YORK, Maine — The recent state Supreme Court decision in the Goose Rocks Beach case affects not only the Cliff Walk, but all of York's beaches, according to Board of Selectmen Chairman Ron Nowell.

YORK, Maine — The recent state Supreme Court decision in the Goose Rocks Beach case affects not only the Cliff Walk, but all of York's beaches, according to Board of Selectmen Chairman Ron Nowell.



This is because York does not own its beaches, he said Friday. "We use the beach at the owners' pleasure," he said.



"It's a real word of warning to the town of York about its beaches," Nowell told fellow selectmen this past Monday



There was no discussion among board members at that meeting, but Nowell said he plans to put it on the agenda for Feb. 24. The best way to put an end to the threat of a private property owner gating off access, as is the case on the Cliff Walk, is for the town to buy its beaches, Nowell said.



In Ogunquit, the town owns its shore path, the Marginal Way and the beach, said Helen Horn, chairman of the Marginal Way Committee. Josiah Chase deeded Marginal Way to the town in 1925, she said, calling him a "true visionary."



While York's four beaches have been enjoyed by the public for years, "All it takes is one person with money ..." to close down access, Nowell said.



It's happened at Moody Beach in Wells and now at Goose Rocks Beach, he said. In the Moody Beach decision of 1989, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled the public had no right to use the beach for recreational uses such as walking and sunbathing without permission of the waterfront property owners.



On Feb. 4, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court sided with waterfront property owners along Goose Rocks Beach and against the town of Kennebunkport in its argument that the public had a prescriptive, or historic right, to use the beach. Fallout from the Goose Rocks Beach ruling in York has centered on how it affects public access to the Cliff Walk in York Harbor. Two private property owners along the shore path, Milton Peterson and Richard Rubin, have erected barriers to public access.



There is no court case in York, but a fund of $50,000 was set aside for potential legal action. Nowell said selectmen expect to meet with the town's attorney for the Cliff Walk, Geoff Hole of Bernstein Shur, and new town attorney Mary Costigan of the same law firm, to determine the town's next step. Meanwhile, York should not think its beaches immune from private interests, even if there is no current threat, according to Nowell.



"Nobody thought about closing off the Cliff Walk until Milton Peterson and Richard Rubin showed up," he said.



"The shore path is a perfect example of that path being public until the two current property owners decided that it wasn't public," Nowell told selectmen. "I am surprised that none of the property owners on any of the other beaches haven't done it."



York has four beaches used by the public: Long Sands Beach, York Harbor Beach, Short Sands Beach and Cape Neddick Beach. The town has a deed to most of Short Sands Beach, according to Nowell and Community Development Director Steve Burns. About a fifth of that beach near Ocean Avenue Extension is privately owned, as is a part or all of the other beaches, Nowell said.



On Long Sands, the heirs of Roger Norton Jr. own the beach from the northernmost end where the Cutty Sark Motel is located to an area in the middle of the beach at the Sun N' Surf, except for property where the Long Sands Beach bath house is, he said. The town has owned that since around the time the bath house was built in 1953, he said.



On the other side of the Sun N' Surf south to Libby's Oceanside Camp, the homeowners across the street on Long Beach Avenue own their property to the low water mark, he said. In the mid-1920s, the homeowners asserted their ownership when they went to court and won a lawsuit against having planes land on the beach, he said.



The Hartley-Mason Reserve, a public park, is responsible for a section of Harbor Beach, but the other side is privately owned by the Stage Neck Colony, he said.



"Stage Neck Colony, under different management, could say, 'Hey, wait a minute, we want that beach just for our patrons,' and there goes half of Harbor Beach," Nowell said.



Several private landowners claim ownership of Cape Neddick Beach, he said.



"Who's to say they don't sell it?" Nowell said. "It's only a matter of time before somebody exerts their privileges."