NEWPORT -- With emotions running as hot as the steaming chambers at City Hall, residents and lawyers last night had their final say before a Coastal Resources Management Council subcommittee on the long-disputed Waites Wharf project.
And one by one, about 15 Newporters -- some whose family had lived in town for generations and others who were newcomers -- stated their cases. And while most were staunchly opposed to any exemptions being granted to the owners of Waites Wharf, three said the opposition constituted a personal vendetta by Elizabeth Meyer, owner of the nearby International Yacht Restoration School.
The wharf owners -- Thomas A. Abruzese and Orlando A. Papaleo, both of Scarsdale, N.Y. -- seek approval of an improperly placed pier in the marina, the relocation of a public dinghy dock and closing the marina to the public overnight, among other things. Their exemption request is opposed by many residents as well as the Friends of the Waterfront and the International Yacht Restoration School.
Following the close of the public hearing last night, the lawyers have until Aug. 21 to submit briefs to the subcommittee. The subcommittee will hold a public workshop on the matter in September and then submit a recommendation to the full CRMC, which will make the final ruling.
Significant last night was that one subcommittee member, Pamela M. Pogue, was absent, making her ineligible to participate in issuing a recommendation. Pogue, who attended 12 hours of testimony during the previous three hearings, was rumored to be the member most sympathetic to the opposition. Subcommittee chairman Paul E. Lemont, who will draft the ruling with member L. Neill Gray, said he had no idea of Pogue's whereabouts.
Andrew M. Teitz, lawyer for the yacht restoration school, called Blake Henderson to present evidence that soils in the West Extension Street Channel, where the public dock would be relocated, are contaminated. Henderson, president of Northeast Engineers & Consultants Inc., of Middletown, said samples showed high lead and mercury levels and could cost the city as much as $32,000 to dredge and dispose of.
Abruzese, who testified last night that he had fired Henderson from a previous project, has said that moving the dinghy dock from inside the marina would more than triple the number of dinghies to 42.
The wharf owners' request that the marina be closed to the public, by way way of a locked gate, from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. drew the greatest response from the about 60 people in attendance.
According to a CRMC permit issued for Waites Wharf in 1989, public access was to be provided. A plaque on the boardwalk states that in 1988 it was "dedicated to the people of Newport." Residents have complained that the gate to the marina is often locked.
Burt Hoffman, of Ayrault Street, accused Abruzese of "deliberately and willfully" flouting CRMC's rules. "We are left with someone who thinks rules do not apply to him ... rules to which he agreed and blithely ignored," Hoffman said.
"Penalize them for not doing the right thing; penalize them yourselves," Ann Canole Twomey told the subcommittee.
But Julie Brittain, an employee of Abruzese's West Wind Marina, said she was outraged at Meyer's efforts and that the locked gates are a public safety issue.
"I don't think it's too much to ask that the gates be closed for public safety," Brittain, of Young Street, said.
The hearing closed with Meyer presenting the subcommittee with the signatures of 2,374 residents opposed to CRMC exemptions for Waites Wharf.
