A dispute between state coastal regulators and Quidnessett Country Club has finally landed in court, with the North Kingstown country club filing an appeal in Rhode Island Superior Court on July 9 — one day before it was due to turn in a restoration plan for its coastline.
The lawsuit against the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) challenges the panel’s June 10 decision requiring Quidnessett to submit a plan to demolish a rock wall built during the winter of 2023 without permission along its shoreline and restore the coastal habitat back to its original state.
The country club was supposed to turn in a new restoration plan to coastal regulators by July 10 — the sixth iteration after five previous proposals were dubbed insufficient by agency staff. No plan was ever submitted. Quidnessett’s attorney, Jennifer Cervenka, who formerly chaired the CRMC, filed the appeal.
The CRMC is scheduled to discuss, and potentially take further enforcement action, against the country club, at its next meeting Tuesday night.
Debate over the 600-foot-long barrier, built in violation of state coastal restrictions for environmentally sensitive waters, has stretched out for nearly two years. In January, the CRMC denied an initial request by the country club to seek retroactive permission for the rock 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 situated closer to land, following plans approved in 2013 for similar natural barrier protections. But Quidnessett has pushed for a barrier closer to the shoreline in order to avoid infringing on the 14th hole of its signature golf course.
Quidnessett’s seven-page complaint contends that the CRMC flouted its own rules by refusing to refer the case to its hearing officer, who by law is required to review “all contested enforcement proceedings and all contested administrative fines,” in a quasi-judicial hearing process.
“It was abundantly clear that Plaintiff and CRMC had a material contested issue with respect to the manner in which Plaintiff should cease the alleged activity outlined in the Cease and Desist Order and restore the Property,” the lawsuit states.
Jeffrey Willis, CRMC executive director, who is named in the lawsuit, told council members at the agency’s June 10 meeting that the case did not require a hearing officer’s review, since it was uncontested.
The CRMC also denied Quidnessett’s request at the same meeting to let two expert witnesses speak about difficulties with the proposed restoration plan, according to the complaint.
Jed Thorp, policy director with Save the Bay, who has been watching the case closely, sided with Quidnessett on procedural matters.
“We agree with the Quidnessett that this case should have gone to a hearing officer,” Thorp said. “It’s again yet another example of the council not following their own rules and the end result is going to be the public ultimately is harmed because resolution on this matter is going to get further delayed.”
Precedents exist to overrule CRMC
The coastal regulatory agency has been forced to revisit several of its prior, controversial decisions after a state court ruled it ran afoul of its own rules.
Among the most high-profile incidents previously: the proposed expansion of Champlin’s Marina on Block Island, which the council approved in 2020 following a series of closed-door negotiations between attorneys for the marina and the agency. The Rhode Island Supreme Court struck down the decision in 2022, siding with a state Superior Court judge who declared the council failed to meet requirements around public input and transparency in its decision making.
Also in 2022, a Providence County Superior Court judge tossed a four-year-old council decision rejecting a proposed oyster farm in Barrington on the grounds that the council failed to allow the applicant to cross-examine project opponents. Forced to revisit the application anew in 2023, the council approved the oyster farm proposed in upper Narragansett Bay.
Earlier this year, a state judge ordered the council to take a fresh look at a 2020 decision authorizing the expansion of a Jamestown boat yard. The CRMC has not to reconsider the case.
Quidnessett’s complaint states that it has “exhausted all administrative remedies available to it,” and asks a state Superior Court judge to toss the June 10 enforcement order, or refer the case back to a hearing officer.
Robin Main, another attorney representing Quidnessett, declined to comment when reached by email Monday. Laura Dwyer, a CRMC spokesperson, also declined to comment.
This story was originally published was the Rhode Island Current.
