– Notice –
We will meet at the Black Duck at 2 PM
on Saturday, June 14, to provide an update on
Corea Project Activities, including recent
information beyond what we shared below

Coastal resilience work around Corea Harbor is moving from planning to action. Building on the two meetings with Corea residents last summer and fall, the Town of Gouldsboro has charted a course that, if all goes well, will lead to construction to address flooding and storm damage at the Crowley Island Causeway and the stream crossing at the junction of Corea, Cranberry Point, and Francis Pound roads.

Focusing on Getting Something Done

The Corea Harbor project focuses on the two locations, the “Causeway” and the “Junction,” highlighted in this drone photo.

The meetings with Corea residents and the work by Streamworks and FB Environmental consultants provided a deeper, richer understanding of the work needed at these two sites. The Town learned that:

• There is an urgent need to address the vulnerabilities at both locations.
• There are alternative approaches for each site. Increasingly expensive alternatives provide a greater degree of protection and resilience.
• Raising the hundreds of thousands of dollars required to meet grant match requirements for all but the least expensive, base-level alternatives would take many years, if it could be done at all.
• Choosing between base-level and more expensive options is not strictly either/or: The base-level options create a foundation on which the Town can subsequently implement more resilient options.

As the Coastal Resilience Committee put together these new pieces of the puzzle, we recognized that it did not make sense to spend the rest of the funding available in this project on deeper analysis and design work for alternatives that the Town would not be able to implement in the next few years. So, with assistance from our project partners at Streamworks and FB Environmental, we refocused the project on doing the engineering and permitting work required to put us in a position to start seeking construction funding this summer and fall.

The remaining project funds would not be able to cover the costs of design and permitting work at both locations. We decided to focus what remained on addressing the flooding problem at the Junction. We chose the Junction because the Town had been working with FEMA since last fall to secure replacement and mitigation funding that would enable Gouldsboro to rebuild the Causeway, replacing the sub-base and raising the road by two feet. This would restore the Causeway to its height when it was built by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1980s and provide a solution similar to the base-level alternative presented during the November meeting in Corea. As of December, the Town’s application had moved through all the procedural checks and steps, and we were awaiting a final decision and a check.

The Coastal Resilience Committee and Town Manager met with the people at the state level who awarded Corea Project funding to describe how and why we wanted to narrow and deepen the project’s focus. After submitting a revised version of our application, we are now on our way toward doing the work needed to seek funds to start construction at that location next year.

The Planned Work at the Junction in a Nutshell

At the end of the revised project, the Town will have:

• Design and engineering work done to “permit-level” (75% design) for a new stream crossing at the Junction that is sized to accommodate bi-directional flow in a 2025 100-year storm event and allow full tidal flushing and aquatic organism passage. In addition, the design will accommodate the regrowth or expansion of intertidal wetlands upstream of the existing crossing and minimize scouring at the stream outflow side of the crossing.
• Cost estimates for construction.
• A wetlands delineation for the project site and all ecological and biological assessments required for permitting, including efforts related to agency coordination – putting the project in front of the regulators early to get feedback, coordinating required meetings, and working with regulators to identify and solve any concerns early in the process.
• A list of possible funding sources for design and construction that describes the opportunities, relevant application deadlines, and other detail.

The FEMA Question

We recognize that FEMA funding is now less certain than it was at the start of this year when the Town revised the project focus. Plans at the federal level are in a state of flux. Funding for the current part of the Corea Project is secure but must be used within a fixed timeframe. Staying on the course the Town has charted will result in designs and permitting that will be useful and valid for at least two years. If FEMA support disappears, the Town will deal with that matter either at the upcoming town meeting in June or in special town meetings this coming fall.

Meetings this Spring

The Coastal Resilience Committee plans to hold two more meetings in Corea this spring and summer. The first meeting, tentatively scheduled in May, will provide Gouldsboro residents with more details on the information presented here and an opportunity think together about these issues. The final meeting, tentatively scheduled for June, will present the engineering plans and the status of the permitting work completed by this project.

Near Term: Wetlands Delineation

An ecologist and GIS specialist from FB Environmental will be on-site at the Junction stream-crossing tomorrow, April 4, to conduct a wetlands delineation in order to identify and map the boundaries of wetlands around the culvert and collect information about the vegetation, soils, and hydrology above and below the culvert.

If you have questions about this work, get in touch with me at billzoellick@gouldsboroshore.me.