On a sunny morning in June, Ellen Kane walks along Quonochontaug Barrier Beach in Westerly. The waves crash on the shore and the wind picks up strands of her hair. But she doesn’t have all day to enjoy the view — when the clock hits 9 a.m., she’s supposed to get off the beach.
The main path to the beach is owned by the Weekapaug Fire District, which represents the homeowners in the southeast corner of Westerly. The boardwalk is members-only from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the summertime.
“You'll be astonished that people think that it's just fine for them to commandeer such a huge beach,” Kane said. “It's so largely empty. What's the point of that?”
Kane is one of many activists engaged in a fight to open a public path to the beach. They’ve set their sights on one spot in particular: a 50-foot-wide piece of land known as Spring Avenue, located next to the private boardwalk.
In recent years, an expensive legal conflict has escalated over this plot of land. Activists say a public path once existed on Spring Avenue, but has since been blocked by a fence and vegetation. The Weekapaug Fire District says they own the land and there’s no public right of way. And both say that the evidence is on their side.
It is one of many disputes roiling coastal communities across the state. In towns like Westerly, Narragansett, and Charlestown, public meetings and beachfront properties have become battlegrounds over who controls the Rhode Island shore.
Weekapaug: Spring Avenue is private property
Weekapaug Fire District is a small government within Westerly: it contracts for fire protection, has meetings, and raises taxes. The district contains some of the most expensive properties in the state — with dozens of homes valued at $4 million, and some exceeding $10 million, according to estimates from Zillow.
The Weekapaug Fire District has spent more than $600,000 on legal counsel for shoreline access cases in recent years, according to documents obtained by The Public’s Radio.
“We are fighting for private property rights,” said Bob McCann, a Weekapaug resident and former head of the fire district. (McCann was the head of the Weekapaug Fire District at the time of our interview.)
Weekapaug has argued that the land has been privately held for more than a hundred years, and that dozens of private easements on the property show that it is privately owned and controlled.
"The proponents are attempting to speak a right of way into existence," Joseph Farside, an attorney representing the Weekapaug Fire District, wrote in a statement.
Shoreline activists have different view
“I think there's very clear body of evidence saying that it is a public right of way,” Kane said.
Kane and a group of shoreline activists point to maps and photos, that they say demonstrate that a public path was planned on Spring Avenue and used for years before it was blocked.
Kane also points out that public parking spaces line the street in front of Spring Avenue.
“The fire district cannot logically sensibly say that there were public parking spaces … only for people to listen to the sound of the waves,” she said.
Conflict escalates in court
Ultimately, the fate of a potential public path will be decided in hearings and court.
The case is currently being heard before the Coastal Resource Management Council (CRMC), a state agency that determines rights of way. The dispute has attracted the attention of Attorney General Peter Neronha, who has joined the shoreline activist side of the case.
The Weekapaug Fire District has also filed suit in Rhode Island’s superior court to block the CRMC from making a decision over the Spring Avenue case.
"We're not going to stop," McCann said in response to questions about how much Weekapaug is willing to spend litigating the case. "We are going to be in this until we prevail."
ACLU, activists criticize 'intimidating' tactic
Weekapaug has faced criticism from advocates and the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union for employing "intimidating" tactics in their pursuit of the Spring Avenue case.
In December 2023, the fire district took legal action against Caroline Contrata, a beach access advocate who hired an attorney to help argue the Spring Avenue case before the CRMC.
Weekapaug was criticized for sending letters to people who donated to Contrata's GoFundMe page for legal expenses, saying they could be deposed. The fire district eventually dropped Contrata from the lawsuit.
McCann, the former moderator of the fire district, defended those tactics as the fire district’s legal team looking out for the best interests of Weekapaug property owners.
Update: Kane may face subpoena
Since Kane first spoke out about Spring Avenue on Rhode Island PBS Weekly, the Weekapaug Fire District wrote to the opposing attorneys in the case, expressing interest in deposing her and asking if the other side planned to make her available for questioning.
“It's kind of their scorched earth policy of trying to intimidate anybody from speaking on behalf of designation of that as a public right away,” Kane said.
"We have no intention of taking any legal action against Ms. Kane, we have simply expressed an interest in taking her deposition (interview under oath)," attorney Joseph Farside wrote when asked for comment.
Michael Rubin, one of the attorneys arguing for public access at Spring Avenue, said he responded that he was not adding Kane as a witness. A spokesperson for the CRMC said this past week the agency has no record of the Weekapaug Fire District seeking a subpoena for Kane.
“That’s where it stands,” Kane said. “I haven’t heard from the fire district and hopefully won’t.”
