Is Taylor Swift Stealing Public Property? [UPDATED]

Well, it’s not 2014 yet, but Taylor Swift is already making a bid to be on GoLocalProv’s “14 who made a difference in RI in 2014” list, mainly by making RI a little smaller.

Reporter David Collins of The Day describes the scene around the Nashville country star’s mansion:

Not only is the Swift contractor plucking and moving around big ocean boulders, but they have added a whole new line of rock sea wall on what had previously been a public beach, at a location that appears to be below mean high tide.

Just a note, if it’s below mean high tide, it’s public property in RI, specifically to prevent folks like Swift whose reach might exceed their grasp from grasping up our waters and beaches.

Collins also points out that the wall is permitted only by the RI Coastal Resources Management Commission, not Westerly:

After touring the Swift construction site Friday from the public perimeters, I headed to Town Hall, thinking the permits on file there would better explain what’s going on.

So imagine my surprise when the first person I encountered at the building office said the only work she knew of at the Swift mansion was the installation of a generator.

I then asked to speak with Building Official David Murphy, who acknowledged that he does indeed know of the extensive work going on at the Swift house.

Indeed, when I suggested it must be costing more than a million dollars, he raised his eyebrows and said it is probably costing a lot more than that.

Still, he said, he has decided that no building permit is needed.

That means, of course, that there are no plans for the work on file in the building office. And there will be no building permit sent along to the tax assessor, to trigger a property tax increase.

And no permit fee, assessed at the rate of $7 per thousand spent, was charged.

I don’t know, maybe this is typical Watch Hill behavior. They say good fences make good neighbors, so I imagine a fence made out of boulders will make very good neighbors indeed. Hey, and a fence down below the mean high tide mark, well, that might be even better.

Gawker decided to run with the story in this manner: “Taylor Swift is Fucking Up the Rhode Island Coastline”

UPDATE: CRMC Says It’s All Okay, Swings on 1982 Court Case