TIVERTON — A Newport Superior Court Judge has dealt the Tiverton Yacht Club one more serious blow in its efforts to operate a marina on the water side of Riverside Drive in conjunction with the clubhouse activities on the uphill side of the road.

Ruling that "a tandem marina/clubhouse operation is contrary to applicable law regarding non-conforming uses and must be disallowed," Associate Justice Melanie Thunberg decided in favor of abutting landowners David M Campbell and John H. Moran and their spouses, who had objected to the joint operations.

The key to the April 24 decision rested on the court’s finding that when the zoning code went into effect in 1964, there were no marina activities carried out by the club. Those did not start until 1987, said the court.

"As the [Tiverton Yacht Club] has not sustained the evidentiary burden of proving that any marina operations were extant in 1964, such operations must be prohibited and declared to be an unlawful expansion of a nonconforming use," said the court.