By Alex Nunes — For years, advocates for shoreline access have clashed with coastal homeowners over where the public has the right to be along the waterfront, and fighting has only increased during the pandemic. On Wednesday, the Rhode Island House of Representatives passed legislation to initiate a study of shoreline access in the Ocean State.

ABSTRACT — In order to ensure access to the coast for residents and visitors to Narragansett Bay, Save The Bay identified the finalization of a GIS dataset of State-designated rights-of-way (ROW) as a strategic objective for the organization over the past year…