$92 million for Big Homer's Pond

At $92 million, the real estate listing for a 266-acre Atlantic Ocean property is the most expensive ever on Martha's Vineyard.

According to the Vineyard Gazette:

"The 266 acres include Big Homer’s Pond, a secluded, pristine Great Pond that lies along the Atlantic-facing shoreline in the rural reaches of West Tisbury. The property has more than 1,000 feet of beachfront and abuts Long Point Wildlife Reservation, a 500-acre property owned by The Trustees of Reservations with another 2,900 feet of beachfront. The Big Homer’s Pond property is largely undeveloped land that includes five parcels. Mr. Gerald DeBlois bought the property in the early 1990s. A conservation restriction has been placed on much of the northern portion of the land; the restriction is held by The Nature Conservancy, an international land trust devoted to researching and protecting rare and endangered ecosystems."

With unprecedented beach erosion over the past few years along the Vineyard's southern shore, especially at Norton Point and Wasque Point, perhaps Mr DeBlois' desire to sell now is spurred by The Commonwealth of Massachusetts House Bill 254, currently stalled, which seeks to undo existing private property law.  The bill reads:

"Where sea level rise, storms, or other natural processes have caused the landward or lateral movement of a barrier beach into an area which was previously occupied by the bottom of any Great Pond or onto any other public land, the portion of the barrier beach relocated into the former bottom of the Great pond or onto other public land shall be and remain in public ownership."

According to the Vineyard Gazette:

"A controversial bill that could dramatically affect property rights for some of the Vineyard’s barrier beaches was left stalled as the state legislature wrapped up its session Tuesday.

"As Beacon Hill lawmakers began their summer recess on Wednesday, there had been no progress on house bill 254, which relates to barrier beaches that divide Great Ponds from the ocean. The one-paragraph bill would stipulate that as storms and rising sea levels erode the barrier beaches, ownership would not move with the sand. A barrier beach that moved to a place that was once the bottom of the pond would become a public beach, instead of transferring to the abutting landowner.

"While the legislation has not moved in the last year, there has been lobbying by those on both sides of the legislation. A Vineyard group called the Great Ponds Coalition, which opposes the bill because it would be “reversing centuries of settled property law and potentially costing the state and local communities millions of dollars,” according to its website, paid lobbyists $70,000 to oppose the bill from Jan. 1 through June 30 of this year, according to filings with the Massachusetts Secretary of State."

If the Bill passes, the property's owner should seek an abatement on the current annual property taxes of $218,585.00.