by: Kate Wilkinson, WPRI12
PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (WPRI) — Owning a home with a waterfront view may be a dream for many, but some people living on these properties are being confronted with the nightmare of climate change.
The Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) is charged with determining what can and can’t be built along Rhode Island’s shore. But some homeowners are willing to challenge state regulators, if it means keeping their home.
Anne-Marie Corbett moved into her Portsmouth home along the Sakonnet River in 2018. She said trying to protect her property from erosion has proven costly.
“Those three times put together came to in excess almost $500,000,” Corbett recalled.
Corbett said she started receiving fines from the CRMC when she moved in. The agency wanted her to take down a seawall the previous homeowners had built because it was along conservation waters.
“If you didn’t pay that fine, then they would put a lien on your house,” Corbett said.
Corbett took down the wall, but after she did, stormwaters destroyed her backyard.
“We lost 30 feet of property that just went into the water,” she said.
As a result, Corbett decided to build her own wall, and now she’s part of a class action lawsuit against the CRMC to keep it.
Her attorney, Michael Kelly, argues the CRMC violated Corbett’s right to protect her property.
“What do they do then? Let the house get taken and fall into the river? I don’t think so,” Kelly said.
The CRMC declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.RELATED: RI lawmakers debate multiple Coastal Resources Management Council reform bills
In the meantime, Kelly said his office obtained records from the CRMC which show nine properties have faced similar seawall violations between 2022 and 2024.
But Topher Hamblett, the executive director of local environmental group Save the Bay, said seawalls are only a temporary fix that harm wildlife and neighboring properties.
“Erosion gets worse on either side of the seawall and over time, the energy of the sea and of the waves actually undercuts the wall beneath it,” he explained…