Newport This Week — Middletown Coastal Access Alliance Signs Memorandum with CRMC
December 18, 2025
By Zane Wolfang — The Middletown Coastal Access Alliance announced at a Dec. 9 meeting that it will officially steward six public rights-of-way in Middletown through an agreement with the state Coastal Resources Management Council.
The meeting also included a presentation about a climate and coastal resilience collaboration involving the three Aquidneck Island municipalities and Naval Station Newport.
The CRMC memorandum recognizes that the Middletown alliance has officially “adopted” the rights-of-way. It assigns the organization with monthly monitoring, regular clean-ups and two reports per year. CRMC is the program administrator and the town of Middletown will be responsible for signage and maintenance.
“The town has been really great and supportive,” said MCAA board chair Melissa Welch. “The DPW does a great job trimming the rights-of-way and they always come collect the trash after our beach clean-ups.”
The memorandum covers access points on Shore Drive, Dunlap Wheeler Park, at the east end of Easton’s Beach, Taggart’s Ferry, and Pebble Beach. There are four additional rights-of-way in Middletown that are not covered by the memorandum, but those are still monitored and maintained by the MCAA or a partner organization.
There are also three rights-of-way on Tuckerman Point not covered by the memorandum. Among them is the path next to the Newport Clambake Club, where Middletown police previously ticketed legally parked cars. The town later stated the parking tickets were given in error and confirmed that it is legal to park on the grassy strip at the end of Wolcott Avenue.
Norman Bird Sanctuary and the Newport County Saltwater Fishing Club help monitor the Third Beach access point, and Save the Bay and the Surfrider Foundation are both partner organizations to the MCAA. Norman Bird Sanctuary and the saltwater fishing club are represented on the MCAA board, while Save the Bay and Surfrider Foundation are not.
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