
NEW SHOREHAM – Despite a state Supreme Court ruling, the Committee for the Great Salt Pond is still concerned that the assent granted by the R.I. Costal Resources Management Council could permit a Block Island marina to expand its dockage.
The CRMC provided the assent for expansion to Champlin’s Marina during a closed session mediation on Dec. 29, 2020. Assent could allow the marina to expand its dockage 156 feet into the Great Salt Pond to satisfy the addition of about 150 slips.
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The popular 250-slip marina has been trying to expand its dockage since 2003 but been previously denied by the CRMC. The property was purchased by the Procaccianti Cos. on Dec. 23 from owner Joseph Grillo, who had owned it since 1986.
On March 26, the Supreme Court rejected an attempt by Champlin’s to “incorporate and merge” the CRMC’s and Champlin’s memorandum of understanding into a consent order before the court. The ruling means that the CRMC’s assent cannot be used in Champlin’s appeal of Superior Court Judge Kristin E. Roger’s denial for marina expansion in February of 2020, which is still sitting before the Supreme Court.
Despite that, conservancy groups on Block Island in opposition to the expansion are concerned about what the CRMC’s permission given to the marina could mean. The groups have called the agreement reached between the CRMC and Champlin’s Marina via mediation behind closed doors as a “shady backroom deal.”
Attorney General Peter F. Neronha’s office filed a motion with the supreme court arguing that the court should reject the CRMC’s tacit approval during a closed-door executive session meeting on Dec. 29, 2020. The attorney general’s office said the settlement approval was problematic in that it “was non-transparent,” and absent of the requisite supportive findings of fact.
Robert Goldberg, attorney for Champlin’s Marina, said the Supreme Court is not the appropriate venue to rule on the matter, and its ruling had no bearing on the CRMC’s approval of the assent for marina expansion.
Henry duPont, founding director of the Committee for the Great Salt Pond, said that Goldberg’s comments are “provocative.” Dupont said Goldberg’s comments “fly in the face” of the attorney general’s argument that the CRMC did not operate in transparent fashion with granting its closed-door approval. The CRMC provides public hearings so that parties can weigh in on an application.
“And any decision the CRMC makes, as part of its own rules, has to be backed up by facts,” noted duPont. “So, they have to publish those facts that led to the decision at the time of the decision.” He added, “The minutes from that meeting have been sealed.”
DuPont said the group’s attorney, R. Daniel Prentiss, filed a public records request with the CRMC, but the documents have not yet been furnished. “The CRMC is supposed to provide the records within two weeks,” said duPont. “It’s been over two weeks – and no response, nothing.”
DuPont also said his group declined to join the mediation between Champlin’s and the CRMC because they believed without their participation that a settlement would not be approved.
“It’s a giant distraction to what is at hand,” said duPont of the CRMC’s mediation settlement. “Mercifully, we’re back to the supreme court’s defending of the superior court’s decision” in ruling for denial of the expansion. “We will prevail with that,” he said.
DuPont noted that the Supreme Court pointed out in its order that “what’s before them is a very narrow appeal that Judge Rogers made an error, either in law or in procedure, saying that should be appealable.” If the Supreme Court rules that there was an error then the case would be remanded back to the Superior Court for the judge to rectify the error, he said.
“But guess what?” said duPont. “That doesn’t mean Champlin’s gets to expand their marina out of the deal.”
DuPont said his group is concerned about the CRMC’s assent. “The next thing that needs to happen is CRMC to rescind their assent that they gave in the Dec. 29 meeting,” he said. “If you look at the footnotes of the Supreme Court’s decision, it says that was never filed with Champlin’s briefs. So, we don’t know what they have permission to do.”
Regardless of the court’s ruling, duPont said the question is, “Does the CRMC assent mean Champlin’s has permission to expand its dockage? That is the giant disconnect here. That is what Goldberg is saying. He is saying whatever the supreme court decides isn’t important because we already have permission to build out our marina.”
“I think Neronha will have some issue with that, because he said the assent was arrived at without any transparency, which is absolutely required,” said duPont.
As for next steps, duPont said his committee is seeking two things: (1) support of the Superior Court decision against appeal; and (2) to seek CRMC reform so this never happens again. The committee is asserting that Champlin’s cannot enter any new evidence into proceedings, and the CRMC can’t grant approvals without public hearings.
“We’re going to Superior Court on April 19 to resolve two issues – that the closed-door assent surpassed the Superior Court’s authority to uphold the CRMC’s denial of their expansion request, and, secondly, we did not get the CRMC’s response for our request for public records,” said duPont.
Following Friday’s Supreme Court ruling, Attorney General Neronha’s office issued the following statement:
“I am pleased with the court’s decision to refuse to ratify and enter as an order of the court an agreement resulting from a private mediation outside the view and without the participation of concerned stakeholders who had long been parties to the underlying litigation. My office intervened because the process utilized here by the CRMC and Champlain’s was nontransparent, excluded these important additional stakeholders, and resulted in an agreement that failed to contain the environmental findings necessary to protect one of Rhode Island’s great natural resources – Block Island’s Great Salt Pond.”
“I am grateful that the Supreme Court agreed with our position, and that this matter will now proceed as it always should have – with the court’s review of the Superior Court’s well-reasoned decision denying Champlain’s marina expansion.”
Cassius Shuman is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Shuman@PBN.com.