It's so tiny, it barely registers in a Google search and unlike its sister Spar Island, is not listed on many navigational charts. But Monast Island, a deserted quarter acre of sand in the middle of Mt. Hope Bay, may change hands this week.

Tiverton acquired deed to the small island about one mile southeast of Warren's Touisset Point in a 1971 tax sale, and since then has done nothing with the property. Though it is "unoccupied, undeveloped and is not developable," Tiverton deems the island "an important piece of open space contributing to Tiverton's natural beauty and to the wildlife that resides in, or migrates through," the town.

On Wednesday evening, the Tiverton Town Council is expected to approve a resolution which would authorize the sale of the island to the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM), for $5,000.

The state's plans for the island are unknown, and questions posed to DEM Monday were not answered prior to deadline Tuesday morning.

But Tiverton Town Administrator Chris Cotta said the town decided to sell after being contacted by DEM last year. Since the town wasn't doing anything with the island, he said, it was no problem — "We have no interest in it," Cotta said.

Under the terms of the resolution supporting the sale, not much is likely to happen if DEM takes ownership.

The document prohibits "the use or development of the land for any purpose or in any manner that would conflict with the maintenance and preservation of the land in its current, open, natural, scenic and ecological condition."

And just to be clear: The resolution bars a host of activities on Monast, including the construction of dwellings, camping accommodations, billboards, tennis courts and parking lots. Restrictions also forbid the use of snowmobiles, dune buggies, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, "except such vehicles as are necessary for the maintenance or protection of the land."