Projo — “The Hummel Report”Blocked out: 'Backroom deal' riles opponents of Block Island marina expansion

Champlin’s Marina in 2010, while it was fighting for a proposed expansion to nearly double the size of its facility on Block Island’s Great Salt Pond. Erik Elwell via The Hummel Report

Feb 5, 2021

By Jim Hummel, The Hummel Report — NEW SHOREHAM — Opponents of a controversial marina expansion are furious about what they call a “secret backroom deal” that froze them out of an agreement to settle a 17-year-old case.

They point the finger at the state’s Coastal Resources Management Council and retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams, who helped broker the agreement.

“This is a lawless attempt to fix litigation. There’s no other way to describe it,” said R. Daniel Prentiss, the attorney representing the town of New Shoreham and three environmental groups on Block Island. The opponents have raised more than half a million dollars since 2003 to fight the proposal by Champlin’s Marina on Great Salt Pond.

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