RI AG sues Quidnessett over rock wall built without permission
By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
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| A man fishes along the shoreline immediately north of the rock wall built without permission by the Quidnessett Country Club in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. The attorney general’s office sued the country club over the wall on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Save the Bay) |
The state’s top prosecutor is stepping in to try to force Quidnessett Country Club to remove a rock wall built without permission along its shoreline more than three years ago.
The complaint filed Tuesday by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha’s office comes after years of unsuccessful efforts by state coastal regulators to negotiate with the country club owners and later, pursue legal action against them for the rock wall built in defiance of state coastal regulations.
The 600-foot stone wall was built along the shoreline of the North Kingstown country club in early 2023 — though not flagged by regulators until that summer — to protect the 14th hole of its signature golf course from coastal erosion. But state coastal regulations restrict development along sensitive and species-rich waters like the section of waterfront in question, a violation the Rhode Island Coastal Resource Management Council (CRMC) has sought to have corrected.
Yet the wall remains, each day worsening the delicate ecosystem that surrounds it and inhibiting the state’s constitutionally enshrined public access to the shore, the AG’s complaint states. The 28-page complaint filed in Providence County Superior Court asks a state judge to issue a preliminary injunction forcing the club owners to remove the seawall and restore the shoreline, including vegetation, to its natural state awaiting a jury trial.
“Quidnessett Country Club has engaged in actions that not only erode our shorelines, but also erode the rule of law,” Neronha said in a statement. “When some actors violate environmental law, as we allege here and elsewhere, they harm delicate ecosystems, disrupt habitats, and ultimately jeopardize the health and existence of one of Rhode Island’s most cherished and protected resources. Rhode Islanders rely on access to our shoreline, and we will fight to ensure that Quidnessett Country Club removes its illegal seawall once and for all.”
Robin Main, an attorney for Quidnessett Country Club, which is owned by The Jan Companies, declined to comment.
A spokesperson for the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, which filed a countersuit against Quidnessett in January, did not immediately return requests for comment Tuesday.
The rock wall easily visible from Narragansett Bay has become a widely cited example among critics who want to reshape the CRMC and get rid of the politically appointed council, which they say lacks the expertise and objectivity to protect state coastal resources.
“The Council’s failures on Quidnessett only amplify the urgency for the General Assembly to pass legislation, this session, that merges CRMC into the Department of Environmental Management and abolishes the Council once and for all,” Topher Hamblett, executive director for Save the Bay, said in a statement Tuesday. “The Attorney General‘s lawsuit rightly and fairly aims to hold the Club and its contractors accountable for its knowing and unlawful violation.”
Coastal regulators spent the latter half of 2023 reviewing a retroactive attempt by the country club to keep the wall intact by lessening the environmental regulations tied to the area. After denying the water type reclassification in January 2024, the CRMC attempted to reach a compromise with the country club on a restoration plan, despite repeated recommendations from its expert staff that the club’s various proposals did not meet coastal requirements. During the negotiations, Quidnessett also filed three separate lawsuits against the CRMC alleging various procedural violations in its review process.
The agency filed a counterclaim against one of the lawsuits in January seeking court intervention to have the wall removed and the shoreline restored.
The AG’s complaint draws on separate environmental protections in state law that prevent pollution or harm of public natural resources.
“By engaging in the acts and omissions set forth in the Complaint, Defendants have altered the character and quality of the Narragansett Bay and the natural resources included therein and interfered with the use and enjoyment of Rhode Island’s public trust resources,” the complaint states.
It also alleges that Quidnessett trespassed on state tidal lands and eroded public trust.
“The State need not tolerate the Country Club’s cavalier approach to non-compliance with governing Rhode Island law,” the complaint states.
The CRMC’s separate counterclaim against Quidnessett remains pending in Providence County Superior Court.
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- 4:01 pmUpdated to include a comment from Save the Bay.
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