll get back to that in a bit.
So now it turns out that a second area that the public has used to access the beach is blocked on the East End. The property is at the end of Route 10 on your right-hand side (if driving East) just before the dumpsters. See for yourself…
Before the fencing:
After the fencing:
According to property records, the land is owned by the Sullivan family. And from what we’ve been told, the Sullivans have decided that they no longer want to allow people use this area as a right of way to get to the beach. (Click here to see how you can look up St. John property records online.)
Now back to the Hansen Bay issue…
We were so excited to drive by the beach a few weeks back and see that the barbed wire and fencing had been removed. Well it turns out that some of this has since reappeared and that people are being told to keep off the beach. Here are a few recent comments from our readers:
Bruce, Posted April 30:
“We are very close to Hansen Bay and pass it twice a day. Whoever has been “privatizing” the bay has re-fortified the wire and plastic fencing and added a picnic table. The “No Trespassing ” signs are back up and it is a complete eyesore. This is not someone’s “private kitchen” as the post above suggests, so you can’t compare them. The person who claims ownership should publicly post a copy of the documents of ownership.”
Karen, Posted May 1:
“We saw the same thing as above poster this past Tuesday. The beach is an eye sore. There was scrap metal and garbage on the beach (probably intentional to keep people away) in addition to the picnic table. There are cots set up in the structure. We thought about snorkeling anyway, but decided against it. We heard from a local that they believe it is a squatter on the land.”
Emilio, Posted May 18:
“Again….The PUBLIC ACCESS to the Hansen Bay Beach has been blocked. Check it out. I asked politely if I could still use the beach and was told only by boat access.”
Just for the record my loyal NOSJ readers, all beaches on St. John are public. How you access them is a different story … clearly.