By Tim
Faulkner/ecoRI News staff
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| RI Sea Grant - URI photo |
Matunuck Beach Road in South Kingstown continues to be a test case for climate crisis adaptation.
In 2012, the Coastal Resources
Management Council (CRMC) made a controversial decision
to approve a 202-foot-long sheet-metal wall for protecting a portion of the
vulnerable shoreline road.
After weeks of contentious hearings, the coastal zoning agency reversed its own decision to approve the manmade barrier. Opponents argued that the structure would cause more environmental harm along the rapidly retreating beach, while setting a precedent for further manmade hardening of Rhode Island’s coast.
Ecosystems, they argued, should be managed with natural materials or allowed unhindered movement, especially as flooding and storms intensify.
After weeks of contentious hearings, the coastal zoning agency reversed its own decision to approve the manmade barrier. Opponents argued that the structure would cause more environmental harm along the rapidly retreating beach, while setting a precedent for further manmade hardening of Rhode Island’s coast.
Ecosystems, they argued, should be managed with natural materials or allowed unhindered movement, especially as flooding and storms intensify.
As it did in 2012, CRMC agreed on
Nov. 12 with South Kingstown’s reasoning that protecting the road is necessary
to maintain the only thoroughfare to an isolated neighborhood of 240 homes and
handful of businesses.
The first seawall, completed in
2018, set in motion a multiphase plan to protect the road and waterfront
buildings. Phase 2, approved Nov. 12, extends the sheet-metal wall 350 feet.
A third phase, approved by CRMC in 2016, allows the owner of the Ocean Mist tavern, Kevin Finnegan, to build a 530-foot-long, 14-foot-high protective barrier in front of his waterfront business. Rather than use metal or stone, the new wall will be made of giant sand-filled plastic bags.
A third phase, approved by CRMC in 2016, allows the owner of the Ocean Mist tavern, Kevin Finnegan, to build a 530-foot-long, 14-foot-high protective barrier in front of his waterfront business. Rather than use metal or stone, the new wall will be made of giant sand-filled plastic bags.
The project essentially moves an
illegal seawall behind the Ocean Mist to the front of the tavern, where the
beach has eroded significantly and water now flows under an elevated deck.
The space between the front of the deck and the road will be filled, moving the manmade shoreline further into the water. The project has been on hold while the town negotiates a sale of the waterfront area to Finnegan.
Save The Bay testified against
extending the sheet-metal wall, writing in a letter that “hardening the
shoreline is not a viable response to the impacts of climate change.”
The initial wall is making erosion worse by increasing wave energy, and reduces public access to the waterfront, according to the Providence-based organization.
The initial wall is making erosion worse by increasing wave energy, and reduces public access to the waterfront, according to the Providence-based organization.
The environmental advocacy and
education group noted that the roadway hardening is a patchwork and “a
shortsighted and ineffective response to the daunting impacts of sea level
rise, coastal erosion and increasing storm intensity.”
Save The Bay called for a more
deliberate plan to address the problem that should include “moving away from
the shoreline.”
Approving Phase 2 also goes against
CRMC’s management practices policies and its Shoreline
Change Special Area Management Plan.
The Matunuck Beach Trailer
Association also objected, writing in a letter that the seawall will worsen
flooding behind the wall and speed up erosion along part of the shoreline owned
by the mobile home community, which is located across the street from the wall.
Its members are concerned that the wall will also restrict access to the
shoreline.
South Kingstown’s assistant
solicitor, Andrew Teitz, noted that the project isn’t intended to hold back
hurricanes and answer the climate crisis.
The wall, he said, is expected to be overtopped by waves during major storms and the road will flood and become covered with sand and rocks.
Rather, he said, the project is a 25-year fix to preserve the buried water main and protect the foundation of the road so that it can be cleared and reopened after storms.
The wall, he said, is expected to be overtopped by waves during major storms and the road will flood and become covered with sand and rocks.
Rather, he said, the project is a 25-year fix to preserve the buried water main and protect the foundation of the road so that it can be cleared and reopened after storms.
“We’re trying to protect public
infrastructure,” Teitz said.
Engineers testified that there is no
room to relocate the road. South Kingstown Police Capt. Mark Healey testified
that the road is necessary for first responders to reach the neighborhood.
The CRMC board approved the project,
7-0. Board member Jerry Sahagian abstained from the vote. Sahagian was angered
that a gate allowing public access to the beach had been locked despite
promises by the town years ago that it would be open.
The sheet-pile wall will be buried
mostly below ground. It will stand 4 feet about ground, with a concrete cap and
a stone wall at its base. There will be a 20-foot-wide gap in the wall to allow
flood waters to return to open waters in Block Island Sound.