The embattled Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council was dealt another blow last week after a Superior Court judge tossed one of its most high-profile and controversial decisions because the panel violated its own procedures.
The 48-page order from Associate Justice Joseph Montalbano reopens the longstanding battle between acclaimed restaurateur and oyster farmer Perry Raso and nearby property owners, remanding the case back to the council for additional public hearings and consideration.
Raso, originally known for the now-closed Matunuck Oyster Bar, sought to expand his shellfish empire with a scallop farm in Potter Pond in South Kingstown. The expansion spawned public outcry by property residents who argued the shellfish beds would interfere with recreational boating, fishing and other activities within the cove. A five-year standoff ended in June 2023, when the coastal agency’s appointed panel approved a scaled-down version of Raso’s original proposal, cutting 40% of the acreage and banning floating cages. The council later signed off on further modifications submitted by Raso that changed the size, layout and position of the submerged scallop nets.
Two sets of property owners took their case to the judiciary, filing two separate lawsuits in Providence County Superior Court in September 2024, later consolidated into a single case. The property owners, through their attorneys, again argued the scallop beds interfered with their ability to enjoy the cove — a point Montalbano rejected in his order.
However, Montalbano, who is on track to become the court’s presiding justice, found credence in the plaintiffs’ arguments over process. Specifically, he said the council flouted its own rules by failing to fully explain the rationale for its decision, which contradicted the recommendation from a smaller subcommittee that gave a preliminary, and more comprehensive, review. The council also violated its procedures by failing to give public notice or opportunity for additional public input in the “substantial” revisions Raso submitted after the final vote.
Montalbano rejected the property owners’ push to require the agency adopt the subcommittee recommendation, which would have rejected the scallop farm altogether. But, he agreed that the changes to the project and the statutory slip-ups required a do-over.
Montalbano’s order mandates the council hold a new public hearing on the revised scallop farm proposal, with a chance for formally recognized opponents to present new evidence.
Attorneys representing the two sets of property owners did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday afternoon.
An anonymous March 27 post on the Save Potter Pond website, part of the resident opposition campaign, described the court order as a “clear win” for project opponents.
“While we would have preferred that the judge outright forbid the farm, returning the proposal to the CRMC is the next best outcome, certainly better than allowing CRMC’s previous decision to stand,” the post reads. “The CRMC will now be compelled to explain why it ignored its own subcommittee’s recommendation to deny the farm a permit, why it ignored the abundant evidence that the farm would adversely impact other water based activities in the cove, why the Council looked the other way with respect to the many safety issues raised by the farm, and why, finally, the Council ignored its own regulations and administrative procedures in an attempt to jam this project through.”
Raso, who has since launched a new dining venture in South Kingstown, Matunuck Atelier, after a fire permanently closed his original eatery in May 2025, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Laura Dwyer, a spokesperson for the coastal agency, declined to comment.
Coastal Resources Management Council Executive Director Jeffrey Willis, right, reviews the application for Perry Raso, owner of Matunuck Oyster Bar, to add a new aquaculture farm in Potter Pond, at a meeting on June 13, 2023. At left is Council Chairman Ray Coia. (Photo by Nancy Lavin/Rhode Island Current)
A troubling pattern
The coastal regulatory agency has been forced to revisit several of its controversial decisions after state courts found it ran afoul of its own rules.
Among the most high-profile incidents previously: the proposed expansion of Champlin’s Marina on Block Island, which the council approved in 2020 following a series of closed-door negotiations between attorneys for the marina and the agency. The Rhode Island Supreme Court struck down the decision in 2022, siding with a state Superior Court judge who declared the council failed to meet requirements around public input and transparency in its decision making.
Also in 2022, a Providence County Superior Court judge tossed a four-year-old council decision rejecting a proposed oyster farm in Barrington on the grounds that the council failed to allow the applicant to cross-examine project opponents. Forced to revisit the application anew in 2023, the council approved the oyster farm proposed in upper Narragansett Bay.
In 2025, a state judge ordered the council to take a fresh look at a 2020 decision authorizing the expansion of a Jamestown boat yard. It has yet to reconsider the case.
Quidnessett Country Club has also alleged in a pending legal claim that the agency violated procedure in refusing to refer the dispute over a rock wall built without permission along the country club’s shoreline to the council’s hearing officer. The hearing officer position was created to oversee contested cases.
Save the Bay, a vocal critic of the council, pointed to the latest court decision as evidence in support of its push to abolish the panel and reshape the agency with administrative leaders.
“The Council continues to violate the law and make procedural blunders,” Topher Hamblett, Save the Bay executive director, said in a statement. “Here we are, in 2026, and the Court has instructed the Council to redo hearings on an aquaculture application submitted over eight years ago, but this time, to follow its own rules. Judicial reversals of Council decisions with orders to ‘do it again, but the right way’ erode the public’s trust, hamper orderly review of coastal permits and negatively impact Rhode Island’s business climate. How bad does this have to get for the General Assembly to take meaningful action?”
Legislation introduced in both chambers of the General Assembly and backed by Save the Bay, calls for merging the coastal agency into the state’s Department of Environmental Management, carving out a designated coastal resources bureau with its own deputy director and staff. The companion bills, sponsored by Rep. Jay Edwards of Tiverton and Sen. Mark McKenney of Warwick, have not been scheduled for preliminary committee hearings as of Wednesday.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
