A care home on Martha’s Vineyard has slammed a millionaire homeowner for allegedly gatekeeping a beach from its elderly and disabled residents.
Melinda Loberg, a longtime resident of the famed Massachusetts island, filed a lawsuit against Havenside – a non-profit corporation affiliated with the Island’s Episcopal Churches and the Diocese of Boston – on May 12.
Havenside is a senior living facility that sits just behind Loberg’s $5 million waterfront home – but a fierce legal war was launched after elderly residents were allegedly crossing into the homeowner’s land to get to Vineyard Haven Harbor.
The care home, however, argues that they have always had a right to use the 13-foot corridor on the north side of her land to gain access to the beach.
Now, Lucinda Kirk, the property manager of Havenside Corporation, told DailyMail.com that Loberg’s lawsuit is just ‘a land grab against island seniors.’
The majority of Havenside’s residents are disabled and elderly – and they deserve to ‘enjoy the many health benefits of salt air and serenity,’ she said.
In the suit, Loberg claimed that when she bought the home in 1992 she was never told about the easement access that the seniors allegedly have – triggering the neighborhood dispute last month.
Fighting back, Kirk told DailyMail.com: ‘The lawsuit that our neighbors filed should be seen for what it is: A land grab against Island Seniors.
‘The Lobergs want to incorporate our easement into their beach-front property, apparently without any care how that will affect Havenside’s 36 Residents.
‘Our neighbors are attempting to outspend us in legal proceedings to grab our land with bogus legal claims.’
Many of Havenside’s residents don’t just live in the apartments for affordable housing, but also ‘have mobility disabilities and/or chronic health conditions,’ the spokeswoman added.
Kirk added: ‘The land of Havenside has an appurtenant easement which provides beach access for our Seniors. It is the safest and easiest way for our Residents to enjoy the many health benefits of salt air and serenity.
‘The issue at stake for Havenside is not about money, but preserving safe and equal access to the beach for our senior Residents.’
The legal filing went on to state that any access rights were taken away before Havenside took over its property. Loberg also emphasized that she has been using the land for 30 years which voids the corporation’s past claims to it.
Havenside said that information is false and that it has had an easement there since 1890, the Vineyard Gazette reported.
The specific area that the senior center is claiming to control is a space that the Loberg’s ‘cleared the existing vegetation’ from, along with ‘removed tires, bottles, car mats, and large chunks of macadam and then planted Parcel 2A with grass,’ the documents read.
Following the cleanup, the couple decided to install a 170-foot fence along the area in question – cutting off access for more than two decades, the lawsuit stated.
Havenside said they planned to gain access to the beach by cutting the grass between the fence and garden beds to construct an entry gate, the filing continued.
After informing Loberg of its plans, the corporation sent a tenant by the name of Frank Rapoza over to the property, ‘carrying tools,’ so he could ‘install’ the fence, per the lawsuit.
Tensions quickly rose when Loberg saw him standing in her driveway ready to get to work, so much so that she threatened to call the police if he attempted to install the gate.
With that, Rapoza fled the property, but soon after Loberg received a phone call from him ‘threatening to return and install the gate,’ the lawsuit detailed.
‘In response to this phone call, Plaintiff installed a “No Trespass” sign on the Property line near the Havenside Property,’ it added.
A manager with Havenside then reached out to Loberg and stated that Rapoza ‘was not an agent of Havenside or its Board. Any representation otherwise has never been authorized.’
Loberg, a former Tisbury select board member, chose to sit down with Havenside on July 14, 2024 to talk about the issue, but ‘representatives were not inclined to discuss alternative solutions and instead insisted upon the existence of the purported access easement,’ her lawsuit read.
Later that month, the corporation offered to ‘remove’ the easement in exchange for ‘a cash payment,’ but Loberg denied the ‘extortive offer.’
By October of that year, Havenside filed a Wetlands Protection Act Notice of Intent (NOI) with the local Conservation Commission ‘seeking approval to make improvements on Plaintiff’s Property within the alleged Access Easement,’ the lawsuit said.
In that filing, ‘Havenside falsely claimed to be the owner of the Property, failing to accurately fill out Section 3 requiring them to list the Property Owner if different from the applicant,’ it went on.
In February, the Loberg’s said they ‘discovered a group from Havenside, including Mr. Rapoza, trespassing on Plaintiff’s Property and in the process of cutting Plaintiff’s Fence in order to install a gate.’
Loberg then called the police who asked the group to vacate, but ‘declined’ to forcibly remove them, noting that it was a ‘civil matter.’
The lawsuit also included an image of Rapoza, an alleged ‘manager of Havenside,’ and unknown person ‘destroying a section of Plaintiff’s Fence and installing the gate.’
A police report was also filed in relation to the incident.
‘Mr. Rapoza subsequently returned and finished installing the Gate,’ the lawsuit said, adding that Havenside has since added signage to the entrance of Loberg’s property stating that residents are allowed to use that as an access point to the beach.
Loberg ‘feels harassed and threatened by the conduct of Havenside’s tenants and does not feel safe on her Property as a result of their conduct,’ the filing concluded.
She has demanded that ‘Havenside, its guests, tenants and invitees’ are not allowed to access her property and that it does not benefit from any easement over the Plaintiff’s Property for the purpose of accessing Vineyard Haven Harbor.’
An initial hearing was held on May 20 and the next is set for June 16, according to documents.
Kirk said Havenside is working on obtaining a pro bono lawyer to fight for residents to gain access to the waterfront.
DailyMail.com contacted Loberg’s attorney for comment.