The town, these advocates allege, owns the right of way and never gave up its rights to the ROW. “In the 50 years that our family has owned our home, we have consistently seen beach access choked up,” Bannon said. Weekpaug resident Kerri Mulligan said she’d lived in the Westerly area her entire life, and the Spring Avenue ROW was never used, primarily because it was never passable. “The town investigated this question with its own highway commission and determined it was not a public right of way,” McKenna said. The major decision on whether Spring Avenue is a right of way is up to the CRMC ROW subcommittee, composed of three members of the politically appointed executive panel that oversees CRMC.