State coastal regulators are giving the embattled Quidnessett Country Club another chance to submit a required shoreline restoration plan after it opted to sue rather than meet a July 10 deadline.
The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council’s unanimous vote Tuesday night honors a request by attorneys for the North Kingstown country club for an extra 30 days to submit its restoration plan linked to the removal of an illegal rock wall. The country club built the wall without permission in the winter of 2023 to shield its golf course’s 14th hole from rising sea waters.
Debate over the 600-foot-long rock wall, which violates state coastal restrictions for environmentally sensitive waters, has lasted 694 days, based on the Aug. 21, 2023 cease and desist order handed down by CRMC staff. In January, the CRMC denied an initial request by the country club to seek retroactive permission for the wall. But agreement over how to restore the shoreline, including the location and slope of the natural “toe of berm” barrier between the water’s edge and the adjacent golf course, continues to prove elusive.
The CRMC wants the toe of berm to be steeper and closer to land, following plans approved in 2013 for similar natural barrier protections. But Quidnessett has pushed for a more gradual incline closer to the shoreline in order to avoid infringing on its signature golf course.
Jennifer Cervenka, an attorney for Quidnessett who formerly chaired the CRMC, told council members Tuesday that the club still seeks to reach an agreement on an acceptable restoration plan, despite its July 9 lawsuit against the appointed coastal panel and its agency director. The administrative appeal filed in Rhode Island Superior Court claims the council flouted its own rules in refusing to refer the dispute over the plan to a staff hearing officer. The council voted at its June 10 meeting to mandate the club turn in a restoration plan within 30 days.
Anthony DeSisto, an attorney for the CRMC, said the legal appeal does not preclude coastal regulators from taking further action, since a judge has not yet heard the case.
Trapbags: ‘effective solution’ or sandtrap?
Quidnessett now wants to submit a plan relying on Florida-based company Trapbag’s water barrier technology to protect its golf course from coastal erosion and rising waters. The company makes synthetic, pentagon-shaped bags, similar to sandbags, that can be filled with water or sand and connected together to prevent flooding, according to its website.
“We believe this could be an effective solution on the shoreline and would like to have an opportunity to have this reviewed,” Cervenka said Tuesday, noting that the country club did not have time to prepare the plan by the original, July 10 deadline.
However, several CRMC staff, including Jeffrey Willis, its executive director, said the geotextile trapbags are considered a structural material — and therefore not allowed on the shoreline of sensitive waters like those flanking Quidnessett.
Cervenka countered that the state’s coastal regulations do not specifically name geotextile fabrics in its list of prohibited structural barriers.
“We see it as more of an enhanced sandbag-type system,” she said.
Willis acknowledged that without a plan to review, it was too soon to draw conclusions.
Council chairperson Ray Coia agreed that the extension would give agency staff time to review and make recommendations based on a concrete engineering framework, rather than abstract discussion.
Kevin Flynn, another council member, questioned why the council could not call for the existing rock wall to be removed sooner. However, the council on June 10 agreed not to take any action requiring the wall’s removal until a new restoration plan had been submitted and approved. Flynn reluctantly voted in favor of the 30-day extension.
Chris Dodge, Narragansett Baykeeper for Save the Bay, was not so lenient.
In an interview after the meeting, Dodge said he was disappointed but not surprised by the continued delays and lack of progress in removing the rock wall.
“My initial gut reaction is, why are we making concessions?” Dodge said. “Would these same concessions be made for any member of the public or private residence to save a few feet of their property?
Dodge also noted that if a judge sides with Quidnessett in its appeal and remands the case back to the CRMC hearing officer, it will take even longer to reach a resolution.
“And all the while, the wall will stand, continuing to impede public access and harming the environment,” Dodge said.
Cervenka declined to answer any questions after the meeting. Janice Matthews, whose company owns Quidnessett, and another attorney Robin Main, also attended but did not speak at the meeting.
Quidnessett’s restoration plan is now due to the CRMC by Aug. 22.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
