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.
Shoreline access advocates from Westerly and beyond have pushed for years to open up Spring Avenue to the public, but the Westerly Town Council has maintained it doesn’t have enough evidence to declare it a public right-of-way.
The Weekapaug Fire District, a quasi-municipal entity that has no fire department but owns significant shorefront property it blocks the public from using, claims it is the owner of the right-of-way and can legally keep the public from accessing it. The path is currently blocked by a fence and overgrown vegetation.
The fire district declined to comment on the attorney general’s letter.
In his letter to CRMC, Neronha points out that Spring Avenue has been depicted as an open way on five recorded plat maps, dating back to the 1880s.
“On all these recorded plats, the Spring Avenue Extension is depicted as a street and is directly connected to the public street system…and there is no specific, written indication that it is a private or reserved right-of-way,” Neronha wrote.
According to Neronha, the right-of-way should be considered public by way of “incipient dedication,” when there is evidence a landowner has offered a right-of-way for public use and the public has accepted it.
Neronha wrote there is considerable evidence the public accepted the right-of-way.
“[T]hat evidence includes historical aerial and other photos, postcards, and other materials that document public use of the ROW and adjacent areas from the late 1800’s through present,” he wrote.
Neronha said evidence exists that shows the right-of-way was also “statutorily dedicated” because stamps on a plat map from 1939 show it was officially endorsed by the town of Westerly.
“It is time to ensure Spring Avenue is permanently and forever public and free of the private encroachments that have unlawfully hindered access to the shore in recent decades,” Neronha told CRMC.
The Weekapaug Fire District says it took possession of the right-of-way when it acquired land previously held by the Weekapaug Beach Company. The fire district has submitted its own legal argument to CRMC, saying the path was intended to be for private use by people who bought property in a Weekapaug subdevelopment.
According to the fire district’s meeting minutes, the district considers the right-of-way an area of potential litigation and plans to work with the national law firm Locke Lord on future legal issues related to the case.
Alex Nunes can be reached at anunes@thepublicsradio.org
