RI Attorney General Neronha criticizes Quidnessett Country Club seawall
NORTH KINGSTOWN — Attorney General Peter Neronha is sharply criticizing the Quidnessett Country Club for seeking a retroactive change to rules that he says the club has “already blatantly violated by building an illegal seawall.”
In a letter released Friday, Neronha called on the Coastal Management Resources Council to “reject the QCC’s efforts to circumvent the law.”
“Any other decision,” he explained, “would simply serve to reward the QCC for first building illegally and then seeking approval, and would encourage other coastal property owners to do the same.”
Former CRMC deputy director James Boyd expressed a similar sentiment in his own scathing letter last week, saying the agency should not tolerate “this egregious and deliberate illegal act” because doing so would set a dangerous precedent.
The background story
In 2023, Quidnessett quietly constructed a massive stone shoreline adjacent to the golf course’s 14th hole without obtaining approval from the CRMC or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The country club overlooks so-called Type 1 waters. This means that the coastline is in a natural, undisturbed state and dikes should not be built there.
Now the club’s attorney, who previously headed the CRMC’s politically appointed council, is calling on the agency to change the water type classification.
Quidnessett’s petition argues: “Without the flexibility afforded in shoreline protection in the areas adjacent to Type 2 waters, the QCC will certainly lose part of its historic 18-hole golf course.”
This would “result in devastating losses for both the company and its members, as well as for the thousands of individuals, businesses and associations across the state that use QCC for professional golf tournaments, charity events, fundraisers, weddings, proms and countless other events,” the club said.
Why the Attorney General objects to the proposed change
In his letter to the CRMC, Neronha pointed out that the country club had requested permission to build a similar but smaller levee in 2012.
Among the reasons why CRMC staff recommended denying this request:
- It would accelerate the erosion of neighboring beaches.
- The natural habitat of fish and wildlife would be negatively affected.
- This would affect access to the shore.
“Despite this explicit recommendation of rejection by CRMC staff and the clear findings regarding the risk of such a structure in this area,” Neronha explained in his letter, “the QCC has begun construction of a larger seawall, which would be even closer to the coast than the structure envisaged in the effectively rejected 2012 application.”
In addition, Neronha wrote, all properties adjacent to Type 1 water bodies face the problems of climate change and erosion.
A change in the water classification would undermine the protections established by law and “set a dangerous precedent for the future,” the Attorney General said.
Quidnessett’s attorney, Jennifer Cervenka, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Sunday.
Former CRMC official calls for rejection
Boyd, the former CRMC official, argued in his letter that changing the classification of a mile of shoreline would be “essentially irresponsible spot zoning.”
Quidnessett has applied for permits from the CRMC in the past and “certainly cannot plead ignorance for not knowing that permits were required,” he explained. In addition, he wrote, the club has known for more than a decade that seawalls are prohibited in Type 1 waters.
“In fact,” he explained, “it appears that the QCC management and its board of directors made the bold, calculated decision to build the embankment without first obtaining the necessary permits.”
“It appears that the QCC’s rationale is to seek forgiveness and subsequently pay any fines imposed by the agency as a ‘cost of doing business’ to protect the QCC’s interests,” Boyd explained. “In addition, the QCC appears to be speculating that the CRMC will not require the removal of the illegally installed shore protection.”
Boyd, who retired from the CRMC in 2022 and now works as a commercial quahogger, said the agency should send a strong signal by:
- Impose the maximum possible fines on the QCC and its contractor.
- Order to demolish the wall and “completely restore the shoreline,” including unhindered public access.
- Rejecting the club’s application would create “a dangerous political precedent.”
Petitions to change state regulations should not be used as a “final resort,” he wrote, or as a “defense of an egregious illegal activity that was carried out secretly by QCC management and its board of directors, knowing full well that the installation of the riprap was illegal.”
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