Taylor Swift’s building a huge wall on her Rhode Island property, neighbors are pissed

wenn20887577

Taylor Swift spent a lot of time in her wedding-cake-looking Rhode Island mega-mansion in 2013. She was on tour most of the year, but whenever she had a break in her schedule, she would go to Rhode Island, usually bringing along a huge group of friends. They would party, Swifty-style – which includes a lot of wholesome face-painting, dancing and baking, from what I gather. Unfortunately, Taylor’s Rhode Island mansion has become the source of a lot of pain and anxiety, for her and for her neighbors. Apparently, whenever Taylor was in residence, her security guards would stop and harass people trying to gain access to the public beach which abuts her property. Her security people even stopped volunteers from cleaning up the beach too. So, there were problems. And the problems have just gotten worse.

For days now, TMZ and Radar have been tracking a story about Swifty doing some kind of major landscaping work on her property. The gist seems to be that Swifty is constructing a “massive perimeter wall” around her property, and the whole thing is changing the coastline and it’s going to make life more difficult for people trying to access the beach. There’s been a lot of back-and-forth about whether Swifty got the proper permits, or whether she’s actually just re-doing something that used to be part of the original property. Here’s TMZ’s story:

Taylor Swift is screwing with the coastline in a small Rhode Island community … and pissing off neighbors in the process … but Taylor’s people say what she’s doing is perfectly legal. Swift is building a massive perimeter wall around her castle in Westerly, Rhode Island, moving tons of coastline rocks in the process.

One neighbor tells TMZ, “It was bad enough when she moved in, but to ruin a part of the town for all of us … this is a whole new level of hate.”

Surfers in the area tell TMZ … the wall under construction around Taylor’s 11,000 square foot mansion is messing with the wave break in Westerly.

And some residents are grousing … the wall she’s building is taking away public access that they have enjoyed for years.

We’re getting multiple, conflicting stories from government workers and residents … but from Taylor’s point of view … her people say government officials actually asked her to move some of the rocks that had drifted into the ocean back to her property line and that’s what residents are seeing. They also claim the wall she’s building is in the same spot as the original wall that was constructed decades ago but eroded over time.

It appears the prior owners built a wall closer to the mansion, but it was destroyed last year during Hurricane Sandy and now Taylor is building where the original wall had been. Problem is — the residents are used to having the beach they will no longer enjoy.

Also … officials say Taylor obtained all necessary permits.

[From TMZ]

The problem? A Connecticut newspaper claims that Swifty did NOT get the proper permits and that the wall under construction is much too big and gaudy. But! After that newspaper report, Laura Dwyer, the spokeswoman for the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, told media outlets: “The larger boulders were historically there. We have photograph evidence from previous property owners that they were there, but they were covered with sand. When the applicant came in with plans, they were proposing to leave those rocks way out in the water. We were the ones who asked them to get those boulders as close to the seaward side of that concrete wall as possible.” Huh. It sounds like Swifty did her due diligence and some Rhode Islanders are just pissed off in general. Gotta love prissy New England real estate wars!

wenn20305214

Here are some photos of Swifty during Christmas and New Year’s. She spent New Year’s with Sarah Hyland (from Modern Family). That’s something that I do like about Swifty – she actively seeks out female friendships with young women her own age.

swifty1

swifty3

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, Instagram.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

61 Responses to “Taylor Swift’s building a huge wall on her Rhode Island property, neighbors are pissed”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. mel2 says:

    I thought her property is on Martha’s Vineyard…

    • Florc says:

      You mean the mansionnext to the Kennedy compound? After her and Connor went south she sold it for around 1 million dollars profit after renovations. She has a lot of properties. She’ll live in it for a bit. Agrivate her neighbors. Sell it. Find another neighborhood to agrivate.

      • Anna says:

        That property was wasn’t in Martha’s Vineyard and she never lived in it.

      • Decloo says:

        That was Hyannis Port but she never actually bought it.

      • Tippy says:

        How bad could she possibly be? It looks like she’s having a slumber party on New Year’s Eve.

        Meanwhile Beiber’s neighbors are being terrorized and spat upon.

      • Nicole says:

        Aggravate

      • lisa says:

        yeah tippy keept it in perpective

        bieber will run over your kids and leave dead animals locked in the basement, and then blame it on lil twist

      • Florc says:

        Hmm… i knew she never lived in it. It was a quick flip. Thanks for the clarification anna.

        Nicole
        Thanks for the correction. You should browse and correct all my posts. Still learning english and spell check tends to hinder that for me so it is always switched off. It will keep you busy.

  2. Faye says:

    Now this should be fun to watch. Because Swift = starpower + money. But girl, do not mess with those old-school WASPs – they may be polite, but they will cut you with a smile on their faces.

    • AG-UK says:

      +100 yes… that kind of money is far different from that new money I know it spends the same but you will be cut out of everything no exclusive country club memberships. Like trying to buy in a specific building in NYC if they don’t want you you won’t get in.
      How much time does she plan on spending there? I know investment but more money than sense for most of these people.

      • Faye says:

        Plus in an enclave like Rhode Island, the well-connected tend to be . . .well-connected. They know the right people in the government, city planning commission, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone stops that wall before too long.

        I agree that it doesn’t make sense to tick people off when she probably doesn’t spend too much time here anyway.

    • Decloo says:

      It’s not the money folk that have a problem with it. Anyone who buys waterfront property will make damn sure they have the right to keep the hoi-polloi from crossing it to get to the beach. Watch Hill has tons of rich folk but there are also locals who, for years, had been allowed access to the beach and the sea wall via a path adjacent to the house. The last owner was cool with it. If I had a beach-front house I sure as hell would not want all the local teens hanging out next to it and chucking their beer cans everywhere.

  3. GoodNamesAllTaken says:

    That wall is hideous. Why would she want to look at that? It completely destroys the natural beauty of the view. I don’t blame the neighbors for being upset. Most of Westerly is so pretty and fairly unpretentious and low key. I would hate for someone to ruin that just because they have the money to do it. I know it’s her property, but it seems wrong for one person to blow in and change the entire feeling of a town just because they’re rich and famous.

    • Anna says:

      The sea wall has been there for nearly 100 years and rip rap is very old-New England. She’s just adding an extra row of boulders at the very bottom of the wall and replacing loose boulders.

      • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

        It’s a cement wall. And it’s hideous. Just because something used to be there doesn’t make it attractive, and doesn’t make rebuilding it a good idea. I have spent a lot of time in New England, and this is not old New England. It’s very new money.

      • Sullivan says:

        She has the permits and went through all the proper channels before they started working to repair the sea wall. I think the spoiled brats might be the wealthy WASPs in the neighborhood.

    • Hautie says:

      The wall has always been there. It has to be there for support. It is the down side to living on the water. You have to have these barrier walls for protection and to stop erosion. And keep the home from sliding off the hill into the ocean.

      The wall protecting her home was damage. The last hurricane moved it all closer to the water. So the State ASK her to clean up the boulders too, since she is having to repair the wall.

      It is a sad case of just ignorance on the neighbors part to not realize, it requires heavy machines to do all that work. And it won’t be magically done in two days. At least it is being done in the dead of Winter. And will most likely be done by Spring. And they will have the beach back to normal for daily use.

      I love how nosy neighbors have no issue with sh*t talking a girl who is just paying, most likely hundred of thousands of dollars, to repair a wall and coast line in front of her home. That will benefit the entire stretch of coast line there when finished.

      And then add TMZ to it the self created drama. All for… what is nothing. And I have yet to see one of her actual neighbors say Boo about any of this. All the sh*t talkers don’t even live on the water. They appear to be people from town.

      • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

        The wall may have to be there, but you don’t have to build it out of cement. You can make it out natural materials so it looks more like a part of the landscape, not a big ugly eyesore. Anna says below me that she’s covering the wall with boulders, so maybe it will help. And I don’t blame the neighbors for being upset that volunteers are stopped from cleaning up the public beach just because this little princess is in town. It’s annoying to have someone like that invade your town and change the feeling of it just because they can afford it. My husband and I sail, and these huge houses are ruining the coastlines of our country so that a few pretentious, greedy people can display their wealth for a few weeks a year. Ok, I’ll stop talking about it, but it just irks me.

    • Anna says:

      Actually, the cement wall was always there and she’s now covering it with boulders, thus removing the eyesore.

    • Aura says:

      You might think it’s hideous, but maybe she needs it for security reasons? Has no one seem ‘The Bodyguard’?!!

      • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

        She has enough money to make it attractive, or at least less hideous, and maybe she will. Let’s hope so.

  4. Tapioca says:

    I can’t wait to hear the song about it!

  5. HQ says:

    These people have been bitching nonstop since Swift moved in. It’s all because there’s a path to the public beach on her property. They could easily use the longer path. Of course, she doesn’t want people on the land she bought. It’s hilarious how angry she makes them.

    • Jessica says:

      I didn’t know about the path on her property. If that’s so, then I don’t blame her for not wanting random people traipsing across her property to get to the beach when there is another way to get there. I’d put up a fence, too. And if I had to I’d make it an electric fence, like you do with horses, to keep people off my property.

    • We Are All Made of Stars says:

      Um, or she could easily stop having her people harass citizens who are entitled to use a public walkway, or she could have refrained from buying a property that was adjacent to a public walkway if she was bothered by the idea to begin with.

      • Kelly says:

        The beach is public. Not the walkway. The “walkway” is a shortcut people are taking on her property. Previous owners may have been ok with it but she has the right to prevent it if she chooses.

  6. Itzblissie says:

    I an not a taylor swift fan. But man if my neighbors are taking shortcuts thru my backyard everyday and in groups. I would be upset too. I would go to homedepot and buy myself some fense and install them.

    So i don’t blame her, its her property. They can do less about her than i can do with my neighbor’s ugly lawn ornaments.

    I live in new england, if what she is doing is a tiny bit illegal, you bet that someone is suing her. You can’t mess with these people.

  7. Tig says:

    She and/or her team prob checked and re-checked re permits and what’s permissible re re-furbishment- no doubt it’s allowed. And to be honest, the folks of that community seem to get their panties in a wad in about two nanoseconds. From the pics I’ve seen, appears her house is in some sort of area with other homes- wonder if these folks have gone off on them when they did something to their homes.

  8. Tippy says:

    There’s already substantial erosion on her property and she’d be foolish to not reinforce the rock wall to protect her home.

    If a public beach access easement exists they can walk along the man made cement sea wall or seek an alternate route.

    If the neighbors had a legitimate gripe then they would have taken legal action by now.

  9. Anna says:

    The newspaper retracted the story the following day and the columnist wrote Taylor a personal apology in his column yesterday.

  10. Allie says:

    She actively seeks out friendship with young women because not many guys can handle her princess schtick.

    Also, that house is gorgeous. Quite jealous. And I highly doubt her team didn’t research permits, etc.

  11. Kayvin says:

    Aren’t the key words here “HER property” ?

  12. Abby says:

    I agree with the statement about her actively seeking out girlfriends. That is one thing I do really like about Taylor. She’s a girl’s girl. She does have girl friends. Not saying there’s anything wrong with “guy’s girls” (Megan Fox comes to mind) but I do appreciate that she can get along with other girls.

    • Lucy says:

      True. Plus, the ladies she hangs out with seem pretty cool (Emma Stone, Sarah, and most recently, Lorde).

    • littlestar says:

      I really like that she has close friendships with other women too (although I’m slightly curious what the ratio of famous vs. non-famous friends is).

  13. ceci says:

    actually its funny that you say that she seeks out friendships with girls her own age because i live a town over from watch hill, and taylor hangs out with kids i used to babysit for. oh and i just turned 22 by the way- younger than her. some of them are still in high school. it’s weird.

    • Anna says:

      That’s a lie. She doesn’t socialise with locals at all.

      • ceci says:

        um she sends limos to pick them up and she serves minors alcohol too. also she may be annoying but she talks to a lot of the locals. definitely not a lie.

  14. Lila says:

    This whole thing is ridiculous. Taylor appears to invest in real estate. She’s essentially flipped more than one house. I’m sure her people know how to look into things and get the proper permits and permission. And from all government accounts, that is exactly what she did complete with full plans that she then worked with them to finalize. So shut up people. This has been going on for months. If there were any actual complaints here- nuisance, intimidation by security, devaluing adjoining property, etc- complaints and law suits would have been filed by now. This is just bitching.

    Obviously a wall is necessary. That’s a fact of ocean life in that area. But shouldn’t the fact that the last wall was destroyed by a hurricane be a red flag for these people? And that in the actual official comments, they say that the original wall was built because of the 1938 hurricane? Seriously, priorities people. Take the other path to the beach.

    As far as security, I don’t blame her for that. If they are trying to go on her property, then she has the right to block them, history or no history. There are other ways to access that section of the beach. Also while she seems to handle it very quietly, there have been several reports of ‘fans’ accessing her properties including at least one incident at this home. Taylor has stated that her parents and brother use the house more than she does. I don’t blame her for being hyper-vigilant. And as a celeb, I’m guessing that vigilance is also what keeps her from being photographed by paps spending time at any of her properties like those creepy back yard and pool shots we get of other celebs.

  15. Algernon says:

    Beach erosion is a serious environmental issue and is happening along both the east and west coasts. Hurricane Sandy devastated a lot of east coast beaches; the island of Nantucket is having horrible problems with post-Sandy erosion. This issue isn’t really about Taylor Swift, it’s about how to preserve beaches where people live but that are naturally eroding at an increased rate due to storms. Malibu is experiencing a similar problem with public beach/private access, and what to do with beaches where the public portions have eroded completely away. In California, most private residences have up to 100 feet of private shoreline before the beach becomes public access. That way, people can visit the beach but not stand in people’s back yards. However, in many places, those 100 feet no longer exist, and the waterline comes right up to the house during high tide. Taylor’s problem sounds very similar to the Malibu issue of her house being on or adjacent to public lands, and her wall project cutting off that public access. (There are also class issues involved since most beach residents tend to be very wealthy while the public day-trippers are perceived as coming from poorer, non-beach towns. There are also rich people who don’t live in seaside towns who use public beaches, but whatever.) Then there’s also the added “the neighbors hate her because she’s vulgar” strife, but really this comes down to the exact same problems you see anywhere beach erosion is happening. It has nothing to do with Taylor Swift and everything to do with valuable real estate that is literally being washed away by the truckload every day.

    • Anna says:

      Her wall doesn’t cut off any lateral access along the beach. At high tide, the water comes right up to her sea wall and always has done. At low tide, the beach will remain accessible. As for access to the beach from the road, there is a public pathway near Taylor’s house. Her security have only prevented people from sitting on the wall at the back of their house – it was a traditional spot for teenage revelry.

      • Algernon says:

        Which is all fine by me. I’m just saying, this issue is very common in coastal communities and really would be affecting anyone who lived in that house and was responsible for the wall’s upkeep, especially post-Sandy, which wrecked havoc with the coastlines. I’m normally willing to go after Taylor Swift because she seriously annoys me, but anyone living in that house would be dealing with this. It’s not about *her*. Or it shouldn’t be, but she’s famous, so it is.

      • Florc says:

        Anna
        In theory you’re correct. However, swifty’s security has already proven they will protect her property line (including the seawall) from anyone. Even those cleaning trash on the beach. So this wall might as well be eating several more yards up or public beach.

  16. Original A says:

    I’m no fan of Taylor’s, but it seems she is in the right. I also read that she has a private beach, but that people were cutting across her property to access an adjacent public beach.

  17. lucy2 says:

    If she has proper permits and is doing everything according to the town/state/DEP/Army Corps of Engineers, etc, then I don’t think there’s any point in complaining about it. Be glad she’s doing it right, and doing anything at all.

  18. Snarkweek says:

    Swifty:1 Surfer dudes:0

    Also, anything that upsets a bunch of blue haired stuffy old haters makes me giggle.

  19. Audrey says:

    Yay her cat is still around. At least she takes care of her pet 🙂

  20. Penny says:

    Why do people buy property on the water? It’s like all those people in Malibu who are freaking out because their mansions are a decade or so away from being swept into the ocean…do these people not do basic research before they spend tens of millions?

  21. Katija says:

    I feel like a Taylor Swift party would be not fun. Like there’s no hard alcohol and there’s way too many porcelain knick knacks around that you’re afraid of breaking. And around 12:30 she starts yawning and saying “it’s late.”

    • Anna-fo-Fanna says:

      I think that’s EXACTLY what she wants you to think. I don’t think that’s what happens.

  22. Pose83 says:

    I like her cat!

  23. Sumodo1 says:

    Swifty, you paid ALL THAT MONEY and there’s no pool.

    • Anna says:

      There is a pool. It’s the bra shaped thing on the left hand side of the photo. There’s a pool house too. (That’s an old photo from before she moved in. It’s more cleaned-up now.

  24. kellyinseattle says:

    I think she needs to change her lipstick once in awhile

  25. Angie says:

    I knew you were rubble when you walked in…
    So shame on me for not getting the permits to dig in…
    …dig in that WASPY beach oh!
    Now I’ve got just bunch of dumb rocks. OH! OH! Rubble, rubble, rubble…

    God bless Swifty, I love me some East-coast haterade.

  26. Marianne says:

    Whether or not the wall is ugly, I can understand why she does it. She probably doesnt want beach-goers taking pictures of her every move.