Sarah Larsen

Prof. Jaacks
JOR 420
29 April 2019
Matunuck Seawall: Coastal Resiliency

The town of Matunuck has been arguing over the building of a wall for almost seven

years to protect them from an increasingly dangerous threat: the rising sea. One seawall was built

in Matunuck, Rhode Island at the end of spring of the year 2018. Residents of Matunuck were

pleased that action was finally taken to protect the roads and surrounding homes. Though the

wall was of great importance to the people living in the area it hasn’t been the main talk of the

town over the past few years.

Coastal erosion has long been an issue for Rhode Island’s coastal communities and

seawalls have played an important role in protecting the coast from the whims of the sea. The

seawall the town built on Matunuck Beach Road is now in phase two of extending about twenty

more feet. Local residents have gotten to the point where they just wish construction would come

to an end and the problem would be solved. They are feeling as if it has taken too much time in

the past and is taking to much time to continue.

Historical Problems on the Coast

The state of Rhode Island is 48 miles long from north to south, and even fewer if you’re

moving east to west, just 37 miles. However, within its inside its very small borders, little Rhody

has one thing in abundance: coastline, over 400 miles of it.

Matunuck Beach is a strip in the South Kingstown area, that has lost between 112 and

147 linear feet from 1939-2014, according to shoreline change maps created by the University of

Rhode Island and Coastal Resource Management Council (CRMC). The rate of erosion has

accelerated in recent years.

whole, had ever seen. When the storm raged, Rhode Island took a direct hit. 91 mph winds

pummeled the coast with, gusts reaching up to 121 mph. Around two thousand houses were

destroyed and 260 people lost their lives. Narragansett Bay rose 15 feet creating floods in a

number of areas, Newport had a rise of thirteen feet while Providence had a rise of seventeen

feet. The historical Narragansett seawall took on an immense amount of damage. Narragansett

coastal properties, located right next to the community of Matunuck, were lost.

The hurricane tore through old Victorian-era cottages except those located on Brownings

Beach in Matunuck. Since the hurricane of 38’ the cottages outlasted a number of other bad

storms but they couldn’t stand their ground against Hurricane Sandy in the year of 2012. “The

‘Five Cottages’ that were built prior to and survived the 1938 Hurricane, [were] one by one were

destroyed. One [barely] remains, that so many hope will continue to survive,” told Susan Rivera

Russo. The cottages held history and beauty to the residents of Matunuck and they hated to seem

they get destroyed.

Matunuck saw even more damage a number of years later when the coastal storm in

March of 2010 flooded Matunuck Beach Road. The flooding caused a scour hole within eight to

ten feet of the pavement next to the restaurant and bar Ocean Mist.

After the storm of 2010 the town soon realized that they needed to to install protection for

the roads. The construction of this wall was discussed in 2011 but hit a number of delays before

the CRMC voted in favor of the upgrade in the summer of 2019. The construction was finally

started in October of 2016 and wasn’t completed until June of 2018. The wall ended up covering

two hundred and two feet and the total cost ended up being $1.4 million and was funded by

Federal Highway Administration.

like structure is proven to be efficient protection from minor erosion overtime, prolonging the

lives of properties along beaches. However, they don’t necessarily cure erosion- eventually, the

ocean will rise too far for the seawall to protect against larger waves. The town of South

Kingstown is already in its second phase of extending the wall another twenty feet to the west.

The plans for this have already been created and are now just waiting approval from the state. If

they get approved the town has to start searching and applying for grants to be able to afford to

build the extension.

The phase two extension is anticipated to cost approximately $2.75 million based on the

expenses of the previous on the first two hundred feet of steel sheet pile wall. In November phase

two was planned to be around four hundred more feet of wall but when asked Zarnetske said that

the recent plans only included another twenty feet of wall to the west.

The Process of Building a Wall

When driving down Matunuck Beach Road which sits a few hundred feet away from the

ocean, one will see surfers coming and going. Even on a day when it is cloudy and raining there

are people coming out of their cars in wetsuits with surfboards taking up space from the front

end to the back end.

Those who decide to make Rhode Island there home become almost immediately become

attached to the atmosphere and the beauty that the state brings. Ocean Mist, a restaurant and bar,

is located on Matunuck Beach Road and has been owned by Kevin Finnegan for 31 years. With

about 200 employee’s and a number of regulars at the restaurant and bar, Finnegan has close ties

with the community surrounding him. He made large strides for a seawall to be built basically
immediately behind his business. In fact after a lot of hard work in obtaining signatures and

showing up to local meetings, the CRMS granted the permit for the wall to be restored.

Finnegan was trying to gain permission from the town for years in order to finance and

build a seawall behind his business. Him and the town went through law suits about the town

building then seawall west of his business. At the time the argument was that it would have been

bad for business and could have cause permanent damage to his building.

After seven years he is finally in the clear to fund his own project of building a seawall.

The wall he is going to build will be made out of rip rap which dissipates some of the wave

energy rather than reflecting it back out. Rip rap is also one of the most sustaining seawalls,

taking on only minor damages and are easy to maintain or repair. Finnegan will put out 2.5

million dollars in order to build the riprap seawall that will span 1300 feet in length.

Finnegan said that he is in the process of buying more property from the town and it

should go through within thirty to ninety days. When Finnegan first bought Ocean Mist people

told him that he had one to three years tops before the ocean took it out from under its own two

legs. Thirty one years later Ocean Mist is still around and doesn’t seem as though it is going

anywhere anytime soon. “Am I worried? I’ve been worried everyday,” said Kevin Finnegan. He

talked about how he is a believer in climate change and global warming. “Can’t be blind of

whatever narrative is of your time,” said Finnegan when discussing climate change. Finnegan

went on talking about how during his time people were worried about an ice age for awhile,

obviously that never happened though he says he never doubted that it could.

Susan Rivera Russo, a prior resident of Matunuck, said ,“If you stand on the porch of the

Ocean Mist, and look to your left, you will see houses that are on stilts. Those houses were at

“ground level”, where you could step out the door, go down two steps and be on the beach.”
Almost every house along the beach of Matunuck today stands on stilts in order to be protected

from sea level rise and further damaged caused by storm surge.

The ocean is still taking away land from the coast. If Matunuck Beach Road is home to

186 year-round dwelling units, 333 seasonal units and three full-service restaurants that could be

lost if the road were to erode into the ocean. Construction of the town’s seawall began in the

winter of 2016 with a roughly $1.3 million steel sheet pile wall, much like the one along

Narragansett Town Beach. The town didn’t envision, the almost annual reconstruction of the

wall to further protect from the ocean’s continuous erosion. According to Planning Director

Chelsea Siefert, the town will be held responsible for reconstruction of the wall, which would

outweigh the cost of up-keeping the seawall.

The financial responsibilities of maintaining the wall is one of the main arguments

against continuing to rebuild it. Robert Zarnestke, the South Kingstown town manager

overseeing the project, claimed that the wall would not need to be maintained and that the town

won’t be spending money on up keep of the wall. “We don’t need to up keep the wall, no other

construction will be going into it besides this phase two expansion,” according to Zarnetske.

However, if erosion continues at its rate with Matunuck losing around 100 feet of shoreline over

several decades, the wall would need to be rebuilt away from the coast in order to do its job in

protecting the coast against wave moment. Finnegan is fully prepared to maintain the seawall he

plans to build and knows that without maintenance the wall will eventually be useless and

someone will have to rebuild it again.

Homer Darrell Callicutt, a resident in the Matunuck area, was pleased for the town to

finally build a seawall along Matunuck Bead Road for that part of construction to be finished

though he says, “I just hope they finish the new section soon.” The new section is currently in a
stand-by period, the town is waiting approval of the plans from the state in order to start

construction. Thought before construction can be started the town needs to find funding, with a

few places in mind the Town Manager didn’t seem worried.

Building a wall along the coast also blocks beach areas from recreational use. The shore

and ocean in front of the seawall are essentially shortened, leaving less room for beachgoers as

well as surfers and swimmers. This is part of the reason why the town kept denying Kevin

Finnegan approval to fund and build a seawall behind his business. They said it would block

access to the beach, though Finnegan is one of the only people that allows the public to cut

through his property in order to gain access to the ocean. There have been previous problems

involving public rights access to water in other areas. He plans to create six more access lanes for

people to walk through to get from the road to the water.

Construction of these walls also impact the wildlife and ecosystems in the area, which

can have a variety of effects on the environment. For example shorebirds could be effected by

coastal armor by experiencing habitat loss, decrease accessibility during high tides and a

reduction of prey available to them.

Countless tourists and locals flock to Matunuck Beach Road every summer to enjoy the

the few for the deck at Ocean Mist. Aside from the future financial issues, the seawall is the best

way of protection available. Other forms require extensive horizontal space and construction, and

none of them essentially solve erosion. In the towns research they found alternatives such as, geo

protection, gabon mattress, raising grade of roadway, and full retreat. All of these options came

with negative correlations like the cost was too high, or it would only be a temporary fix.

The People Behind the Wall

that everyone who lives in the area wants nothing but the best for the coastline. People got

behind Kevin Finnegan and his argument for wanting to build a seawall. Susan Rivera Russo’s

heart belongs to Matunuck even though she no longer resides there year round. She first stepped

foot in the ocean at two years old, later met her husband and soul mate there, and even though

she currently lives in Vermont, Matunuck will always be a place she considers home. Russo said,

“[In] the 1938 hurricane, Deep Hole was wiped out and all that remained for many years were

pieces of foundations and cement stairs. The beach in front of the bars and all the way to

Moonstone and beyond couldn’t be walked without getting wet. Families came to the beach,

children could play safely and  friendships formed that are still going strong today. Then, the

town allowed people to have large rocks deposited at Deep Hole, back fill it and build two

houses. In doing so, it changed the dynamics of the oceans flow that it had for over thirty years.

With the natural flow of the waves being disturbed, the repercussions began to show, and slowly

the beach began to disappear.”

Another resident in the area, John Lacroix said, “My parents bought our home along

Matunuck Beach Rd in 1951, the house itself was built in 1933 and survived the hurricane of

1938. Since the 50s, storms have ravaged the Matunuck coastline and much sand and many

homes were damaged or lost. There was always talk of a "wall" but Matunuck was left to the

face these storms without much help from the town of South Kingstown.” The people in the area

have expressed that the town seem unbothered for awhile about anything being done to protect

the homes and restaurants in their area. It took a lot of advocacy and attention being brought to

the cause for the town to start to plan to do something about the problem.
 Matunuck is a close knit community where its residents are very friendly and welcoming.

They know how to go about getting what they want done which was seen firsthand in dealing

with the process of restoring and rebuilding a seawall in their area. Joe Kunz said, “Almost

anybody in Matunuck can give you some insight into the walls necessity and its potential to

lessen the possible damage to the beach road and to the houses and residents east of the sheet

piling. Matunuck is resilient, it will still be the place I’d like to be even if the beachfront was

halfway to Route 1.”