Coastal Communities & Ecosystems

Ann Street Pier, located off Thames Street, offers public access to Newport Harbor.

Newport Harbor planning meets action
Newport has a harbor walk, but many people don’t know it. Improving, and better marking, public access was one of the objectives from a two-day waterfront workshop that took place in October 2007. Participants also expressed a sense that planning processes have taken place before, but that visible results have not always followed. With that in mind, the city of Newport, the Newport County Chamber of Commerce, the Alliance for a Livable Newport, and the American Institute of Architects, with assistance from the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center/Rhode Island Sea Grant (CRC/Sea Grant), are working to maintain the momentum of the public workshops and form an action plan that can be implemented on the ground to enhance the existing harbor walk. 
During the workshop, entitled “What Will Newport’s Waterfront Look Like in 2030?” participants determined that this effort should continue and focus on three objectives:

1. Create a continuous harbor walk that links all waterfront parcels and allows public access both laterally and along the shore.
2. Honor the working waterfront, maintain its relevance, and preserve its identity.
3. Develop mechanisms to bring public and private sector interests together to identify and work toward common goals for the waterfront.

At a follow-up meeting in June 2008, where the draft workshop summary report was presented, participants began to address implementing the strategies from the workshop. Newport’s Friends of the Waterfront organization has been installing public access signage along the harbor, and the workshop participants are supporting the continuation of that effort by organizing a public access/harbor walk committee. A landscape designer has volunteered to identify where problem spots exist along the harbor (such as areas where public wharves may appear to be private) and investigating design elements that may alleviate barriers to the continuity of the walk (e.g., disconnected roads). CRC/Sea Grant is working to help the group advance its plans for the harbor walk, including creating an accurate base map for the harbor with information on shoreline rights-of-way and permitted wharves. For more information, including the summary report, visit seagrant.gso.uri.edu/ccd/aisamp/newport_harbor.html.