AG, former CRMC official slam country club's attempt to change rules for illegal seawall

NORTH KINGSTOWN — Attorney General Peter Neronha is slamming the Quidnessett Country Club for retroactively seeking to change rules that, he said, it has "already brazenly violated by building an illegalseawall."

In a letter released on Friday, Neronha called on the Coastal Management Resources Council to "reject QCC’s efforts to circumvent the law."

"Ruling otherwise," he stated, "would only serve to reward the QCC for illegally constructing first andasking for permission later, and would incentivize other shoreline property owners to do the same."

Former CRMC deputy director James Boyd expressed similar opinions in a scathing letter of his own last week, saying that the agency should not condone "[t]his egregious and premeditated illegal action," and that doing so would set a dangerous precedent.

The backstory

In 2023, Quidnessett quietly constructed a massive riprap revetment next to the 14th hole on the golf course without getting permission from the CRMC or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The country club overlooks what are known as Type 1 waters, meaning that the shoreline is in a natural, undisturbed state, and seawalls aren't supposed to be built there at all.

Now, the club's attorney — who previously chaired the CRMC's politically appointed council — is asking the agency to change the water type classification.

Quidnessett's petition argues “without the flexibility afforded for shoreline protection in areas abutting Type 2 Waters, the QCC will certainly lose a piece of its historic 18-hole golf course."

Doing so "would result in devastating losses to both its business and members, as well as thousands of individuals, businesses, and associations, across the State that use QCC for professional golf tournaments, charity events, fundraisers, weddings, proms, and countless other engagements," the club stated.

Why the attorney general objects to the proposed change

In his letter to the CRMC, Neronha noted that the country club requested permission to build a similar but smaller seawall in 2012.

Among the reasons why CRMC staff recommended denying that application:

• It would accelerate the erosion of neighboring beaches.
• There would be a negative impact on the natural fish and wildlife habitat.
• It would be detrimental to shoreline access.

"Despite this explicit recommendation for denial by CRMC staff and the unambiguous findings related to the risk of such a structure in this area," Neronha stated in his letter, "the QCC proceeded to construct a larger seawall located even closer to the shoreline than the structure sought in the effectively denied 2012 proposal."

Additionally, Neronha wrote, every property abutting Type 1 waters faces challenges with climate change and erosion.

Changing the water type classification would undermine the protections set out in law, and "set a dangerous precedent moving forward," the attorney general stated.

Quidnessett's attorney, Jennifer Cervenka, did not immediately respond to an emailed request to comment on Sunday.

Former CRMC official calls for denial

Boyd, the former CRMC official, argued in his letter that changing the classification of a mile of coastline would be "essentially irresponsible spot zoning."

Quidnessett applied for permits from the CRMC in the past and "certainly cannot plead ignorance to not knowing permits were required," he stated. Additionally, he wrote, the club has known for more than a decade that seawalls are prohibited in Type 1 waters.

"In fact," he stated, "it appears that the QCC management and its board of directors have brazenly made a calculated decision to construct the revetment without the benefit of prior required authorizations."

"It appears that the QCC’s rationale is to ask for forgiveness and subsequently pay any agency levied fines as a 'cost of doing business' to protect the QCC’s interests," Boyd stated. "Additionally, the QCC appears to be speculating that the CRMC will not require removal of the illegally installed revetment."

Boyd, who retired from the CRMC in 2022 and is now a commercial quahogger, said that the agency should send a strong message by:

• Levying the maximum possible fines against the QCC and its contractor.
• Ordering the removal of the wall and a "full restoration of the shoreline," including unfettered public access.
• Rejecting the club's petition, which would establish "a dangerous policy precedent."

Petitions to change state regulations should not be used as "an end-round," he wrote, or "as cover for an egregious illegal activity, one that was surreptitiously undertaken by the QCC management and its board of directors, despite knowing full well that the installation of the rip-rap revetment was illegal."