I think we would all like to let them go down there but we have to keep the safety of everyone in mind,” including public safety workers.”

Steven Ouellette

You are denying us access to our own property … Common sense prevails. I don’t think that anyone wants to find out that they got grandma or grandpa sick or in the hospital.”

Kevin Curt, East Beach Improvement Association

WESTPORT — The annual East Beach trailer caravan is ready to roll, an event that has some Westport officials worried and calling for delay.

Many of those trailers spend the winter in a farm field up Horseneck Road, awaiting the spring day that tractors tow them back to their warm weather homes on the cobble and sand of East Beach Road.

Westport normally allows property owners to bring their trailers back to East Beach starting May 1 but recently the Board of Health recommended a four-day delay to May 4. That, they said, would buy the town time to see whether the state chooses to extend its beach and campground closures deeper into the spring.

Any delay, no matter how short, is unacceptable, several East Beach property owners told the Board of Selectmen during last week’s remote meeting (also listening in, selectmen were told, was the beach association’s attorney). The selectmen are involved because they control the seasonal permits that allow the trailers.

“You are denying us access to our own property,” said Kevin Curt, president of the East Beach Improvement Association. Any delay to the short season can “turn into an open-ended thing where all of a sudden it’s June.”

Two different things are going on regarding East Beach, Director of Public Health Matt Armendo told the Board of Selectmen — coronavirus and septic system concerns.

The Board of Health, he said, envisions a situation starting May 1 with the sudden arrival of a “high concentration of people in close proximity.” You could see a couple of hundred people, many from out-of-town or state, occupying these trailers on small waterfront lots, plus weekenders and possibly renters visiting from out of state.

There are rules on self-quarantining and safe-distancing, Mr. Armendo said, but these “are really hard to comply with in a trailer lot in such tight quarters. Caution is warranted.”

BOS Chairwoman Shana Shufelt agreed that the situation would be “difficult to monitor.”

The other issue with some of the trailers, is disposal of septic waste. On their Board of Health paperwork, some trailer owners said their disposal plan involved dumping waste into septic tanks at the nearby Horseneck  Beach State Reservation Camping Ground, presently closed per order of the state.

Mr. Curt called both issues groundless.

Residents, he said, would continue their practice of self-distancing throughout the duration of the crisis, and would limit gatherings and wear face masks when socializing. They would only use the portion of the beach between the low and high tide marks for gaining access to the water.

“There are other neighborhoods in Westport with 50-foot lots and we see no reason why we should be treated any differently.”

What’s more, he said, since Westport’s state and town beaches were closed, people have flocked to East Beach. “We have had trespassers and we would love the opportunity to protect our properties.”

But it’s not just the property owners, Ms. Shufelt replied. Extended family would also be visiting. How should Westport enforce its rules with visitors from afar coming and going?

Trailer owners are mostly from Massachusetts, Mr. Curt said, and would abide by the same isolation rules that they do at home — including not allowing families to visit “because they are afraid of them dying … Common sense prevails. I don’t think that anyone wants to find out that they got grandma or grandpa sick or in the hospital.”

Mr. Curt also disputed the septic waste concern. Most trailer owners hire septic disposal companies, he said. “I use Mr. Cesspool.”

Ms. Shufelt suggested that selectmen not do anything that evening in order to see what the state does and to look further at state guidelines for campgrounds.

Selectmen Richard Brewer agreed. It’s only a matter of four days, he said, and “we don’t know what is going to happen with the state in terms of lifting or continuing restrictions. we are trying to get a read on where this is all going.”

“You are denying us access to our own property,” Mr. Curt protested.

Added caller Kenneth Mello, “Most of us are middle age or older. We are very sensitive to coronavirus.”

She sympathizes, Ms. Shufelt said, but Westport is also not allowing many businesses to open. “So there are many people who are being deeply affected … These are uncharted waters.”

“Why the obsession” with East Beach, caller Jeff Bolton asked. Would the town also be returning the property tax payments of trailer lot owners if they are denied use of their land?

Selectmen eventually decided to hold off on a decision until their April 27 meeting by which point, Mr. Brewer said, it will be important to make a decision one way or the other.

“I think we would all like to let them go down there,” selectman Steven Ouellette said, “but we have to keep the safety of everyone in mind,” including public safety workers. The reason the state closed campgrounds, he added, is because it does not want people in close proximity.

‘Don’t remove our stuff’

Another matter about which East Beach lot owners are unhappy, Mr. Curt said, is “the reemergence of Item 1A” on the agreement between the town and individual trailer owners.

That involves, he said, the town declaring that it “has the authority to come onto our property and remove items and take them away” — things like picnic tables, sheds, fences etc.

That, he said, was stricken down by a court in 2010 and the association does not want to have to go back to court to deal with it all over again.

Selectman Brian Valcourt said he recalled that the removal of things from lots was meant to be in the case of a hurricane so that debris would not wind up washing into the river.

Not having a copy of that court agreement or knowing details of Line 1A, the board assigned Town Administrator Tim King to meet with Mr. Curt to go over the issue.

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