The Westerly Town Council is convening a special session to consider a resolution to seek ownership of a roughly 4-acre parcel of land that’s due to be transferred from the U.S. government to the nonprofit Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association.
The proposed resolution would also seek all roads and easements associated with the property for the town but support giving the actual lighthouse building and other structures to the Lighthouse Keepers, and exempting the structures from local property taxes, while leasing appropriate portions of land to the non-profit.
The proposed resolution, written by Councilor William Aiello, notes that the property is identified as a shoreline public access point in the Westerly Harbor Management Plan, which also states the town should protect access points and not allow them to be privatized. The proposal also references language in the town’s comprehensive plan and code of ordinances supportive of protecting public shoreline access.
“Owning that property, in my opinion, is the best guarantee for [public shoreline] access in perpetuity,” said Councilor Joy Cordio, who supports the resolution.
Cordio credited the Lighthouse Keepers with doing a “fantastic job” maintaining the property, which the group has done under a lease agreement with the federal government since the 1980s, but she said the town can’t be certain of what could happen to future public shoreline access to the area should ownership be transferred to a private entity.
Cordio noted that two other Watch Hill groups – the Watch Hill Fire District and the Watch Hill Conservancy – are currently suing the town and state to invalidate a town-designated public right-of-way to a separate shoreline area in Watch Hill.
“We don’t know what the future holds. It’s as simple as that,” Cordio said. “We don’t know who the leaders [of the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association] will be in 20 years.”
The growing lighthouse controversy
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed first announced the impending transfer of the Watch Hill Lighthouse property and two other lighthouses in Rhode Island earlier this month, referring to the news as a “win-win for the community.” But word that the Watch Hill Lighthouse property was scheduled to be given to a private non-profit was quickly met with pushback from shoreline access advocates who say the transfer could lead to diminished access to an important fishing spot and popular scenic area.
Jim Milardo, who serves as the legal committee chairperson for Rhode Island Mobile Sportfishermen, or RIMS, says he supports transferring the land to the town of Westerly, because “if it goes down the road it was going down, it seems like it’s gonna be another place you’re gonna be locked out of.”
RIMS Vice President Brian Harding says he and other members are already concerned, because, they say, they’re being prevented from fishing on the property overnight the way they used to.
Under current policy, the property is open 8 a.m. to sunset, open to foot traffic, and only accessible by vehicle to people who are elderly or have a disability.
A spokesperson for Sen. Reed, Chip Unruh, said the senator has been in contact with the Lighthouse Keepers, National Parks Service, and General Service Administration to reiterate the need for public access to the property as the details of the transfer are finalized.
Unruh said the law that guides transfers of historic government lighthouses to private entities also requires public access. He said public access was “central” to the Lighthouse Keepers National Parks Service-approved application.
The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act says organizations must make properties accessible to the general public “at reasonable times and under reasonable conditions” and properties could revert back to the federal government if groups don’t make good on the public access commitments made in their applications.
“I know that there are questions,” said Ann Snowden Johnson, president of the Lighthouse Keepers, reiterating that public access will continue at the property. “I can only say that this is exactly what we will be doing. This has been our mission. It will be our mission.”
When asked to provide a copy of the Lighthouse Keepers’ application, Johnson said the full application is 700 pages and offered instead to read sections over the phone pertaining to public access.
The excerpts dealt with future plans for the lighthouse museum and other structures, as well as current access policies related to the recreational area surrounding the lighthouse building, but not commitments for future public access to the shoreline property.
When asked to read sections that explicitly outlined plans for public access going forward, Johnson said she would send the “use plan” section of the application to The Public’s Radio. That section outlined current policies but did not say anything about access to the land going forward.
Unruh, Reed’s spokesperson, said he did not have a copy of the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association application to share with The Public’s Radio. Councilor Joy Cordio said she was also unable to obtain the application through Reed’s office. State Sen. Victoria Gu said she asked Sen. Reed’s office for a copy but was told financial information about the Lighthouse Keepers needed to be redacted first before it could be released.
Tensions flair on council over shoreline access
The special town council meeting over the lighthouse property comes as the town is involved in several hot button shoreline access cases.
The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council is currently reviewing a blocked off path to the shore in the Weekapaug section of town for possible state designation as a right-of-way to the shore.
The Weekapaug Fire District is fighting that designation and could spend hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars in legal expenses this year, according to district meeting minutes. Attorney General Peter Neronha has intervened in that case on behalf of the public. Neronha’s office is also defending the state in the case brought by the Watch Hill Fire District and Watch Hill Conservancy.
Heated disagreements over shoreline access have played out in public comment periods before the Westerly Town Council in recent months and in testy exchanges between councilors. At a July 10 meeting of the council, council President Edward Morrone had a fiery outburst in which he challenged another councilor to “step outside” with him, according to multiple sources, after an executive session that included discussions of the Watch Hill Fire District lawsuit.
Morrone, who owns a home in Watch Hill, previously worked as a consultant for the Watch Hill Fire District, earning $30,000, according to public records.
On Friday, Cordio used the word “fury” to describe Morrone’s behavior during the outburst and said she had feared for his health. At one point, she said, Morrone left the room then returned and “threw his briefcase across the room.”
Morrone said at a council meeting on Monday he “regrettably” had reached his limit with Councilor Dylan LaPietra, whom he said was interrupting and disrespecting him.
After the outburst, LaPietra called for the council to be reorganized and Morrone to no longer be the president.
Cordio said much of the tension on the council relates directly back to disagreements on how to proceed over shoreline access matters.
“I believe the majority of us are aligned in our belief that shoreline access is a right, and we want to work for the public,” she said, suggesting Morrone is not among the majority. “It has posed some issues with Ed [Morrone] being in control of a lot of the conversation, or interjecting in the midst of conversation when he doesn’t like the way it’s going. That causes tension.”
She added, “It’s not the most productive work environment.”
Alex Nunes can be reached at anunes@thepublicsradio.org
