The Quidnessett Country Club had asked the agency to change the classification of waters at the seawall from Type 1 “conservation areas” to Type 2 “low-intensity use,” saying it had built the wall to protect the 14th hole of its golf course from erosion. But in January, the council voted 6 to 0 to reject a petition to reclassify those waters.
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And on Tuesday evening, the council voted 6 to 0 to require the removal of the 600-foot-long wall — technically called a riprap revetment — within 120 days. The council called for the country club to submit an “acceptable restoration plan” within 30 days, and to then complete the restoration within 90 days.
Janice Mathews, vice president of The Jan Companies, which owns the Quidnessett Country Club, said the club will attempt to agree on a restoration plan with the CRMC staff that would not require cutting into the golf course. “We are still trying to work it out,” she said.
Topher Hamblett, executive director of Save the Bay, said, “We support the staff’s recommendation and the council’s decision to remove the unauthorized wall, restore the function of the coastal feature, and undo the harm caused.”
But, he said, “By entertaining the water-type change petition in the first place, the politically appointed council has aided Quidnessett Country Club’s efforts to circumvent the law.”
Also, Jed Thorp, Save the Bay’s director of advocacy, said the environmental group is concerned that removal of the wall could be furthered delayed.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the club’s attorney, former council chairwoman Jennifer Cervenka, asked the council to assign the enforcement action to a hearing officer, saying such a step is required in contested cases.
But Coastal Resources Management Council executive director Jeffrey Willis said the club has never disputed the charges that it built the seawall without authorization, removed vegetation at the site, or filled tidal waters.
“We don’t believe this is a contested matter at all,” Willis said. “We actually think it’s a pretty straight-forward matter.”
Cervenka disagreed, saying the vegetation was destroyed by storms, not by the club. Also, she said the club disputes the place at which the agency wants the restoration to take place. She said the proposed line — the “toe of the berm” — would force the club to cut into the golf course, which she said predates the rules the agency is trying to enforce.
“That is material and affects our property rights,” Cervenka said. “The council does not now have jurisdiction to consider this contested enforcement proceeding.”
The council’s attorney, Anthony DeSisto, disagreed. “The issue is the wall itself,” he said, “and there is no contest that wall was constructed without permission.”
The council voted against sending the matter to a hearing officer, suggesting the club would finalize restorations plans with CRMC staff.
But Cervenka said she doubts the dispute over where the restoration line begins can be resolved with staff, and she maintained that a hearing officer should weigh in. “It’s very procedurally unusual, and I don’t think it is appropriate,” she said.
That prompted the council’s newest member, Dr. Michael A. Reuter, to tell Cervenka, “All due respect, building what you did is also procedurally inappropriate, so let’s not split hairs over it,” he said.
Save the Bay said it’s concerned that if a court later determines that a hearing officer was required, that “will not only cause another delay that perpetuates the loss of public access along the shoreline and harm to the coastal ecosystem, it will prove to be yet another example of the council not following its own rules.”
“Enforcing Rhode Island’s coastal laws should not be complicated, and certainly not for such a blatant and admitted violation as Quidnessett Country Club’s illegal wall,” Save the Bay said in a statement. “Removing the agency’s redundant layer of the politically appointed council will streamline coastal enforcement cases like these and move our state forward in efficiently and effectively managing and protecting our coastal resources.”
The General Assembly is entering the final days of the 2025 legislative session. During a budget briefing, House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, a Warwick Democrat, said no money has been budgeted for changing the current structure of the Coastal Resources Management Council. He said legislation calling to overhaul the council remains alive, but neither the House nor the Senate has voted that legislation out of committee.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
