Plan to buy beach upsets homeowners

AVON LAKE (AP) -- Residents in this Lake Erie community are upset with a state legislator -- their neighbor -- who wants to buy a small beach that they have all used for years.
If state Rep. Earl Martin buys the property, known as Sunset Beach, it would connect his lot to the water.
The beach may go up for sale if Lorain County successfully forecloses on the property. The landowner, a bank, has failed to pay taxes.
In their deeds
Martin's interest in the land troubles about 20 nearby homeowners, whose deeds show they have rights to use the beach. Their property values likely would drop, while Martin's would go up.
"We want to keep this for ourselves," said Brian Shaw, who lives along the lake.
"If you want to fish, if you want to swim, you can simply walk down there. And if we want to sell our homes, we would have beachfront access to offer."
Neighbors also argue that Martin, a Republican, has a conflict of interest. He has sponsored legislation that would give lakefront property owners control of the shoreline, which has long been open to the public and controlled by the state.
Martin said it doesn't matter to him who ends up buying the beach, which totals three-tenths of an acre. The situation is too hypothetical to worry about now, he said.
A potential sale date hasn't been set. The land's owner, KeyBank, owes $4,300 in taxes. The property is appraised at $3,600, records show.