WARWICK — Both the current and former town managers for New Shoreham took the stand Friday morning at the R.I. Division of Public Utilities and Carriers as part of the town’s case to try and prove Rhode Island Fast Ferry doesn’t have a realistic expectation to construct docking in Old Harbor for its own fast ferry service.
The hearing was part of a continuing ongoing battle between Rhode Island Fast Ferry, based in Quonset Point in North Kingstown, the town of New Shoreham and Interstate Navigation Co., the ferry company that operates Block Island Ferry out of Narragansett, Newport and Fall River.
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In September 2016, DPUC approved Rhode Island Fast Ferry’s application to operate a seasonal fast ferry from Quonset Point to Block Island after a three-plus-year battle with New Shoreham and Interstate.
Both Interstate and New Shoreham jointly filed an appeal of DPUC’s ruling in state Superior Court. The matter was later remanded back to the DPUC based on New Shoreham’s allegations that Bluewater LLC’s proposal before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers couldn’t go forward without New Shoreham’s consent as a “non-federal sponsor” and that Rhode Island Fast Ferry allegedly changed the plans with the Army Corps without the town’s consent.
In June 2017, the DPUC ruled it would not revisit the docking matter after holding a conference at the Division’s offices based on “insufficient justification” to do so, according to the June 30 ruling by hearing officer John Spirito. However, New Shoreham argued in Superior Court the hearing wasn’t recorded and the court ordered the hearing to be held again – which was Friday – with a recorder present.
New Shoreham solicitor Katherine Merolla reiterated Friday the town’s position it believes there is “no realistic expectation” of Bluewater obtaining a docking facility in Old Harbor and claimed Bluewater’s alleged new plans “bypassed” the town’s property, which was “different from the original.” Donadio’s legal team – led by Alan Shoer – denies those claims, as well as asserting there was “no material change” of legal consequence in the plans put before the DPUC back in 2015 and a pending proposal is before the Army Corps and the state Coastal Resource Management Council “today.”
Bluewater is proposing two docks in Old Harbor, Merrolla said, one in the northern ell of the red breakwater and one in the east breakwater. New Shoreham town manager Edward Roberge testified Bluewater’s proposed docks would block the town’s docks in the northern ell at Old Harbor, making it difficult for the town to maintain the docks and the red breakwater.
“You need to crane or get large equipment on barges to get in there,” Roberge said. “That’s the difficulty of blocking that off to maintain. If there’s a failure of the base, you have to maintain it, which will be difficult if blocked.”
When asked if whether CRMC submitted a denial to Bluewater and Rhode Island Fast Ferry for its plans, Roberge said he “wasn’t aware of one.” Merrolla later presented documentation from CRMC, which she said the town received Thursday and was first heard by all parties at Friday’s hearing. The CRMC granted New Shoreham a 50-year lease for the red stone breakwater structure on April 1, 2012, and the applicant “does not have riparian preferences … to the tidal water area” and would “require consent of the town for structures or activities in the area.”
Former town manager Nancy Dodge later testified she “was familiar” of Bluewater filing applications with the Army Corps for its docking while she was manager, but wasn’t sure if there was a “formal application.”
“I’m not clear on the time frame; it was two years ago,” Dodge said.
Dodge then testified it was the policy of the town council to “object” to those plans. Attorney Jay Hall then asked if there was nothing pending with the Army Corps, what would the town object to. Dodge responded there were matters before the DPUC that “would then lead to something.”
“So you would admit that any objections made by the town in any administrative proceeding that it’s an admission there’s a process going forward?” Hall asked.
“From the town’s standpoint, there would be many times where we would have conversations once the council decided on a policy as to where we were going to go and what was going to become,” Dodge answered.
Merrolla was granted a continuance of the hearing until Wednesday due to New Shoreham’s building official being unable to make Friday’s hearing to testify because the weather prompted early flights off the island to be cancelled. Bluewater owner Paul Filippi is also expected to testify Wednesday.
James Bessette is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Research@PBN.com.
