PROVIDENCE – A coalition of coastal property owners have filed a lawsuit challenging Rhode Island’s recently updated shoreline access law which designates the area 10 feet inland from the “seaweed line” as publicly accessible land.
The lawsuit, filed by Rhode Island Association of Coastal Taxpayers against R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council executive director Jeffrey Willis, argues that the legislation unlawfully takes property from shoreline landowners.
Federal and State Nursing Home Staffing Mandates
Staffing has always been an ongoing challenge in the long-term care industry. However, since the…
Learn More
“The government can’t take private property without paying for it, and this basic principle applies even when the government pursues popular goals, like public access,” said J. David Breemer, an attorney with the Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing RIACT without charge.
“Rhode Island’s new beach expansion law is clearly unconstitutional as a taking of private property,” Breemer continued.
RIACT filed the legal challenge in the U.S. District Court’s Rhode Island region.
Debate over this boundary has stirred conflict between coastal access advocates and property owners for years.
A 1982 Rhode Island Supreme Court decision set “mean high tide line” as the boundary between public and private shoreline property. However, coastal experts argued that marker is hard to determine because of dynamic shifts from both wind and wave energy can sometimes push water over the mean high tide line to a knee-deep level.
The CRMC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
Greedy homeowners.
Greedy homeowners? How would you like it if the state took 10 feet of your property that you pay yearly taxes on with no compensation? Eminent domain at least compensates the private owner for taking of private property. This is unconstitutional and illegal. Enjoy this while it lasts…