Long, Bitter Seawall Dispute Highlights Global Warming Concerns

A decade ago, David and Betsy Sams built a retaining wall to stop erosion they feared was threatening the backyard and patio of their lovely and very expensive Old Saybrook summer home overlooking the Connecticut River. They assumed they were simply protecting a property they had come to cherish. Experts they hired said no permits were needed.

In fact, the wall turned out to be below the high tide line, and building it violated state and local regulations.

The Sams were ordered to tear it down. They refused. They spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars" waging a legal battle that went all the way to the state Supreme Court.

Last year, the Sams lost. No appeal was possible from the state Supreme Court on this sort of legal issue. They had no choice but to obey. State officials call this unusual case a victory that reaffirms their right to protect Connecticut's rivers and shoreline from unregulated development.

David Sams simply calls the outcome "punishment."

Last week, work began on removing the 260-foot "gabion" seawall, made up of rocks placed in a wire caging. The wall isn't the only thing coming down.

Eight towering old oak trees just above the wall have been chopped as well. The entire slope down to the river is being excavated and regraded. The patio overlooking the river was destroyed and will have to be rebuilt. The Sams describe it as the "complete destruction" of their back yard and estimate they will pay more than $300,000 to have the work done.

"It's so over the top," said David Sams, a wealthy insurance and financial services executive who lives in Vero Beach, Fla., most of the year. "It has nothing to do with preserving the environment."

But state environmental officials insist they are doing exactly what Connecticut's laws require them to do: protect the coastline and our rivers from potentially reckless development. They also point out that nearly all situations like the one the Sams found themselves in are settled by homeowners with the state without any costly court actions.

Debate Intensifies

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Long, Bitter Seawall Dispute Highlights Global Warming Concerns