Kevin Cute of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council met with the Harbors Committee via Zoom to discuss the Harbor Management Plan the town has submitted. He had a few suggestions, mostly related to including references to the ongoing legal matter involving Champlin’s Realty Associates, the former owner of Champlin’s Marina. He said that mentioning in the document that certain portions of the plan may be affected by the outcome of the lawsuit would help to “clarify” things.
The discussion turned to the question of private moorings and residency status, as the committee grapples with the problem of getting more moorings for island residents. The state requires a resident-to-non-resident mooring allocation policy of no greater than three resident mooring permits to one non-resident mooring permit. Three to one is the ratio the Harbors Department currently uses to allocate new moorings as they become available, but members of the Harbors Committee have questioned if the definition of residency is hindering the ability of islanders to geta mooring.As it stands, the Harbors definition of resident includes anyone who owns property on the island, and does not address whether the person actually resides at the property or not. The town’s
