Matunuck conversation erodes at Town Hall

June 6, 2011

Photo By Kathleen McKiernan Beach erosion along properties on Matunuck Beach Road, above, was addressed once again at South Kingstown Town Hall on Tuesday, with new members of CRMC on hand along with members of Surfrider and Save the Bay.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – With four new members on the Coastal Resource Management Council unfamiliar with the continuing erosion along Matunuck Beach Road and its history, last Tuesday’s town meeting with the CRMC was another meeting where the town and CRMC talked in circles, leaving property owners frustrated again.

Seeking potential options from the coastal council that address immediate and long term measures to mitigate coastal erosion impacts along the Matunuck headland and a course of action, the town held the workshop meeting with the CRMC. However, Town Manager Stephen A. Alfred had to spend much of the time reviewing the erosion problem with the coastal council’s four new members, chair person Anne Livingston and members Tony Affigne, Michael Hodner and Guillamede Rannel.

Since the last town council meeting with the CRMC on March 29 and the CRMC’s April 20 report on Matunuck erosion, Alfred said the town staff has moved forward in applying for two program initiatives.

The town staff and CRMC are working on an Emergency Assent, which would allow for an armor stone rubber mound sea wall. Alfred said the first phase of that sea wall would run 200 feet from the western boundary of the Ocean Mist restaurant.

“Under the Emergency Assent the town would obtain immediate approval to install the shoreline protection along the area presently at the greatest risk,” Alfred said.

Alfred explained that construction of road protection measures along areas that are not at the greatest risk would only be considered after a catastrophic, worst o teach patients how to use new equipment, how to manage seizures and has to contact schools for updated recommendations for classroom placement.

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