It’s kind of ridiculous I think for townspeople to try to call the police department every time somebody’s down by the beach defecating or throwing bottles.”

Paul Ouellette, Mussel Bed Shoal Road

PORTSMOUTH — Go to any popular fishing spot in town that’s accessible via a public right of way (ROW) and you’ll find the “presents” left behind by many visitors: Dirty diapers, fishing hooks, plastic bags, empty bottles of booze, and a whole lot more.

Local residents who live by the shoreline say that’s just part of the problem. They accuse some of the more unruly visitors of parking illegally, making too much noise at late hours, and even threatening violence when someone complains.

Last year, Common Fence Point resident Mil Kinsella said, one visitor pulled a knife on a woman in the neighborhood.

“What’s the next thing? You’re gonna wait until someone pulls a gun on us? It’s really getting scary down there,” Kinsella said.

The Town Council Monday night took the first step in finding a solution to the problem when it voted unanimously to refer the matter to the town’s Harbor Commission for study and recommendations on how to remedy the situation. Although police are called to respond to such complaints on a regular basis, a real strategy to deal with the scourge is needed, council members said.

Council member Charles Levesque, who put the item on the agenda, had originally proposed to hand the matter over to the Parks and Recreation Committee for study. However, when it became clear that most council members said it would be more appropriate for the harbor panel to review, he acquiesced.

The move came after several residents complained that problems with littering, parking and rude behavior from out-of-towners visiting the local shoreline had reached a critical level in the past few years.

“There’s public defecation, there’s urination, there’s fireworks. It’s bad,” said Carol Mello, a Massasoit Avenue resident who’s also a member of the Harbor Commission. “I just want somebody to do something. This is a serious issue. It’s a public health issue, is what it is.”

Paul Ouellette, of Mussel Bed Shoal Road, said the problems have reached the level of a “short-term emergency.”

“It’s kind of ridiculous I think for townspeople to try to call the police department every time somebody’s down by the beach defecating or throwing bottles,” he said, noting he recently spotted a bunch of empty Corona bottles at Mount Hope Park. 

“I live by the Mussel Bed Shoal area and it’s inundated with people who don’t live around here,” he said. “They’re not from Rhode Island. We have to find a way to get these people to understand that they’ve got to take in, take out their trash. Don’t leave the baby diapers all over the beach. Don’t leave the bottles and cans.”

State unresponsive

One complicating factor is that the state, particularly the Department of Environmental Management (DEM), is often the agency charged with  managing many shoreline properties.

“DEM is not going to help us,” Ouellette said. “I’ve been calling DEM for three years. They’re way understaffed. They will tell you they’ve got eight people to do everywhere from Providence to Newport. They just don’t come out. It does need to be town-based.”

Vicki Newbold, who lives on Railroad Avenue underneath the Sakonnet River Bridge, knows the feeling. For years she’s complained about visitors who use the parking lot the state built near her home after the new bridge opened in 2012. 

Many of them stomp through her yard on the way to the railroad tracks, where they walk to either the rocks at the end or the beach on the Common Fence Point side to fish, Newbold said. Some families stay all day, relieve themselves since there are no facilities, and leave trash behind, she said.

Newbold showed a 2017 letter from the Town of Portsmouth that spelled out a list of plans to remediate the issues. 

“None of them have happened,” Newbold said. “And yes, it involves the state, and I realize that’s a problem. You call the police and even the ones who are responsive will say, ‘Our hands are tied, it’s state property, we don’t have jurisdiction, yada yada yada.’”

Using Homeland Security money, the state also promised lights and cameras in the area, Newbold said; that hasn’t happened, either.

Kinsella, who lives on Narragansett Boulevard and Zoomed into the meeting, said the problem goes beyond just littering and parking. 

“Many residents have been threatened by the people on the beach,” she said. “We’re just asking the council to get a little bit more involved because we’re taxpayers and Portsmouth residents, and we are being unfairly treated by people who don’t live here on our beaches. We need you to understand what’s going on and please help us. It’s been going on for 35 years.”

Which committee?

Levesque’s original idea to refer the matter to the Parks and Recreation Committee for review and recommendation was opposed by several council members, including Daniela Abbott, who said that group “have enough on their plate.” She said there should be more in-depth discussions with Police Chief Brian Peters to come up with solutions. 

Levesque, who earlier in the meeting said some of the lawbreaking had to do with “people really not having a choice” ( there are no restroom facilities or trash barrels in most of the problem spots), responded that it wasn’t a “law enforcement issue.”

That was disputed by Abbott and council member Keith Hamilton. “Open container, public defecation are public safety issues,” Abbott said.

After several council members said the Harbor Commission would be a more appropriate body to study the issue, Levesque initially pushed back. He said he was concerned with statements made earlier this year by the chairperson of the Harbor Commission, Abby Brown, that were critical of legislation — now law — to establish that the public area of the shoreline is 10 feet landward of the recognizable high tide line. 

Levesque said he would amend his motion to refer the matter to the Harbor Commission, even though its chairperson “indicated she doesn’t support access to the water.”

Both Hamilton and Mello, of the harbor panel, said Brown said no such thing. 

“Abby is not opposed to shoreline access,” Mello said of Brown, who was not at the meeting.

Future meetings

The council will meet at 7 p.m. on the following days: Tuesday, Aug. 15; Monday, Aug. 28; and Monday, Sept. 11. The council previously canceled a meeting set for Monday, July 24.