Rhode Island U.S. Sen. Jack Reed’s office on Sunday announced the planned transfer of three lighthouses in Rhode Island to local entities and the state Department of Environmental Management, calling the news “a win for the community.”
But in Westerly, a town where most news about the shoreline these days is met with trepidation and even alarm, the announcement was perceived by some as potentially being anything but a win for the public. And by Tuesday night, Reed’s office was reassuring that the proposed transfer of the historic Watch Hill Lighthouse would not threaten ongoing access to a popular fishing area.
A recommendation by the federal National Park Service calls for transferring the lighthouse and surrounding federal land to the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association, a group that, under an existing agreement with the federal government, has helped manage the property since the 1980s.
The proposed transfer agreement still needs to be finalized by the U.S. General Services Administration, or GSA, which could still take several weeks.
But news of the property transfer is already raising red flags among some members of the Westerly Town Council, as well as opposition from shoreline access advocates. Those advocates say they have reason to be wary because of what they see as ongoing efforts to privatize Westerly’s shoreline in the Watch Hill section of town.
At present, the Watch Hill Fire District and the Watch Hill Conservancy are fighting the town and state of Rhode Island in court over a town-designated right-of-way to the highly popular Napatree Point Conservation Area, asking a judge to invalidate the public designation of the path, known as Fort Road. The groups, which own much of the land on the peninsula, maintain they don’t want to cut off access to the general public but argue public access only exists at the discretion of the fire district, which owns the land the right-of-way goes through.
In 2020, with help from Reed’s and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s offices, Congress deauthorized a federal mooring area in Watch Hill Cove, stripping its federal public access protections and significantly benefiting the private Watch Hill Yacht Club.
Westerly Town Councilor Dylan LaPietra said Wednesday he’s concerned about the proposed transfer because the Watch Hill Conservancy has helped the Lighthouse Keepers with fundraising in the past, and because of the Lighthouse Keepers’ previous history restricting access in 2020.
“Because of their relationship with the Watch Hill Conservancy, who is currently in litigation against the town to privatize Fort Road and Napatree Point access, I’m afraid that the same thing could happen to the Watch Hill Lighthouse,” LaPietra said.
LaPietra said he would be OK with the Lighthouse Keepers assuming ownership of the actual lighthouse building, but he wants the roughly 4 acres of land the lighthouse is located on to become the property of the town or the state of Rhode Island.
“I’d like to see the land owned by a governmental agency that would keep it from becoming privatized,” LaPietra said.
The Lighthouse Keepers previously restricted access to the property in 2020, according to an article in The Westerly Sun, because of an uptick in summer visitors during COVID-19 and the presumed interest in the Watch Hill area that followed a Taylor Swift song featuring the community, where she has a home. According to the article, pedestrian access was not changed but vehicles were being limited to weekends only.
“We have had enormous trouble with crowds, difficult people, illegal all-day parking and visitors ignoring the no sanitation facilities and using the rocks,” the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers’ president, Ann Snowden Johnson, told The Sun. “We had to hire a policeman two weekends ago to work alongside our security guard.”
Councilor LaPietra said he expects he and two other councilors, Bill Aiello and Joy Cordio, will write a letter expressing concerns to Westerly’s state senator, Victoria Gu, and possibly Sen. Reed. Depending on the feedback they get, he may also refer the issue to be placed on the agenda for the town council’s next meeting later this month. He said a special emergency meeting of the council is also possible.
Today, the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association’s website says the property is only accessible by land through a narrow private road by foot traffic only. The website says vehicle access is “permitted only for the handicapped and senior citizens.”
Sen. Gu said she was in contact with Reed’s office on Tuesday about the issue, and Reed’s staff assured her they will be involved in finalizing the terms of the agreement and ensure public access protections are included.
Reed’s office is defending the proposed transfer to the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association, or WHLKA, saying it’s in the interest of the public, and public access is “both a part of WHLKA’s mission and central to their National Park Service-approved application.”
“Senator Reed has reiterated to both WHKLA and GSA that continued public access must be central to a conveyance agreement. WHKLA also has a track record of keeping the area open to the public,” said a spokesperson for Reed’s office, Chip Unruh. “The alternative to a public conveyance is a sale to the highest private bidder, which would very likely have resulted in a far different outcome for public access.”
According to Reed’s office, the senator previously secured a $220,000 federal grant in 2019 to investigate and remediate lead hazards in the soil on the property.
In its organizational filings on the Rhode Island Secretary of State’s website, the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association’s purpose is listed as “preservation and maintenance” of the historic landmark. Construction of the first federal lighthouse on the peninsula was completed in 1807, according to the organization’s website. The current lighthouse was opened in 1856.
In the news release from Reed’s office, the association’s president, Ann Snowden Johnson, said the group “looks forward to advancing its mission to preserve and protect the structures and open park space for the enjoyment of the public and to providing enriching education about the importance of this site to all visitors.”
When the federal government announced in 2021 that the Watch Hill Lighthouse was up for proposals to be transferred to local entities, the town council at that time did not express interest in the property, and the current town manager, Shawn Lacey, who was interim manager at the time, submitted a personal letter to “strongly encourage” the federal government to transfer the property to the Watch Hill Lighthouse Keepers Association.
Lacey said, “I have witnessed first-hand the commitment this group has made to maintain the property over the past four decades and pledge the Town’s allegiance to work with them to maintain the high standards they have set.”
Alex Nunes can be reached at anunes@thepublicsradio.org
