Rhode Island Current — North Kingstown country club on rocky terrain in quest to keep illegal wall

The rock wall built over the winter of 2023 by the Quidnessett Country Club in North Kingstown eliminated public access to the water by usurping a passable shoreline to south at left. (Photo by Save the Bay staff)

July 23, 2024

By Nancy Lavin — CRMC hearing on proposal to ease water protections pits club members against environmentalists

It’s hard to miss the 600-foot-long seawall separating Quidnessett Country Club’s golf course from the salt marshes feeding into Narragansett Bay.

Even larger than the physical barrier is the ideological divide over its presence, showcased during a two-hour-long public hearing before state coastal regulators Tuesday afternoon.

Throngs of pastel-clad country club members descended by busload upon the Rhode Island Department of Administration building to insist the wall, while built without the requisite state permits, was needed to protect not only the iconic 14th hole, but the entire club, including its employees and community beneficiaries. Their impassioned pleas were matched by equal outrage from environmentalists, who blasted the club for knowingly building the illegal structure without permission, jeopardizing sensitive waters and obstructing public access to the shore.

Much of the back-and-forth centered on whether the seawall, constructed illegally in early 2023, should be allowed to stand. But the question before the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council is not exactly that.

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