Nantucket homeowner lists property for $10M after chopping down neighbor’s 50-year-old trees to create ‘sweeping’ ocean views: lawsuit

A Nantucket homeowner secretly chopped down a litany of his neighbor’s 50-year-old trees to carve out “sweeping views” of the Atlantic Ocean for a property he listed for nearly $10 million, a lawsuit alleged.

Patricia Belford claims her neighbor, Jonathan Jacoby, trespassed onto her property in February and leveled 16 towering cedar, cherry, and Leyland cypress trees – gutting her property’s charm and value to enhance the views from the upper level of his home.

Months later, Jacoby put the four-bedroom, three-bath Massachusetts house at 3 Tautemo Way on the market for $9.975 million, touting the endless blue horizon, a selling point notably absent from the property’s previous listing, according to the Nantucket Superior Court lawsuit filed on June 23.

A prior listing showed the .46-acre property sold for $1.825 million — $30,000 over the asking price.

“The way I feel is that I am confident once all of the facts and evidence have been presented, that justice will be served,” Matt Erisman, Belford’s property manager, told the Nantucket Current. 

“However, much of what has been taken from the Belfords is irreplaceable, and it’s sickening.”

The 30-foot brushes, planted by the Belford family in the 1970s and carefully maintained since, stood just beyond the shared boundary with the alleged vandal’s property, creating a natural barrier along the roadway that provided shade, aesthetic appeal, privacy, reduced noise, the filing states. 

Erisman discovered the alleged arbor assault when he spotted the savaged trunks and Jacoby’s former landscaper, Krasimir Kirilov, clearing away debris from the 1 Tautemo Way home. 

Kirilov later told police that Jacoby personally hacked down the trees and hired him to haul away the wreckage – with the property owner’s supposed permission, the suit alleges. 

“I was just about to complete the cleanup when the caretaker Matt came to the property, and at that moment I realized he was not aware of the cleanup work I was doing,” the shaken gardener said in a March 11 statement to the Nantucket Police Department. 

“I was surprised to find that out, and I explained what was going on, and he said he had no idea about it.”

Authorities have since launched an investigation into the vegetation massacre, with charges now pending against Jacoby, the local outlet reported. 

Nantucket police did not immediately provide information to The Post regarding the case.

Belford is seeking over $1.4 million in damages – valuing each mutilated tree at roughly $486,000.

Bay State law punishes anyone who willfully mows down trees on someone else’s land without permission by tripling the damages owed. 

Jacoby’s attorney, Jim Merberg, told The Post that his client had permission to cut down the trees. 

“My client is firmly of the belief that he had permission to take down these dead trees,” Merberg said, noting he toppled the evergreens during the day and with “transparency.”

“He did it in a way a person clearly with permission would do it. It will all get sorted out in court down the road.”