The Public’s Radio — Rhode Island AG urges CRMC to designate a contested right-of-way in Westerly public

The blocked Spring Avenue right-of-way in the Weekapaug section of Westerly. Alex Nunes

Nov 22, 2022

By Alex Nunes — Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha is getting involved in a closely-followed case over a contested right-of-way to the shore in South County.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha expressed his “strong support” for making Spring Avenue in the exclusive Weekapaug community of Westerly a CRMC-designated public right-of-way to the shore in a letter sent Monday to the executive director of the state’s Coastal Resources Management Council.

Calling public access to the coast and waterfront resources a “priority mission of the Attorney General,” Neronha wrote there is “strong uncontradicted evidence for the CRMC right-of-way subcommittee to determine that Spring Avenue is a public right-of-way to the shore.”

He told CRMC Executive Director Jeffrey Willis that, by designating the path public, CRMC would secure public access and “empower the Attorney General to defend it.”

The case has gained considerable attention among activists and coastal property owners in recent years as shoreline access has emerged as a hot-button issue in the state.

Right now, there is no publicly-designated right-of-way to the shore along the 1.7 mile Quonochontaug Barrier Beach, where Spring Avenue is located. The CRMC is currently reviewing the issue after Westerly town councilors, under pressure from shoreline access advocates, forwarded the Spring Avenue right-of-way — also known as the “Spring Avenue Extension”— and a nearby sand trail leading down the Quonochontaug Barrier Beach for consideration two years ago.

A spokesperson for the CRMC said in an email Tuesday Spring Avenue is still being investigated by CRMC's right-of-way subcommittee.

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