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| 6 ARNOLD ROAD, COVENTRY, RHODE ISLAND 02816 |
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| from the JULY, 2008 newsletter |
| Plum Point legislation passes General Assembly in final hours New provisions now guarantee public access to the shore |
| The attempts to squash a future Jamestown Bridge fishing pier at Plum Point by a few area neighbors,
actually resulted in modified legislation that left the door open for a pier in the future,
and also added additional wording that guarantees the public's access to that shoreline. Local NIMBY's, with a made-up official sounding name of the North Kingstown Coastal Preservation Association, convinced the N.K. Town Council, Senator James Sheehan and Representative Kenneth Carter, that a fishing pier at the site would become a "battering ram" in a hurricane and knock down the Jamestown-Verrazzano Bridge. It was a poorly veiled attempt to kill the fishing pier. Legislation was introduced that required the removal of the last remaining section of the old bridge which, by law, was to have been made into a fishing pier. During a hearing of the House Committee on the Environment, RISAA officials agreed that the old section might need to come down, since it had been allowed to fall into total disrepair by D.O.T. for the past 20 years, and was no longer cost-effective to refurbish; but RISAA requested that if it was allowed to amend the current law and remove the old bridge section, the law should be further amended to allow for the building of a new fishing pier, and in the very least, ensure that the public didn't lose access to the shore at Plum Point. Several members of the Environment Committee agreed that public access should not be lost. The bill was "held for further study" in both the House and Senate, and remained in committee. Approximately a week before the General Assembly session ended, Rep. Jan Malik, Chairman of the House Environment Committee contacted RISAA President Steve Medeiros and offered to negotiate an agreement to get the legislation moved out of Committee. He acknowledged that this was a contentious issue, but that he was in favor of public access and preferred to see a compromise bill move forward than see it die and have nothing happen. The reality of a General Assembly that was facing a huge budget shortfall, did not make it feasible to get a new fishing pier built at this time. Several suggestions and options were discussed, and Medeiros repeated the previous insistence that the public not loose access to the Plum Point area. Calls were made to DEM, and the RISAA Board and Fishing Piers Committee discussed options. A compromise proposal was worked out and agreed upon. It allowed the Dept. of Transportation to tear down the remaining bridge section, mandated that the parking lot be constructed, mandated shore access to Plum Point and left the door open for a pier and/or other structures there in the future. With the help of Rep. Malik and other House Environment Committee members, it passed committee, and then passed the full House with an overwhelming vote of 50 to 3! Then, on the final days of the Session, it passed the Senate Environment Committee and the full Senate. As of this writing, it only requires the signature of the Governor. RISAA didn't like the last-minute section (d) which was added in after agreeing to the new wording, and it was obviously a "bone" thrown to the Plum Point neighborhood, but the careful wording did not mandate night closure, only suggests it's possibility in the future. The full text of the legislation is available HERE |
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