CRMC Reform

Overview.

1971

The Coastal Resources Management Council 10-member body is formed by the RI General Assembly.

According to its website, the council is responsible for the “preservation, protection, development and where possible the restoration of the coastal areas of the state” through policy development, planning and permitting. It also manages public access to those areas.

The agency is made up of 10 volunteer members — including 9 politically appointed by the governor, and 1 mandatory representative from the RI DEM. A minimum of 6 members are required for quorum.

2003-2013

The Champlin’s marina issue becomes one of the most contentious and heavily criticized CRMC decisions in recent history.

Initially proposed in 2003, Champlin’s of Block Island put forward plans to nearly double its size, and extend 240 feet into the Great Salt Pond to accommodate 140 additional boats. The plan would expand into 4 acres of public trust waters, a proposal met by fierce resistance on the island. Opponents are also concerned about the effect on the town’s mooring field.

The proposal goes through years of hearings at CRMC, and litigation in RI Superior Court and the state Supreme Court.

2020

It takes RI Superior Court Judge Kristin Rodgers nearly 7 years to issue a decision, siding with opponents of the Champlin’s proposal denying the expansion, which the marina appeals to the RI Supreme Court.

A separate backdoor deal is reached between Champlin’s and CRMC for a scaled-down expansion plan, without notice or involvement of the island opposition groups who had been successful at stopping the marina expansion at every other opportunity during hearings, litigation, and appeals.

2021

After the Champlin’s back-room deal comes to light in The Hummel Report, the legislature forms a Special Commission to consider the future of the agency.  

The commission came back with a list of recommendations, including the creation of full-time positions for a staff attorney and a hearing officer to consider contested cases.

2022

The RI Supreme Court upholds the lower court decision in denying the Champlin’s expansion, and also rejects the validity of the backdoor deal between Champlin’s and CRMC.

Concerns are again raised about CRMC decision-making when it ignores the recommendation of its staff relating to offshore wind, by not voting to refer a lease for Revolution Wind’s transmission cables to the General Assembly despite required state law legislative approval.

2023-2024

Per the 2021 recommendation of the House Special Commission on restructuring the CRMC, a Hearing Officer is finally hired in June 2023.

In another highly publicized controversy, the Quidnessett Country Club (QCC) builds an illegal seawall without proper CRMC permitting or approval. When faced with $30,000 in fines, QCC petitions the CRMC in 2024 to change regulations which would retroactively allow the seawall to stand.

The CRMC votes unanimously 6-0 to deny QCC’s rule change attempt, ordering a removal of the seawall.

While CRMC critics such as Save The Bay and AG Neronha agree the council made the right decision, they question why its members even considered rethinking regulations and letting the wall at Quidnessett Country Club stand. 

2025

Current governor-appointed members include a podiatric surgeon, union safety group administrator, Newport planning director, retired Navy undersea warfare technician, land-use attorney, accountant, and retired RI planning division director (past members have included a dental hygienist and the head of a chain of physical therapy offices).

The 2024 legislative session had a number of proposed bills in both the House & Senate regarding changes to CRMC, a trend which continues into the 2025 session.

A hearing in April 2025 brought a number of discussion points in front of the RI General Assembly.

Where we are now.

The CRMC hasn’t had a full 10 members since 2019, due to a number of resignations or lack of political appointments.

While Rights-of-way may have designation at the local level, towns often nominate their ROWs for additional state level protections. There is currently a 20 year backlog of Rights-of-ways awaiting CRMC approval.

While the CRMC issued a cease-and-desist for Quidnessett Country Club’s illegal seawall and its subsequent removal, it has been nearly 2 years without effective enforcement of the decision.

A number of proposed legislative bills are looking to address the ongoing issues at CRMC through various types of restructuring — most importantly, they propose elimination of politically-appointed members without relevant expertise or experience from positions of power (see linked resources below).

“We need the entity that is charged with these really weighty responsibilities to be transparent, to have clear procedures and to be empowered to make administrative decisions that are defensible… We can see that over the case of the Champlin’s matter that there were multiple failures by all sorts of different configurations of the council. This isn’t about one or two people. This is about the structure.” — Asst Attorney General Sarah Rice

“The structure that has been in place for the last 50 years is a relic of the past. It’s a relic of the bad old days of Rhode Island politics.” — Topher Hamblett, (former) Executive Director of Save the Bay

Related Resources.

Updated House bill introduced at the request of the RI attorney general’s office, to do away with the council of appointees in favor of staff who have training as coastal policy experts, engineers and marine resource specialists (Jan 2025)

Proposed House bill by Rep. John G. Edwards would replace CRMC with the Division of Coastal Resources Management, which would operate under DEM. (Jan 2025)

Proposed Senate bill by Sen. Mark McKenney would change the council’s structure — CRMC would remain its own entity, with a setup similar to DEM. However, the 9 politically appointed members would be removed and decision-making power would be shifted to a cabinet-level director who answers to the governor. (Jan 2025)

House bill introduced by Rep Terri Cortvriend addresses public access as related to parking, and would set requirements on municipalities when looking to alter parking near designated CRMC Rights-of-ways. (Jan 2025)

House version of Senate Bill S 2928, introduced by Rep Terri Cortvriend (Jan 2024)

Senate legislation introduce with support of RI Attorney General, that would restructure the agency by abolishing the 10-member council of political appointees, and put power in the hands of agency staff who have expertise in engineering, geology and other relevant fields. (Jan 2024)

In 2021, after the Champlin’s deal came to light, the RI legislature formed a commission to consider the future of CRMC, and provided a list of recommendations, including the creation of full-time positions for a staff attorney and a hearing officer to consider contested cases (May 2022)

Official government website of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council.