I want to thank you for the very objective reporting of the situation we have been facing while trying to rebuild the Tiverton Yacht Club. Perhaps your story helped convince the powers that be in Tiverton to let us go forward, as we now have a letter that allows us to seek final approval from RI Coastal Resources Management Council for our septic system (which has already been approved by the RI Department of Environmental Management).

My wife and I gave up our membership in the Newport Yacht Club and joined TYC in the mid 1960s because TYC had no bar and was a better environment into which to bring our young children. We are now, 40 years later, among the club's more senior citizens and the club has not changed its character.

I think it may be of interest to comment on the sidebar story attributed to our relatively new neighbor of about eight years, Mr. Campbell. He is particularly interested to see that the club follows all procedures to the letter of the law. He apparently is above the law as he constructed a fence roughly in the middle of the Public Right of Way between our respective properties in order to keep our youngsters from folding sails on it. Interestingly, Campbell has no deeded right to the right of way while the TYC has deeded rights to use it.

Mr. Campbell's allegation that the first and second floors are larger than the structure that burned down is not true; in fact they are slightly smaller. Also, there is no third floor in our plan as was in the original. The structure that burned had a third floor apartment that, when my wife and I joined, was occupied by the club steward, Mr. "Red" Walsh, year-round. Admittedly the foundation under the front part of the house did not go to full depth and we believe it makes more sense to have one full depth foundation. That will allow us to store the club's fleet of small training sailboats under cover rather than have them stored outside, a rather unsightly situation which certainly contributed to the deterioration of the boats. The important thing is that we have meticulously kept the footprint of the foundation the same.

Mr. Campbell claims that the sum of the area occupied by the clubhouse, pool, and garage exceeds the 15 percent of lot coverage allowed by the Tiverton Zoning Code. I haven't made the calculation, but I think it's irrelevant since the house, garage and pool have been in place for more than 10 years, are clearly pre-existing uses and therefore need no zoning variances. Perhaps 1/2 of the 50 foot right of way between our property and Mr. Campbell's ( which no one claims to own )should be deeded to TYC or at least used as an additional area of our lot for the purpose of calculating the percentage covered by structures and pool.

Mr. Campbell alleges that our new septic system design is evidence of our plans for future expansion. For the 40 or so years that I've belonged to the club we had no septic tank problems. Then heavy equipment used to clear away debris crunched our drain field. The engineer we hired to replace the system researched past water use and based on that and a generous safety factor designed a new system using modules that could withstand the pressure of vehicles parking above them. Our "neighbor" challenged the water utilization data provided by the water department and so DEM required us to design a system which is based on the total number of members resulting in our having three times the capacity needed. We have no expansion plan for the club, but it's nice to know that septic capacity will never be a problem. (The water table is greater than 18 feet below the surface and the soil is very permeable.)

I don't know about variances for the pool and the marina. I believe they've been in operation long before our "neighbor" purchased his property. When I first joined the club, the beach was used for swim instructions for town's children. Pollution concerns, I believe, led to the construction of the pool, which freed up space for the marina, which as far as I know is compliant with the Coastal Management requirements. A couple of years ago they gave us permission to dredge an area of it that had filled in. It should be noted that the marina did not lead to a club expansion as the limited spaces were assigned to senior members who had previously used moorings within the Tiverton Basin. We have a long list of active members who are waiting to get a space within the marina. Furthermore, the marina constitutes no additional burden on club facilities as the yachts berthed there are not lived upon and for the most part are used for day sailing.

Mr. Campbell states that year round use of the clubhouse must not be permitted. I can't imagine why. When I joined the club, the Board of Directors met monthly at the club and we had monthly socials year-round. Of late, mid- winter use was not done because our antiquated heating system would not support it. The few committee meetings, board meetings, and occasional social should present no problem to our neighbors. As far as I know the police never received a complaint about noise or other problems from our club.

Lastly, I challenge the statement that our parking overburdens the neighborhood. First off, the 500 members that Mr. Campbell refers to are, by my count, 177 memberships in which there are 317 adults and 183 children. Many of these are members in name only, joining so their children can participate in sailing or swimming lessons. A number are older members who rarely use the club. To the best of my knowledge there have never been more than 100 people at any club function. Most generally it's half that number, and they come at least two to a car. It is true that our "neighbors" tried and failed to get parking restricted on Riverside Drive. They've also tried to restrict parking on the 50-foot right of way between our lots. There will be ample parking for our membership behind the club, on club property on the beach side of the street, and on unrestricted areas of Riverside Drive, none of which block the view of our "neighbors." To the best of my knowledge none of our members have ever been ticketed for a parking violation.

In summary, Tiverton Yacht Club has tried to be a good citizen of the community and a good neighbor. We have educated generations of Tiverton youth in sailing, swimming, and water safety and provided a wholesome recreational outlet for the youth of Tiverton. We plan to continue to operate in a responsible and professional manner and be a credit to the neighborhood and the town. Hopefully, the wasted year of time and the extra legal and engineering expense we've incurred and the increased mortgage interest expense that we'll have to pay due to rate increases will not be in vain and we can at last go forward to rebuild. The structure we have designed is not a low-cost box type, but is instead a well designed, beautiful building that will be nicely landscaped. Even now Mr. and Mrs. Jim Rogers are planting a garden of flowers in front of the hole that was once our club in order to make it more presentable to our members and to the neighborhood.

John F. Brady, PhD

Portsmouth

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