North Kingstown Country Club wants to keep illegal wall on rocky terrain • Rhode Island Current
It’s hard to miss the 600-foot-long levee that separates the Quidnessett Country Club golf course from the salt marshes that flow into Narragansett Bay.
Even greater than the physical barrier is the ideological divide surrounding its existence, a fact that became clear during a two-hour public hearing before the state’s coastal supervisors on Tuesday afternoon.
Crowds of pastel-clad country club members flocked to the Rhode Island Department of Administration building by the busload to insist that the wall, although built without the required state permits, was necessary to protect not only the iconic 14th hole but the entire club, including its employees and community beneficiaries. Their impassioned pleas were met with equal outrage from environmentalists, who criticized the club for knowingly building the illegal structure without permits, endangering sensitive waters and blocking public access to the shore.
Much of the back and forth revolved around the question of whether the dam, which was illegally built in early 2023, should remain standing. But that is not exactly what the Rhode Island Resources Management Council is concerned about.
(Nancy Lavin/Rhode Island Current)
Instead, the Council, through its Planning and Procedures Subcommittee, reviews Quidnessett’s petition of April 12 is seeking to reclassify a quarter-mile stretch of waters adjacent to the seawall. The existing Type 1 “conservation area” classification prohibits permanent structural barriers because of their potential harm to ecologically sensitive waters and wildlife. Downgrading the waters’ classification to the less stringent Type 2 “low-intensity use” could allow the stonewall, known as a riprap protection wall. Coastal regulators “may” allow stonewalls in Type 2 waters, but they are not required to, said Jim Boyd, former CRMC deputy director. pointed out.
Build it first and change the map later
And the reclassification of the waters ignores what critics consider the most “egregious” element of the whole debacle: that the country club built the levee first and then asked for a permit.
“The only reason the country club filed this petition is to cover up an illegally constructed wall on its property,” Boyd said Tuesday, speaking for the first time as a member of the public since leaving the CRMC two years ago.
To avoid any possible objections of ignorance, Boyd pointed to a 2012 proposal by the club to build a less conspicuous sheet pile wall on the same site, but the project never went forward after that. Council staff recommended against the permanent barrier and for a less damaging “non-structural” coastal protection.
A decade later, the riprap seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Work on the seawall began in January 2023 after a December storm caused “significant damage” near the 14th hole, Patti Doyle, a spokeswoman for the country club, said in an email Tuesday evening.
Six months later, both CRMC and Save the Bay independently got wind of the illegal structure.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Mike Jarbeau, Narragansett’s bay warden for Save the Bay, said in an interview before Tuesday’s hearing. “This is such a blatant violation, such a blatant disregard for regulations, that I couldn’t believe it at first. I thought, ‘This is just not possible.'”
But there it was, visible from a mile and a half away in Narragansett Bay, Boyd said.
The CRMC in August issued a series of warnings against the club, requiring it to remove the seawall and imposing a $30,000 fine.
Eight months later, the club, through its attorney Jennifer Cervenka – who previously served as chair of the CRMC’s appointed council – filed a petition demanding that the water be reclassified.
The April 12 petition cites the increasing residential development and recreational use in the area, including the Bayview Rehabilitation nursing home in the Scalabrini area, located directly north, as the reason for the waters’ reclassification.
“Without the flexibility granted to coastal protection areas on the Type 2 waters, the QCC will surely lose a critical portion of its historic 18-hole golf course. This will result in devastating losses for both its business and members, as well as the thousands of individuals, businesses and associations across the state that use the QCC for professional golf tournaments, charity events, fundraisers, weddings, proms and countless other events,” Cervenka wrote in the letter.
Representatives of the club’s 1,000 members and 100 salaried employees repeated exactly that wording in comments to the CRMC on Tuesday.
“I think the perception of country clubs is that they are a very privileged place,” said Peter Chwaliszewski, the club’s head golf professional. “But there are many employees here who depend on it to feed their families.”
It is such a blatant violation, such a blatant disregard for the rules, that at first I couldn’t believe it. I thought: “That’s just not possible.”
– Mike Jarbeau, Narragansett Bay Warden for Save the Bay
Boyd’s proposed change to the design of the 14th hole to move it further away from the rising water was not an option for many club members, who praised the unique design of world-renowned golf course architect Geoffrey Cornish.
“It’s a historic landmark,” said Jeffrey Gladstone, who has been a member of the club for 30 years.
The club, including the 18-hole (par 72) golf course, opened in 1960. It has no official state or federal historic designation.
US Army Corps of Engineers, AG intervenes
But the waters next to it are no less important, and both state and federal environmental awards point to their value. The illegal rock wall has also attracted the attention of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which in May A separate notice of violation was issued and a corresponding fine of up to $200,000 was imposed.
The pending review of the water’s reclassification request has spared the club from paying state and federal fines for now. But Jeff Willis, executive director of the CRMC, said in an interview after the hearing that the agency’s administration denied the club’s request for an extension and instead required it to submit a shoreline restoration plan by Friday.
The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office may also join the action, having already issued a letter to the CRMC requesting that the club’s application be rejected and that action be taken against the illegal action.
“Any other decision would only serve to reward the QCC for building illegally first and seeking permits later, and would encourage other coastal property owners to do the same,” Attorney General Peter Neronha wrote in his June 28 letter.
The CRMC subcommittee is expected to revisit the country club’s request in early September, by which time council staff will have prepared a report with recommendations for action, Willis said.
If the water type change is approved, the club will apply for the necessary permit to initiate the pending actions against the wall, Doyle said.
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