Narragansett Times — Whose shoreline is it?

Local shoreline access advocate James Bedell climbs along a rock wall at Deep Hole in Matunuck.
Photo By Benjamin Branchaud

June 3, 2016
By Benjamin Branchaud — South Kingstown, RI — James Bedell enjoys classical music and long walks on the beach.

Very long walks on the beach.

In fact, Bedell, a local shoreline access advocate and member of the town’s waterfront advisory, has walked most of Rhode Island’s 400 miles of coastline. The problem he has is that to do so, he has had to climb over private rock walls, through backyard patios and over some less-than-legal rope barricades built by oceanfront homeowners who want their private slice of the sandy coast.

Bedell and his shoreline access advocacy group believe that anyone who wishes to enjoy the coast should have unfettered access to and across it all the way up to ten feet past the high-tide line.

Numerous coastal property owners and real estate agents, however, believe that the public only has passing rights up to the high-tide line even at high tide.

So whose shoreline is it?

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