Key Takeaways:
A 20-foot stone wall built without permits to save a golf hole has triggered a legal battle that cuts to the heart of Rhode Island's 400-year-old shoreline access laws.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha filed suit in May 2026 to force the removal of a 20-foot-tall, two-football-fields-long stone seawall that Quidnessett Country Club built without permits in the winter of 2023, calling the construction "willful, reckless, or wicked, as amounted to criminality."
"The wall looks like it was dropped onto the site from Mars," said Topher Hamblett, executive director of the advocacy group Save the Bay, which alerted state regulators after a kayaker spotted the structure between the club's 14th hole and Narragansett Bay.
The club, owned by the Jan Companies — a Rhode Island family business that operates dozens of Burger King franchises and other hospitality assets — argues the wall was a last resort to prevent the 526-yard, par-5 14th hole from eroding into the sea. Roughly 50 feet of the course has slipped off the seaside edge over the past three decades, according to the company's lawyer. A previous attempt to stabilize the shoreline with sand-filled "burritos" cost $500,000 and washed away within six months during storms in 2022.
The dispute has drawn in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers alongside state regulators, who concluded the wall was illegal. Yet it remained standing for 999 days before the attorney general escalated the matter to court. The case now threatens the club's ability to host professional tournaments, which the company says would sink the property's value.
A Colonial Legacy Meets Rising Seas
Rhode Island's shoreline access doctrine traces to its 1663 royal charter from King Charles II, which guaranteed the king's "loving subjects" the right to fish along the coast. The state constitution requires officials to let the public swim, fish and collect seaweed along its 400 miles of coastline — a principle that has clashed repeatedly with property owners as sea levels rise and the strip of developable land narrows.
When state legislators proposed a bill extending the public shoreline to 10 feet beyond the high-tide line, local property owner Jon Janikies testified it would allow the public to "destroy" his outdoor patio, which he said he had "enhanced with an outdoor bed, sink, television, fireplace, tables and chairs." His father, Nicholas Janikies, took control of Quidnessett Country Club in 1982.
The club first sought a permit in 2012 to build a giant steel wall to stop erosion. State regulators denied it. The company describes the 2023 stone wall as a last resort after all permitted options failed.
What's at Stake for Coastal Development
The Quidnessett case has become a flashpoint in a broader national debate over coastal armoring. As sea levels rise, property owners across the U.S. are building walls, revetments and barriers to protect their land — often without permits. Environmental groups warn these structures accelerate erosion on adjacent properties and starve salt marshes of sediment, harming wildlife.
"This is the poster child," Hamblett said of the Quidnessett wall. "People are taking matters into their own hands. They're armoring the shoreline with rocks and cement walls, sometimes without permits."
The outcome of the lawsuit will set a precedent for how aggressively Rhode Island enforces its coastal regulations against well-funded property owners. The state's coastal agency, run by a politically appointed board of citizens who typically lack subject-matter expertise, has faced criticism for its handling of the case.
Fishermen now report needing to wade into the water to walk along the coast where the wall stands. The club's lawyer calls the structure a "shoreline-protection facility." Former Justice Department attorney Bradford Whitman, now a shoreline access advocate, calls it a "monstrous wall."
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
