PROVIDENCE (July 23, 2025)—Following last night’s Coastal Resources Management Council’s (CRMC) meeting, Save The Bay denounces the CRMC Council’s continued inability to get Quidnessett Country Club to remove its illegal seawall and restore the site. By granting another 30-day extension to submit yet another restoration plan, after the last five restoration plans have been received and rejected by the staff, the Council appears content with allowing a willful violation to continue without remedy.
“Nearly two years after CRMC’s staff issued a cease and desist order, the Council has yet to resolve the matter of the illegally-built 600ft seawall,” says Topher Hamblett, Executive Director for Save The Bay. “This should have gone before a hearing officer as soon as it was apparent that CRMC and Quidnessett could not agree on an immediate restoration after the original enforcement order was issued in August 2023. Instead, CRMC’s unaccountable, politically-appointed Council enabled a two-year stalemate by stalling on the enforcement order and entertaining a request to change the rules to the benefit of a politically-connected entity and to the detriment of Rhode Island’s public shoreline.”
Despite a new law passed last month to change the Council’s composition, the General Assembly has failed to address the agency’s broader structural problems and exercise oversight as the Council continues to violate its own rules. The result is a system that continues to delay enforcement and undermine public trust.
The appeal recently filed by Quidnessett in Superior Court will only extend the timeline, further harming Rhode Island’s coastal habitats and public access to the shore.
Save The Bay continues to advocate for comprehensive CRMC reform that includes removing the Council, leaving coastal decision-making to CRMC’s expert staff, and putting a full-time staff attorney in place to ensure that regulatory decisions are guided by law and science, not politics.
“We need true reform that dismantles the current council structure – not just rearranging its seats,” Hamblett said. “Rhode Islanders deserve a coastal agency that protects our natural resources without favor or delay.”
About Save The Bay
Founded in 1970, the Rhode Island-based nonprofit Save The Bay seeks to protect and improve Narragansett Bay and its 1,705-square-mile watershed. The organization works to achieve its vision of a fully swimmable, fishable Narragansett Bay, accessible to all, through its advocacy, education, and habitat restoration and adaptation work. Learn more about Save The Bay at www.savebay.org.