RI coastal regulators reluctant to shore up entire Newport Cliff Walk

by Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
July 14, 2026

More than four years after a section of Newport’s Cliff Walk collapsed, shutting down public access to a section of the famed overlook, a repair plan has taken shape.

But before the city can proceed with the $23 million project — repairing two broken sections of the walking path and stabilizing the rocky bluffs below against future erosion and weather events — it needs approval from state coastal regulators. And the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council’s (CRMC) signoff, slated for discussion and vote at a public hearing Tuesday night, might not come easily.

At issue is a 25-foot sliver of bluffs situated in the middle of the proposed project area, which spans the length of the path between Webster Street and Narragansett Avenue. While the Cliff Walk is public, and its ownership, as noted in the CRMC’s staff report, is unclear, the pedestrian walkway is flanked by a private overlook associated with the $16.2 million oceanfront mansion behind it.

The owners of the nine-bedroom, 11-bath Ochre Point estate — also known as “Southside”  —  through their attorneys and engineering firm, say that shoring up the bedrock below their private overlook with a stone riprap is necessary to protect the entire public pathway.

But CRMC’s environmental and engineering staff disagree.

The agency staff report recommends that the council not approve the stone work below the private overlook, suggesting the rehabilitation and repair work on either side — corresponding to public pathways — be resubmitted for consideration and approval on its own.

Turner Scott, the attorney representing the Robert Goelet family trust that owns the property with the overlook, did not respond to requests for comment. Robert Fairbanks, whose Exeter engineering firm, Fairbanks Engineering Corporation, was hired by the property owners to provide its own analysis on the need for the riprap below the overlook, acknowledged requests for comment but was not available to respond.

Friction between public and private interests is a recurrent theme at the CRMC. Critics of the politically appointed council, which was recently reshaped with new members with relevant experience, accuse the panel of catering to private and influential property owners at the expense of protections for public access and coastal resources. 

The panel can, but does not have to, adhere to the recommendations of its nationally renowned staff. Some of its most controversial decisions, such as the 2020 expansion of Champlin’s Marina on Block Island which was later reversed by the state Supreme Court, have flouted staff recommendations.

More recently, delayed sanctions by the CRMC against Quidnessett Country Club for a rock wall built along its shoreline more than three years ago — without permission and in defiance of state coastal regulations — has drawn the ire of coastal advocates like Save the Bay, and the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General. 

“It’s even more of a question now with the new council because we don’t know how they’re going to treat such questions,” Jed Thorp, Save the Bay policy director, said in an interview Tuesday.

The seven-member panel was reshaped, with new expertise requirements and a smaller number of members, following legislation approved in 2025. The new group has only met once since appointments were confirmed in June.

The same restrictions on permanent structures or development along the North Kingstown Country Club, which flanks eco-rich marsh waters leading out into Narragansett Bay, also apply to the Cliff Walk’s oceanfront shoreline. But exceptions can be granted, which is what the city of Newport asked for in its December 2025 application to coastal regulators.

An eye toward the future 

The 38-page application, submitted by GZA Environmental Inc. on behalf of the city, details a five-section plan of comprehensive repairs, not just to the two sections of the pedestrian path that collapsed in 2022, but to the larger area, including adding crushed stone fill to the exposed cliffs and a stone block wall directly below the path to stabilize the fragile and aging infrastructure against rising sea levels, and intensifying waves, which are far more severe than when the path was built in the mid-1800s.

“The repaired and stabilized shoreline will allow for the reopening of the Cliff Walk in its entirety, returning the coastal attraction to its status as a tourist favorite and further stabilize the private lands abutting the walkway,” GZA wrote in its application to coastal regulators. 

Amy Silva, the CRMC’s supervising environmental scientist, and Richard Lucia, the agency’s supervising engineer, recommended the council approve the exception permit requested in accordance with agency regulations that consider public benefit. 

“This work will have significant public benefit by preserving the historic public access along the shoreline and will present no adverse impact to the scenic values of the shoreline,” they wrote in the staff report. “These repairs will further address the piecemeal work that has been undertaken over the years, and offer a better long-term solution.”

Except for the private overlook along the pathway, owned by the Ochre Point estate. There is no public benefit that can justify the stone riprap along this section of the walking path, nor is it necessary to repair the collapsed sections or stabilize the Cliff Walk, Silva and Lucia concluded.

“This portion, which staff does not believe will accomplish the goals stated and is actively considered an activity to protect a private structure, does not meet the burden of “compelling public purpose,” they wrote. “It is the staff’s opinion that the portion of the repairs (rip-rap) along the bedrock outcrop at this section of the area are not necessary to stabilize the Cliff Walk or to repair the failures/collapse documented.”

There’s also minimal impact on native species and habitat, an important point for Thorp at Save the Bay.

“We do often have concerns about granting exceptions for work along Type 1 waters,” Thorp said. “In this case, it’s a really different environment. We’re talking about cliffs and rocky outcroppings where you don’t have beaches and salt marshes that are impacted.”

Save the Bay supported the staff recommendation in favor of the project, minus the section below the private overlook. 

The other side of the story 

Fairbanks, in a separate analysis submitted to the council on behalf of Ochre Point’s owners, insisted that the bedrock below the private overlook is integral to keeping the entire public path, including the adjacent stone bridge, safe and open for pedestrians. 

“A failure of the overlook could result in a bridge collapse that could injure or kill someone passing below it on the walkway,” Fairbanks wrote in his April 30 report. “This is a unique opportunity, and it would be unfortunate and shortsighted, in our opinion, not to address the entire slope, given the existing conditions and concerns about public health safety and welfare.”

Fairbanks also noted that the state and federal funding for the repairs cover the entire section of proposed work, not just the public pathway.

Lining up the funding sources — $13.8 million federal grant, a $6.25 million congressional appropriation and a $3 million state bond — proved more difficult than originally anticipated because the repair work didn’t qualify for emergency disaster aid, Tom Shevlin, a city spokesperson, said in an interview.

“Making sure we had the funding stack lined up has been the biggest hurdle in all of this,” Shevlin said in an interview Monday.

That’s why it took more than three years after the initial walkway collapse for the city to submit its application to coastal regulators. Newport also needs a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and water quality certification from Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to proceed, but both regulatory approvals hinge first on the decision of the CRMC, Shevlin said.

Asked whether the city would resubmit the application for repairs, excluding the 25-foot riprap below the private overlook, as recommended by the CRMC staff, Shevlin said it was up to the property owners.

“From the city’s perspective, we do believe that the fastest path to re-opening that portion of the Cliff Walk would be to approve the application in full,” Shevlin said in an email Tuesday.

There is no set timeline for repairs, though Shevlin emphasized the importance of shoring up the degrading bluffs before another major storm hits.

The application also drew no public comments, although the Rhode Island Historic Preservation and Heritage Commission was asked to weigh in because the Ochre Point estate is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Jeffrey Emidy, executive director for the commission and state historic preservation officer, said in a June 23 letter that the agency had no objections to the project based on the minimal impact to the historic property.

The entire length of the Cliff Walk runs 3.5 miles along the Atlantic Ocean passing by Gilded Age mansions and the campus of Salve Regina University. A 2016 Salve Regina University study found that Newport visitors who included the Cliff Walk in their visit accounted for $90.5 million in direct and indirect spending while in the city.  

The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the William E. Powers Department of Administration building in Providence. Its meeting will also be streamed on Zoom, and a recording posted later to its YouTube channel. 

This story will be updated.

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