The Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association says it would be unable to guarantee public access to an historic property and popular fishing area if the land were transferred from the federal government to the private non-profit in the application submitted by the organization to the National Park Service for ownership of the Watch Hill Lighthouse property in Westerly.
The document was obtained by The Public’s Radio through a Freedom of Information Act request earlier this month.
In July, Rhode Island U.S. Sen. Jack Reed announced the Lighthouse Keepers had been selected to become the new owners of the Coast Guard’s Watch Hill Lighthouse and surrounding land under a program enabled by the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act intended to transfer surplus federal lighthouse properties to nonprofits and state and local governments.
That announcement July 9 prompted outcry from shoreline access advocates who fear the transfer would threaten public access in a coastal area they say is being increasingly privatized. The news also led the Westerly Town Council to pass a resolution last month seeking ownership of the lighthouse property land by the town instead of giving it to the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association, or WHLKA.
The Lighthouse Keepers says it intends to maintain public access at the property and statements being made by critics about the impending transfer are unfounded. But in a letter submitted to the National Park Service in response to a request for more information on public access to the property, an attorney for the Lighthouse Keepers, Jacqueline O. Kaufman, of the Connecticut-based firm Carmody Law, says there is “no express access easement of record to the Property” through a presumably private road leading from the Watch Hill village to the Watch Hill Lighthouse property.
In the May 31, 2022, letter, Kaufman says “should a question in the application require commitment from the WHLKA to provide public access, as of today, it cannot legally do so…”
Kaufman adds that her client has the “desire and intent” to provide public access to the property and has ordered title searches for properties on the peninsula where the lighthouse is located and will further supplement its application when more information is available.
The Lighthouse Keepers’ 830-page application documents released under FOIA do include limited land records, as well as accounts by the federal government detailing questions about access to the property going back decades, but those exhibits immediately following Kaufman’s letter do not include any accompanying opinion saying the documents demonstrate the public has an expressed right to access the lighthouse property over Lighthouse Road.
Kaufman does not include references to other documents that suggest the existence of potential public rights along Lighthouse Road, including an 1870 deed that outlines the right “for all persons to pass over and across said lane or passway to and from the Government land on the South to the highway on the North of said premises.”
That deed was included in a 1958 report by the state of Rhode Island’s Special Commission to Discover Rights of Way that’s been largely lost to history, even as the issue of shoreline access has come to the fore in recent years and the state Coastal Resources Management Council has publicly stated its commitment to shoreline access in Rhode Island.
A 1906 map from the Westerly land evidence records also shows a pathway titled “PRESENT DRIVEWAY LEADING TO GOVT. LAND” running directly from the main road to the lighthouse property.
The Lighthouse Keepers group has helped maintain and operate the property since it entered into an agreement with the federal government in 1986. That maintenance has included work to reinforce the property’s retaining wall, and the group says it would make further improvements to the lighthouse property that are expected to cost millions of dollars in the coming years.
The Lighthouse Keepers’ application says the group’s mission “is to rehabilitate and operate the historical Watch Hill Light Station Property for educational, historic, recreational, and cultural programs open to and for the benefit of the general public,” although a sign posted at the property, which is used regularly by people who fish for sport and sustenance, says activities on the property are limited to “sightseeing and casual strolling” only.
Under the visitor information section of its website, the group says “No Recreational Activities” are permitted on the property.
Shoreline access advocates say they are concerned about the transfer because of current restrictions on access to the property and others put in place in the past.
In an affidavit signed by Lighthouse Keepers Association President Ann Snowden Johnson on June 1, 2022, and included in the application, Johnson writes, “To the best of my knowledge, the public’s use of the Private Road to access the Property has never been interrupted.”
In 2020, vehicle access to the property was restricted to weekends only after an uptick in activity at the property during the COVID-19 pandemic. An article in The Westerly Sun from that time quotes Johnson as saying the group was having “enormous trouble” with crowds, “difficult people,” and “illegal” parking.
During a recent tour of the property, Johnson told a reporter the decision to institute temporary restrictions during the early months of the pandemic was made after consulting with federal officials.
Current policies allow visitors from 8 a.m. to sunset and allow vehicle access only for people 65 and older, and people with disabilities. All others can access the property by foot on Lighthouse Road.
In a phone interview, Westerly shoreline access advocate Ben Weber called the Lighthouse Keepers’ application “proof in the pudding” of the group’s lack of meaningful guarantees of public access.
“They could have all the intent, but they’re not willing to commit to anything,” Weber said. “That’s the problem.”
He added, “They can’t be trusted.”
On Tuesday, U.S. Department of Interior Communications Director Melissa Schwartz said an interview request from The Public’s Radio had been shared with the National Park Service, although that agency has not yet responded.
Earlier this month, Sen. Reed sent a letter to Deb Haaland, secretary of the Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, notifying Haaland of the town of Westerly’s desire to own the land at the Watch Hill Lighthouse property and asking that Haaland or a senior staff member contact the town.
A spokesperson for Sen. Reed, Chip Unruh, who previously said public access was “central” to the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association application, defended the group’s proposal in an email Tuesday, highlighting areas of the application that state a desire to maintain public access and a section that says the “exclusive nature” of the road leading to the lighthouse has not been an impediment to public access.
When asked in a followup email if Sen. Reed is concerned that the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association says it can’t make a legal commitment to maintaining public access, Unruh wrote, “Senator Reed supports public access because it’s the right thing and because it’s federal law. If lawyers at the National Park Service and GSA [U.S. General Services Administration] determine that cannot be achieved, then they can revoke any approval.”
Rhode Island U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s office did not respond when emailed for comment on Tuesday. In an Aug. 11 email sent to constituent and shoreline access advocate Scott Keeley, who shared the communication, Whitehouse said the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association was chosen by the National Park Service to “continue its stewardship of the property under certain conditions, including preserving public access to the property.”
Whitehouse added, “I will closely monitor the situation in Westerly to ensure the property’s managers do not reverse course and place unreasonable restrictions on the land to curb public access.”
It’s unclear if Whitehouse is aware of the group’s disclosure that it believes it cannot legally guarantee public access.
Westerly Town Councilor Kevin Lowther, who has been in contact with the Lighthouse Keepers since the transfer was announced and recently visited the property, said the news that the group is not legally committing to public access at the property is “disappointing.”
Lowther said he previously asked the Lighthouse Keepers for a copy of the application and was told he couldn’t have it because it’s not a public document. In the copy of the application released to The Public’s Radio, federal officials redacted portions dealing with financial information.
Lowther said he still thinks Lighthouse Keepers officials are operating “in good faith,” but he would like them to be more open with the public about their plans going forward.
“I think the ball is really in their court right now,” Lowther said. “If they’re not able to communicate, people may begin to think badly about the intent that they have for shoreline access, which is unfortunate.”
Under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, a property given to a nonprofit can revert back to federal government ownership if the property “ceases to be available for education, park, recreation, cultural, or historic preservation purposes for the general public at reasonable times and under reasonable conditions which shall be set forth in the eligible entity’s application.”
Given that the law bases property reversions on commitments made in an application, it’s unclear what happens when a group says it cannot make legal commitments to public access.
In a brief phone call Tuesday, Johnson, the Lighthouse Keeper’s president, said she could not comment on the group’s application because “it’s going through the legal process.”
Before the property can be officially transferred by deed, the U.S. General Services Administration needs to finalize the agreement.
Alex Nunes can be reached at anunes@thepublicsradio.org
