Coastweeks

About

We want to thank our partners and all of the community members who joined us last for the East Beach Walking Tour, discussing lateral access issues to the shoreline.⁠

“The seaweed line plus the 10 feet gives the public more access than they have had [if not for the Supreme Court ruling in 1982],” said Sen. Mark McKenney during the tour. He was referring to the case State v. Ibbison, which determined the boundary for public access was set at the mean high water (MHW) line–a near-invisible line that required nearly 20 years of data to accurately place. ⁠

McKenney, who sponsored the recent bill that was passed, originally wanted the boundary to extend all the way to the vegetation. “All in all, what we passed this year is a very realistic and discernible and usable, workable boundary,” he said despite continued conflict with homeowners and a recent lawsuit that was dismissed.⁠
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McKenney was joined by other speakers who discussed how data was collected and used, aspects of a changing shoreline, and challenges moving forward.⁠

Janet Freedman, a @URI_CoastalInstitute senior fellow and retired CRMC coastal geologist, discussed sand dune and coastal ecology and how that interacts with the new law, along with challenges for the future because the shore is changing, which means so is the mean high tide line.
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“It moves all the time,” said Nathan Vinhateiro, @URI_CoastalInstitute Science Director.⁠in a report by the Westerly Sun. “Because this is not what the beach looks like all the time.”⁠
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Speakers & Partnres:⁠

• RI Senator Mark McKenney
• ⁠Janet Freedman, Nathan Vinhateiro @uri_coastalinstitute⁠
  
• Emily Hall, Laura Miguel, Leah Feldman @ri_CRMC