Councilman's boat dumping ‘disrespectful,’ neighbors say
Councilman Halsey Herreshoff said he stores boats there all the time and it’s ‘no big deal’
The dumping of three large boat molds at the end of a residential street by a town councilman have angered some residents who call the molds an “eyesore” and the dumping “disrespectful to neighbors.”
At about 8:30 Monday morning, a truck drove to the end of Captain Street off Ferry Road, across from the Blithewold Mansion grounds, and dropped off three large molds used to make boat hulls. One bright orange hull and another white one are clearly visible at the edge of a cul-de-sac, directly in front of two signs that warn, “No Dumping.” By the end of the day Tuesday, plastic tarps had been placed over one of the hulls.
“It’s a total lack of respect for neighbors,” said one of two Captain Street residents who called the Phoenix to complain about the dumping. “We didn’t know where they came from, how long they’ll be there. It’s an eyesore. It’s a lack of respect for abutting neighbors.”
Richard Lapoint, who lives at the end of Captain Street closest to the hulls, agrees the hulls are “a bit of an eyesore,” but said he would be OK with it if the boats aren’t there forever.
“If it’s temporary, I’ve got no problem with it,” Mr. Lapoint said. “But what’s temporary?”
Councilman Halsey Herreshoff, who owns about 35 acres of wooded land surrounding the Captain Street neighborhood, said the boat hulls are there to stay until his boat building business needs to use them again. He did not specify a timeline. Councilman Herreshoff said he’s been using the land, which his family has owned for generations, to store boats and boat parts for decades without complaint, something he said he shouldn’t be facing now.
“It’s none of their business,” Councilman Herreshoff said of the neighbors. “We own all that land. We’ve been putting them there for 40 years. For somebody to complain about it is very odd.”
One neighbor, who said he has been in the neighborhood for many years, refutes Councilman Herresmhoff’s claims that boat storage is a common use of the land.
“We’ve lived here for 30 years and there has never been anything there,” he said. “Just because you own the land doesn’t mean you can just dump anything there. If someone dumped something that doesn’t belong there in your neighborhood, you’d be upset, too. It is our business; we live here. If someone had come to us to talk about it, we could have asked questions.”
Councilman Herreshoff had the same reaction to the neighbor complaints, wishing he had been notified of the objections instead of the press.
“They should call me if they have a problem with it, instead of causing a ruckus,” Councilman Herreshoff said. “It’s no big deal. They’re making a mountain out of a mole hill.”
Mr. Lapoint said a compliance officer from Town Hall came out Monday to inspect the boat hulls, which sit on the concrete of the road just in front of the wooded land. Compliance Officer Raymond Falcoa was not immediately available for comment.
