Two neighboring homes on the edge of the cliffs overlooking Nauset Light Beach in Eastham are in the process of being demolished. It's part of an ongoing issue with coastal erosion on the Outer Cape.
That's according to Parker Mumford of the Provincetown Independent. CAI's Gilda Geist spoke with Parker to learn more.
Gilda Geist Why are these homes being demolished?
Parker Mumford So, both of these homes, they're really close to the edge of this 30-foot drop over Nauset Light Beach. And that cliff, it's always been receding, and now it's simply caught up to these houses. Both of them were declared dangerous earlier this year, and the town's been doing its best to work with the owners of the houses, Mr. Moot and Mr. Hayes, to get them torn down before the buildings fall onto the beach below.
GG Can you talk about how these homes falling into the ocean would pose ecological risks in the areas where these houses are?
PM Sure. So, one of the big things to realize about this bank that the houses sit on is that it's really unstable. And so, a large object like a piece of the house falling down that bank would probably take even more bank with it. You know, these things do not erode at a constant rate, but on average, I think it's probably about three feet per year. Now, obviously, when there's a big storm, it'll be a lot more than that in a very short amount of time. But if you can imagine the whole house falling down onto the bank, it's going to be pulling more of the sand with it. So, there's also health hazards. Some of the floor tiles in Mr. Moot's house were found to contain some asbestos. And also, if the homeowner doesn't remove their cesspool or their septic system, that can fall onto the beach and spill hazardous material everywhere.
GG How have local officials in Eastham dealt with the myriad compliance issues with both sets of homeowners?
PM It's kind of tough. So, one of the few tools that Eastham has is the ability to issue daily fines when someone breaks a rule. But there's only so much that a fine can actually get done. So, in the case of Mr. Moot's house, the owner was so unresponsive that the town had to seek a court order to get his house demolished when they found that the fines simply weren't enough to make him get in contact with them. They got that court order back in April. The judge gave Mr. Moot a set amount of time to start the demolition, and when he ignored that, the town stepped in. Now, for Mr. Hayes's house, the town posted a stop work order as soon as they saw that site work had begun, and it seems like Mr. Hayes complied with that. But by the time that order was posted, there had already been a lot of site work that was completed. And so, the town ended up fining him also, but then he hired a lawyer to represent him at the next Conservation Commission hearing, and we can hope that now that is progressing smoothly.
GG For both properties, the homeowners made their purchases relatively recently, when erosion was already a well-known problem in this area. So, do we know why they bought these homes so close to crumbling cliffs?
PM So, early on when I was writing these articles, I spoke with a real estate agent named Denise Kopasz to ask her exactly that question. She said that for a lot of people, it's kind of a thrill, almost like gambling, to buy these houses. You have this wonderful place for super cheap and you're hoping, maybe irrationally, that nature will cut you some slack. Real estate is super expensive out here, so for some people, that's the only way they can afford to buy a home. But because they don't realize that they'll also have to demolish it or because they think they'll be able to save part of it, it ends up being more expensive than they initially thought.
GG How big of a problem is coastal erosion on the Outer Cape? Are the problems these homeowners are facing unique to them?
PM So out here, coastal erosion is kind of a fact of life. It's something that's been a part of Eastham for as long as Eastham has been here. You hear the stories about the town moving the lighthouses back from the cliffs. A few years ago, the town needed to move an entire section of road. And it's not just Eastham. One of the reasons this story is so interesting to me is because it reminds me of the Blasch House up in Wellfleet, which was in danger of falling into the sea near Great Island. So yeah, out here, coastal erosion is by no means unique to the houses over Nauset Light Beach. That's just where it's being seen right now.
