The Public’s Radio — At public hearing, speakers say Rhode Island has a ways to go on shoreline access

Shoreline access advocate Scott Keeley speaks at a public hearing at Chariho Middle School in Richmond, R.I., on November 19, 2021. ALEX NUNES - THE PUBLIC'S RADIO

Nov 18, 2021

By Alex Nunes — The summer season may be months behind us, but advocates for beach access aren’t letting up on their calls for lawmakers to do more to strengthen and protect shoreline rights. They made their case again Thursday night at a special public hearing in Richmond.

The House commission on shoreline access was formed this year to study public rights along the shore. The state Constitution guarantees use of the shoreline but doesn’t say where those rights end and property rights begin. 

Several of the roughly 75 people in attendance at Chariho Middle School Thursday night voiced a longer list of concerns about beach access in the Ocean State: limited parking and steep fines, intentionally blocked rights of way, overzealous property owners, and quasi-municipal fire districts that own private beaches but don’t fight fires.

Jennifer Krekorian, a South Kingstown resident, recalled seeing “intimidation tactics" by property owners this past summer, like stakes and ropes placed in the ground to block or discourage people from accessing the public shore. 

“This sort of attitude of ‘I own a big fancy house and you can’t access the shore,’ it’s getting out of control,” Krekorian said. “We need to come up with some kind of solution, because it's this overt intimidation that's really disturbing.”

Narragansett Indian Tribe elder Bella Noka told commission members she goes to the shore to worship and has been interrupted and questioned while in ceremony. Noka recalled one instance when she was burning sweetgrass after her mother died.

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