A lawyer for a group that owns the access road to Greenwich Point says the town can legally bar out-of-towners from parking at Greenwich beaches.

The Lucas Point Association is among those in town trying to limit the local impact of last summer’s state Supreme Court ruling that requires Greenwich to open its beaches to non-residents.

The association is expected to have a say in the town’s beach policy because it grants the town an easement to the access road, enabling the general public to enter Greenwich Point by land. The state Supreme Court affirmed the association’s property rights in its ruling.

In an analysis of that ruling, the association’s attorney, Dwight Merriam, said that it would be legal to ban parking, or to sell admission tickets to Greenwich beaches at a site removed from the parks, such as Town Hall.

The group is attempting to persuade Greenwich First Selectman Richard Bergstresser to abandon a plan that would allow nonresidents to park at Greenwich Point for $10 a day, a fee that would increase to $30 a day on weekends during the peak season.

A public hearing on the adoption of a new beach-access plan is scheduled for Tuesday.

–Associated Press