CRMC Rejects Country Club’s Bid to Keep Illegal Seawall
January 29, 2025
PROVIDENCE — A bid from a private club in North Kingstown to legitimize its illegally built seawall was rejected by coastal regulators on Tuesday.
The Coastal Resources Management Council unanimously voted to adopt the recommendation of its subcommittee and reject the petition of the Quidnessett Country Club for a water type change in front of its property.
It’s likely the end of a nearly two-year saga. With the failure of its petition, the matter is kicked back to CRMC’s compliance division for enforcement.
CRMC regulators were tipped off about the illegal seawall in summer 2023, some time after the club had erected it without the required state or federal permits. The agency issued the club a notice of violation (NOV) and ordered Quidnessett to take the seawall down or face fines.
The country club didn’t comply, and instead suggested changing the water type — a regulation classification similar to zoning but for coastal projects — to one that would allow the seawall. The water type in front of the club, which has existed since the early 1970s, doesn’t allow for any development along the shoreline.
CRMC’s politically appointed executive board agreed to consider the petition for a water-type change, kickstarting the process for an advance notice of rule-making, essentially exploring the idea of making a change to agency rules rather than actually starting the process itself.
Legal counsel and experts for the club argued the seawall was necessary to protect the club’s 14th hole from eroding into Narragansett Bay, and that the Quidnessett Country Club itself was one of the state’s most significant and historic golf courses. Dozens of members of the club spoke in favor of its petition during public comment meetings held by CRMC’s subcommittee.
Robin Main, an attorney who represented the club in the final months of the process, didn’t return a request for comment.
But environmental groups and advocates were equally, stiffly opposed to CRMC’s subcommittee and executive board even considering the water-type change proposal in the first place, arguing it would set a “dangerous precedent” for future applicants.
Mike Jarbeau, then-bay keeper for Save The Bay, told council members last summer it would invite others to ignore state law in the future. “Between the ongoing violations and the current harm to coastal resources from the seawall, it’s inappropriate for the council to even begin considering the petition at this time,” he testified in a hearing last July.
Tuesday’s vote is a victory for more than just the environmental advocates, it’s also a victory for the growing movement pushing for the General Assembly to reform CRMC. Percolating in the background since the end of a legislative study commission in 2022, efforts to remove the politically appointed council have gone nowhere in recent years.
Last year lawmakers took a pass on approving the bills, citing a fiscal estimate on the cost of agency reform from the House Fiscal Office that advocates at the time called “questionable.”
An hour after the council voted to reject the club’s petition, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha issued a statement celebrating the decision, and renewing the push for the General Assembly to overhaul CRMC.
“We need reform, and we need it now,” Neronha said. “The fact the council even considered this request, a retroactive plea for relief from the consequences of their blatantly illegal action, tells you everything you need to know about the state of environmental oversight in Rhode Island.”
Neronha also announced his office would soon be introducing legislation to change CRMC into the Department of Coastal Resources, stripping its executive body of its authority and giving it to the agency’s executive director. It’s how other state agencies, such as the Department of Environmental Management, work.
A spokesperson for the attorney general told ecoRI News on Tuesday night that the office had submitted the bill to legislative counsel, who would take a few days to draft and submit for introduction sometime in the future.
“While the Quidnessett decision ultimately came down in our favor, it’s only a matter of time before the next Quidnessett,” Neronha said. “We must embrace real and lasting reform before it’s too late. The solution is a dedicated Department with no agenda beyond acting in the best interest of Rhode Islanders and the environment.”
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