For this week’s chapter of “What went on here,” The Block Island Times has the latest installment on Champlin’s Marina and the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council versus everyone else. There are two important things converging: the controversial, back-door dealings of the CRMC and the reappointment in the State Senate of some of those players.
On Monday, Feb. 8, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha announced that he was petitioning the R.I. Supreme Court to intervene in the appeal of Champlin’s Real Estate Associates versus the CRMC and the Town of New Shoreham, following the news that a deal was made between Champlin’s and the CRMC without the knowledge or participation of the town.
That came as welcome news to many members of the Block Island community who were dismayed by the events unfolding, at first behind their backs, and now in front of their eyes, and who have been asking themselves: “How could this have happened?”
The deal was affirmed at the CRMC’s meeting on Dec. 29, 2020 under the agenda item: “Request for Executive Session pursuant to RIGL section 42-46-5(a)(2), litigation, discussion on Champlin’s Realty Associates v. Lemont Supreme Court appeal.”
That closed session resulted