PROVIDENCE — The state’s coastal council voted unanimously last night to permit construction of a house on an oceanfront property just north of the scenic area abutting the Point Judith Lighthouse, but the builder will have to pay for habitat improvements both to his lot and the one next to it.

The property owner, Robert C. Lamoureux, needed major waivers of buffer and setback requirements set by the Coastal Resources Management Council.

In exchange for those waivers, the council insisted that Lamoureux perform extensive habitat restoration work on portions of his four-acre property in Narragansett where he doesn’t build, and the two sides agreed that he would sign conservation easements for the remaining portion of his property, as well as a lot next door owned by his sister. He also agreed to do restoration on his sister’s property.

The conservation agreements ban any further development on the two lots, beyond the three-bedroom house the council agreed to allow.

Lamoureux’s lawyer, Michael St. Pierre, told the council that a denial of his application “would be tantamount to a taking.”

CRMC chairman Michael Tikoian pressed staff biologist Tracy Silvia to acknowledge that after lengthy negotiations with Lamoureux there were no further staff objections to the house.

“There are no objections to the design,” she said. “But there are still excessive variances [to buffer and setback requirements] and any development on this lot will impact habitat.”

“Has the applicant done everything possible” to lessen those impacts, Tikoian asked.

“Short of no development, yes,” said Silvia.

No one spoke against the proposed house. During a hearing last month, staff and council members raised concerns about potential damage to habitat and wetlands and the effect on the appearance of the scenic peninsula.

Last night, the staff presented six stipulations for Lamoureux that include the conservation easements and approval of a plan to replace invasive species on both properties with native plants and shrubs.

Silvia wrote to the council: “Staff recognizes that successful wetland restoration in this location has the potential to provide preferred habitat for both resident and migrating wildlife species and believes that such restoration is possible on this site. However, staff also recognizes the disturbance and impacts from the proposed residential construction which will occur to wildlife currently utilizing the site.”

Tikoian said that by endorsing all the stipulations proposed by Silvia, the council was in essence “acquiescing” to the staff.

In an unrelated case, the council approved plans by Brewer Cove Haven Marina, in Barrington, to expand the marina’s perimeter, while not allowing any more boats.

The marina wanted to expand its boundaries by 43 feet on one side and 22 feet on another because it bought a piece of adjacent land. But some neighbors objected, saying the expansion would harm the view and threaten to block a right of way to the water.

The Barrington Town Council asked the CRMC to keep the marina’s piers 10 feet away from the right of way, and to ban placing boats on the south side of the pier, adjacent to the right of way.

CRMC members said their policy is to allow marinas to use their waterways right up to the property line, so they declined to impose the 10-foot buffer.

But marina operator Michael Keyworth said he could see that council members remained concerned about docking boats on the south side of the pier, so he agreed to stipulate that he would not permit that. The reconfigured marina perimeter will actually cause him to reduce the maximum number of boats he can handle by six, Keyworth said.

plord@projo.com