Westerly Sun — CRMC's Spring Avenue hearing resumes Tuesday

Photo of the Weekapaug Fire District private beach next to the blocked and overgrown ROW on Spring Avenue Extension on Thursday, September 28, 2023. Harold Hanka, Special to the Sun

April 3, 2026

By Ryan Blessing — WESTERLY — Rhode Island's Coastal Resources Management Council will resume the closely-watched public hearing on the town's application to designate Spring Avenue extension as a right-of-way to the shore on Tuesday. 

The hearing picks up at 5 p.m. at the Westerly Senior Center, 39 State St., with testimony continued from longtime professional land surveyor Alfred DiOrio. 

At the conclusion of the March 9 hearing, DiOrio explained the importance of maps and how they are used in land and boundary dispute cases. He said he had reviewed several maps in the Spring Avenue matter. In further testimony, DiOrio concluded that the Spring Avenue extension was part of a road network based on a 1915 map of Weekapaug Point, and that there was nothing on the map to indicate that it was private. Other roads on the map, he said, are marked as private.

The hearing is part of a process by the CRMC to determine whether the disputed strip of land in Weekapaug should be officially designated as a public route to the shore. Westerly's application asking that Spring Avenue extension near Weekapaug Point offer the public access to two miles of pristine barrier beach has been before the CRMC’s Rights-of-Way Subcommittee for several years.

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