By Alex Nunes — Westerly’s Harbor Management Commission is recommending the town council begin addressing “exclusionary” parking policies in shoreline areas. An attorney for Watch Hill property interests calls suggestions of discrimination “absurd.”

By Alex Nunes — The Rhode Island ACLU says the fire district’s lawsuit is targeting a Westerly resident fighting for a public shoreline right-of-way in a move to discourage public participation in the dispute.

By Alex Nunes — The increasingly litigious shoreline fire district wants to end a state review that could result in a new beach right-of-way being designated in Westerly.

By Alex Nunes — Advocates for coastal access point to the town’s tepid pursuit of beach rights-of-way, questionable changes to boat mooring policies, and highly restrictive parking rules in exclusive shoreline areas. Now access advocates say the general public faces a newer threat: Westerly’s own town solicitor. They say his past actions in shoreline access matters continue to raise doubts about whose interests he’s serving in critical ongoing legal cases.

By James Merolla — When is a public right-of-way to the shore not a right-of-way? When, over time, it has been impeded, overgrown, sits on or near private property, or becomes unsafe.

By Alex Nunes — The Weekapaug Fire District has filed a motion in Rhode Island Superior Court, asking a judge to find the town of Westerly in contempt of a decades-old agreement that covers use of a road known as the Sand Trail that runs down the middle of the Quonochontaug Barrier Beach.

By Nancy Lavin — The group of coastal taxpayers seeking to stop state agencies from enforcing the new shoreline access law has no grounds to sue.

By Brian Amaral — a lawsuit filed Friday by the Rhode Island Association of coastal taxpayers opens a new chapter in Rhode Island long-running fight over shore access

By Alex Nunes — A group of coastal landowners is asking a federal District Court judge to block enforcement of a new state law intended to clarify where beachgoers can be along the state’s shoreline.

By Cate Hewitt — A nearly three-year standoff about public access is nowhere near resolution between Old Lyme and the owner of a historic landing on the Connecticut River. Nevertheless, the town announced Friday it will move ahead with installing signage on the property, establishing rules for public use.

By Alex Nunes — A legal fight over a town-designated path to the beach has put the town council president’s connections to the Watch Hill resort community in the spotlight.

By Frank Carini — … This year, longtime debate about the control of an access path — so-called “Fort Road,” the name locals use to refer to the pathway from Watch Hill to Napatree Point — to the popular Westerly destination finally spilled over

By Ryan Blessing — The Watch Hill Fire District and Watch Hill Conservancy fired a legal salvo Thursday over the Westerly Town Council’s attempts to designate a right of way on Fort Road, the popular access route to public lands on Napatree Point.

By Ryan Blessing — A public hearing on whether Westerly’s Spring Avenue extension should be designated a state public right of way is expected to begin in late June.

By Alex Nunes — The legal action comes in an escalating battle over the Fort Road right-of-way to the undeveloped Napatree Point beach and conservation area.

By Brian Amaral — The Watch Hill Fire District and the Watch Hill Conservancy on Thursday filed a lawsuit naming the town, various town officials, and the state of Rhode Island in Superior Court over the fate of so-called Fort Road. That’s the name people in town use to refer to a path from Watch Hill to Napatree Point — a path that the two entities say is not actually a a public right-of-way.

By Rob Smith — The calls for reforming the state’s coastal management agency are growing stronger in the General Assembly. Last week, members of the Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee heard a package of five bills to overhaul the Coastal Resources Management Council, the regulatory agency responsible for permitting offshore wind, aquaculture, and development along Rhode Island’s more than 400 miles of coastline.

By Alex Nunes — Public records show Town Council President Edward Morrone accepted $30,000 in consulting fees to “monitor issues” for property owners in the Watch Hill vacation community, an area that's become the focal point of ongoing coastal access debates.

By Ryan Blessing — Scott Keeley has some big plans for Charlestown Town Beach this summer. Keeley went before the Town Council recently with a proposal to revamp the welcome signs at the entrance to the beach and its parking lot.

By Frank Carini — Now that the Rhode Island General Assembly has found its 2023 legislative groove, Save The Bay has begun advocating for what it says is an “ambitious policy agenda.”