Newport Daily News — Friends of the Waterfront seek council intervention for Newport Harbor Walk connection
The Smoke House restaurant in Newport is seeking to make its outdoor seating area permanent. Savana Dunning /Newport Daily News
July 27, 2022
By Savana Dunning — NEWPORT — Newport’s Friends of the Waterfront are calling on the city to investigate whether The Mooring restaurant’s recently approved plans for its parking lot encroach on public access to Newport Harbor.
“The owners recent opposition to the requirement imposed by the (Planning Board) for additional public access across the site accentuates the need to preserve all existing public ways and areas,” Attorney Michael Rubin wrote in a letter to the City Council.
The letter, which will be considered by the City Council on Wednesday, was submitted by Rubin on behalf of Friends of the Waterfront, Newport’s public harbor access advocacy group, following a recent decision by the Zoning Board. After the hearing for a project to beautify the parking lot in front of The Mooring and add a permanent patio space for its sister restaurant, The Smoke House, the Zoning Board decided to approve the application, but forgo the Planning Board's recommendation to require the restaurants use a portion of their lot as a connection for the city’s Harbor Walk. The city has been trying to make the trail more continuous for the past few years, as it currently juts back and forth between the harbor and America’s Cup Avenue to avoid private property lines.
After the Zoning Board made its decision, Friends of the Waterfront submitted its letter to Newport City Council, urging them and the City Solicitor to review the restaurants’ possible encroachment on Scott’s Wharf.
Scott’s Wharf is the public street boarding the south of the Mooring and Smoke House lot and serves as one of Newport’s many public access points to the harbor.
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