Restore our Spring Avenue Right-of-Way

My name is Caroline Contrata. I am a long-time beachgoer who grew disheartened when ropes went up blocking the spot at East Beach in Watch Hill Rhode Island where I had placed my towel for decades. When asked to help with the Spring Avenue Right of Way elsewhere in the town of Westerly, RI, I said yes.

There is a David-versus-Goliath battle approaching in mid-June. A small group of volunteers is fighting to remove a fence and restore the public’s access to the beach via Spring Avenue Right-of-Way. The local Fire District (a glorified neighborhood association with a state charter) wants the fence to continue in place to block the public right-of-way.

In this particular area of Westerly, Rhode Island, known as Weekapaug, the public right-of-way leads to two miles of a pristine barrier beach. Presently, summer access is blocked so that only residents of the Fire District and guests of the fancy Weekapaug Inn can use it. The Weekapaug Fire District claims it as their private beach and hires security guards who check for Weekapaug beach identification buttons and tell the fishermen and the early morning beach walkers to leave: "This is the private beach of the Weekapaug Fire District.”

It wasn’t always this way. Many generations of beach-goers used the right-of-way, “Even before its first summer house was built, it (the beach at Weekapaug) had a wide local reputation as a picnic rendezvous…. The spot was unsurpassed….” (Providence Journal August 4, 1912) Families visited Noyes Beach, as it was known, as long as 150 years ago to picnic, swim, and fish. Even longer ago, Ben Franklin fished off the pile of rocks there known as The Clump.

As the area became more exclusive, the Weekapaug Fire District acquired and consolidated many smaller parcels thereby providing separate access to its members. This made the public right-of-way unnecessary for the private members of the Fire District, but the public still relied on the old route.

Then, just a few decades ago, an unknown person put a chain-link fence across the right-of-way to keep nonresidents off the beach.

It is time to take down the fence. It is blocking the right-of-way for the people of Westerly and beyond.

I am asking the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council to have the fence removed so that the public can go to the foreshore of the beach. The Fire District is spending an enormous amount of money on lawyers to continue to restrict access. I have an unpaid attorney fighting to restore our right to access the shore.

The case being assembled also incorporates evidence that was diligently gathered and submitted to the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council by members of the public. The hearing is approaching quickly in mid-June. My volunteer attorney, a retired Assistant Attorney General, Mike Rubin, has a small, hardworking group of volunteers who are preparing for the hearing. They are joined by another unpaid attorney, New England School of Law Professor Sean Lyness. Save the Bay, a nonprofit organization, has generously provided much support for this undertaking.

I spent last summer scouring Westerly and beyond for Spring Avenue Right-of-Way beachgoers. My attorney needs to depose these citizens as witnesses. Some are too old, or live too far away, to testify in person at the hearing. A few need to spend an overnight in a hotel because they are from out-of-state. Attorneys Rubin and Lyness need to create exhibits to show that the right-of-way is public. The deposition stenographers need to be paid. Attorney Rubin estimates expenses of $5,200 dollars.

The Spring Ave Right-of-Way is the only way for the public to reach this stretch of pristine shoreline. With your help, we can all reach the public trust portion of the beach.

Please help. Share this cause widely and donate what you can. Any funds remaining after expenses will be donated to Save the Bay. Thank you to all donors for your support.