Shoreline access has been a hot-button issue for many communities in Rhode Island as legislators seek to adopt rules to assure Rhode Islanders’ access to beaches, protect homeowners, and strengthen the organization that oversees the state’s shoreline.
That was the motivation behind the legislation proposed by Senator Victoria Gu, D-Dist. 38 (Charlestown, Westerly, South Kingstown) and Representative Terri Cortvriend, D-Dist. 72 (Portsmouth, Middletown).
The recently introduced bills would increase disclosure rights when buying oceanfront property, allow towns to preserve recreation easements on abandoned roads, and allow the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) to designate historic rights-of-way.
But perhaps overriding all three bills are legislative efforts to overhaul CRMC, de-politicizing an agency fraught with controversy and noted for long delays when reaching important decisions.
Gu has been a champion of CRMC reform, an issue echoed by officials in many shoreline communities, and seen as urgent after a secret backroom deal in 2021 to approve Champlin’s Marina expansion on Block Island, without town input. A year later, the Rhode Island Supreme Court threw out CRMC’s decision.
“The council (members are) appointed by the governor and are not required to have expertise” Gu says, “Politicization of the process has become more contentious.” Most members of the council have little background in related fields. She wants council members to come from people “effected by the council.”
Gu says it has not been unusual for the council to rule “against staff expertise.”
She would turn the council into an advisory board, made up of individuals with an interest in shoreline issues. She wants the agency’s director, Jeffrey Willis, and his staff to be making critical issues, with oversight provided by an appeal process.
CRMC will continue to deal with more complex issues, Gu says, including “offshore wind, aquaculture, and sea level rise.” And that means more resources.
“CRMC needs more staff resources to research rights of way, and more funding to enforce rights of way,” Gu says.
How will the bills fare? Of the three introduced by Gu and Cortvriend, the one that would increase disclosure rights is the one receiving “most widespread support.” For the other two, and the CRMC overhaul, she says “it’s too early to tell.”