SJC gives house lot back to Nantucket man

With ocean views and island charm, houses on Nantucket routinely top $1 million in value. So, it is no surprise that a dispute over a small parcel of land could make its way to the state's Supreme Judicial Court.

Yesterday, the high court found in favor of a landowner who battled with the town over a 25,000-square-foot parcel near Nantucket Memorial Airport. The court found that William Devine is the rightful owner of the land, despite the fact that Nantucket took the property by eminent domain almost 40 years ago.

The town argued that a ruling in favor of Devine could lead to challenges of other eminent domain takings by cities and towns. But in finding for Devine, the high court said a municipality's right to take land by eminent domain was not being called into question.

Upholding a ruling by a superior court judge, the SJC blamed the town of Nantucket for not following proper procedures when it took the land in 1968, saying the town did almost nothing at the time to try to find or notify the owner of the property and did not properly log its taking in town records.

When the town took the property by eminent domain, it was listed as "owners unknown" on local tax rolls, even though there was an identifiable record owner, Lewis Popham Carmer. At the time, members of the Nantucket Airport Commission wanted to acquire the property, located at the southern end of a runway, to prevent construction in that area.

Devine, a genealogist, bought the property from Carmer for $7,500 in 1985. After the purchase, the town put the property back on its tax rolls, collected taxes from Devine, and later issued building permits to him to construct a house.

It was only in 2001, after Devine began excavating the site, that the town sent him a letter saying it owned the property.

The town filled in the site, revoked Devine's building permit, issued a stop-work order, and changed the location of the fence around the airport to include the property.

"This case was really about due process," said Devine's lawyer, Philip Graeter. "You have to have notice of what the government is doing, and you have to have an opportunity to be heard. The owner of the property in this case had neither."