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.
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!
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.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, Instagram.
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