Court sides with Preservation Society over Breakers Welcome Center

HERE IS THE PROPOSED MAIN entry of the new welcome center at The Breakers.  / COURTESY PRESERVATION SOCIETY OF NEWPORT COUNTY
HERE IS THE PROPOSED MAIN entry of the new welcome center at The Breakers. / COURTESY PRESERVATION SOCIETY OF NEWPORT COUNTY

NEWPORT – The Preservation Society of Newport County has lauded a R.I. Supreme Court decision upholding a Zoning Board vote that approved the society’s application for the controversial Welcome Center to be constructed at the entrance of The Breakers.

The decision, released Monday, is an “important step” toward the construction of the center, according to a statement from the preservation society.

“We are pleased that the court agreed with the Superior Court that the Newport Zoning Board was the appropriate body to rule on the Preservation Society’s application for the welcome center, which the board approved by a 4-1 vote. As the Supreme Court noted in its decision, ‘after conducting evidentiary hearings and considering extensive testimony, exhibits, arguments and written submissions,’ the Zoning Board decided on January 5, 2015, that the welcome center was ‘in accord with the public convenience and welfare,’ ” the statement said.

The Bellevue-Ochre Point Neighborhood Association had appealed a Superior Court decision in favor of the preservation society on the matter. BOPNA representatives could not be reached for comment.

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BOPNA maintains that the center, at 3,650 square feet, is “too massive” and completing it would “constitute a significant alteration of the landscape of the Breakers,” according to its website. BOPNA said the Breakers, an iconic property symbolizing the Gilded Age in America, was built in the 1890s for the Vanderbilt family.

William Landry, a lawyer with the Providence firm Blish & Kavanagh LLP, who is representing the preservation society, said there is currently no timetable for construction of the Welcome Center, which according to the court opinion, would contain areas for ticket and refreshment sales, and restrooms.

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