For a donation, the Harbor House project could become costly for the town of Newcastle.

During the Tuesday, Nov. 12 selectmen meeting, David Levesque, lawyer for Old Shipyard and Stetson House spoke out against the proposal to seek $20,000 during a special December town meeting. The monies, if approved, would be used to explore the options concerning public access to the water.

The donation from The Standard of Newcastle's Xavier Cervera of two boat slips to the town has proven to be a prickly issue, with Levesque going so far as threatening litigation should Newcastle seek to build a town road.

But Tuesday's meeting was just a public hearing before the December 9 town meeting and no action was taken. Before anything moves forward with a plan that could involve moving and expanding a small driveway, Levesque cautioned the town to slow down the process.

“My opinion is to take a step back and have discussions with all three property owners,” he said.

The article would raise $20,000 to be spent to study the feasibility of the project, and whether or not the town should consider it. While Levesque had problems with the wording of the warrant, Board of Assessor’s Chairman Ben Frey said he saw no problems with it at all.

“We don't need to modify this,” he said. “It's not talking about doing any such thing as condemnation.”

One of the property owners who would be most negatively affected by the increased traffic due to the slips are Lewis and Ina Heafitz, who own a house located next to the road. Their lawyer, Bernstein Shur's Phil Saucier, said there were a number of concerns about making a possible one-way loop road near the Heafitz's home.

“This was not meant to be a public road; it's a driveway,” Saucier said. “Lew and Ina think their enjoyment would diminish greatly if this were allowed.”

Lewis Heafitz said the current use, with a small trickle of people using the space was fine, but if the road became a loop road he would have problems.

“People use it, and we're agreeable with that, but that's not what we bought the place for,” Lewis Heafitz said.