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| Preserving PUBLIC ACCESS by Darryl J. Paquette, Esq. |
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| We can have the most
pristine Bay on earth, but the question we must ask ourselves is, “What
good is it if the public cannot get to it?" |
| Rhode Islanders have traditionally enjoyed
the right to access the waters of the state. This right has been
memorialized in Article I, Section 17 of the state constitution, which
provides that, “The people shall continue to enjoy and freely exercise all
the rights of fishery, and the privileges of the shore, to which they have
been heretofore entitled.” But as commercial, industrial, and residential
uses of the shores of Narragansett Bay increase, a wall of development
on the Bay’s edge obstructs the view of the water and access to the publicly-owned
shore. Although the right to pass along the shore is a legally protected one, the most difficult aspect of public access often becomes the act of getting to the waters edge via a public right-of-way. Often, the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) bronze medallions that identify designated rights-of-way turn up missing shortly after they are installed. It seems that the owners of waterfront property do not want strangers in the vicinity of their homes. This is mainly the result of the fact that, in the words of one long-time access advocate, “The public ain’t pretty.” |
COMMON SIGHT
The public boat ramp at Ogen Ave in Warwick is marked as a right of way, with "No Parking Either side" signs |
| Many waterfront communities have struggled
for years with balancing the public’s right to the shore with the mess
that is often left behind. The Town of Jamestown recently considered
restricting fishing access for this very same reason, and the pier at the
URI Bay Campus has been closed to the public do to safety concerns. The CRMC is the state governmental entity that is tasked with the responsibility of identifying and preserving public rights-of-way to the state’s waters. In recent years, restricted funding has prevented the CRMC from committing adequate resources to the carry out this mandate. As a result, private property owners have become brazen in their attempts to restrict the public from the shore. Recent letters to the editor of the Providence Journal have chronicled the exploits of south shore property owners and their attempts at restricting public access to “their” beach. Fishermen exercising their constitutional rights have been removed by police from traditional fishing spots along Newport’s Cliff Walk. Owners of a marina, also in Newport, have erected gates across a CRMC designated public right-of-way. With CRMC unable to commit adequate resources to the establishment and enforcement of public rights-of-way, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of individual citizens and local advocacy organizations. Unfortunately in recent years, state-wide environmental groups, instead of advocating for these necessary access points, have turned their attention to fundraising from the same well-healed waterfront property owners who often attempt to restrict public access to the state’s waters. Public access will continue to be a balancing act between public and private rights, but the fact that must continue to ground the discussion is this — access to the waters of the State of Rhode Island is a constitutionally protected right. We can have the most pristine Bay on earth, but the question we must ask ourselves is, “What good is it if the public cannot get to it?” ABOUT THE AUTHOR...
Darryl J. Paquette is a member of RISSA and
a land use attorney specializing in environmental advocacy, and President
of Friends of the Waterfront, a local watchdog group that has been fighting
to protect the public’s right to the Newport waterfront since 1982. |
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