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Coastal Council to Strengthen Its Wetlands Laws

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

* A state agency says it will never again allow development on freshwater wetlands.

* * *

After a controversial decision to approve development on a Narragansett property composed almost entirely of wetlands, the Coastal Resources Management Council is planning to strengthen its regulations.

The agency says it is working to bring freshwater wetlands under the stronger standards it uses for coastal wetlands. Proposed changes to the regulations will be discussed at the next council policy and planning meeting, which is scheduled for Aug. 17. The changes would be brought before the council for its consideration.

The move comes at the request of Michael M. Tikoian, council chairman, and Grover Fugate, executive director, according to a news release issued by the state agency.

Laura Ricketson, a public educator with the council, said the specifics of the changes would be significant.

"It's very much in the planning stages," said Ricketson. "We need to figure out how it all will work."

"It's going to happen; it's not even, 'Maybe we'll do this.' It's definite."

The announcement comes after two weeks of controversy surrounding the council's 4-to-3 vote in May that some feared could clear the way for development of wetlands property seen as protected.

The council vote, made over the objections of staff, gave permission to developer Thomas Santilli to build a home on a lot in Narragansett's Bonnet Shores neighborhood that is 97-percent wetlands. Based on the value of surrounding properties, the decision could have increased the value of the lot by as much as $160,000. Santilli's company, Investco Corp., bought the lot for $5,000 in February 2004.

One council member, Robert Ballou, the chief of staff at the state Department of Environmental Management, said the vote would send "a signal loud and clear that it is not upholding its very important role in protecting the state's environment," according to a transcript of the meeting.

The move drew protest from the Conservation Law Foundation and Save the Bay, which grew louder when The Journal published an article on July 24 about the decision. The next week, Santilli donated the land to the town and gave up the plan to build the house. "I don't need the publicity," he explained.

Tikoian, who recused himself from the vote because of ties to Investco's attorney, said in the news release that the proposed changes would prevent such a decision in the future.

"With the suggested changes to the regulations, the lot in question never would have been approved," he said. "These changes will ensure that the INVESTCO application was not precedent setting."

The council's jurisdiction of freshwater lots, like the one owned by Santilli, dates back to 1999, when the General Assembly expanded the council's jurisdiction in South County to include property south of Route 1.

Prior to 1999, the agency regulated development only within 200 feet of saltwater shoreline and the DEM was in charge of all other wetlands.

The two agencies have different processes for reviewing wetlands applications. At the DEM, applications are reviewed by engineers and biologists and decisions are made by their supervisors. At the council, the staff makes recommendations, but the final decision rests with the politically appointed members of the council.

The council has 12 members, 9 of whom attended the May meeting.

Source: Providence Journal

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