Posted on August 27, 2018
The state Board of Public Works has approved grants to design shoreline restoration projects in Anne Arundel.
Six Coastal Resiliency Program grants totaling $380,000 were awarded Wednesday, three of them in the county. All were for design work for the projects.
Maryland’s coastline, including 520 miles of shoreline in Anne Arundel, experiences flooding and erosion, caused by tides and storms. And it’s beginning to be affected by sea level rise.
Natural habitats like marshes, coastal forests, and living shorelines, can reduce the affects of these hazards by easing the steady degradation from wave action and the resulting sediment destabilization.
The projects being funded include natural adaptation solutions to conditions locally and better prepare communities for climate change, Maryland Department of Natural Resources officials said in the press release announcing the grant approval.
The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, working with local organizations, is gearing up to address erosion, sea level rise and stormwater pollution at West River Methodist Center in Churchton via a 760-linear foot living shoreline and stormwater conveyance project.
According to West/Rhode Riverkeeper Jeff Holland, the West River project continues shoreline work at the facility.
“They already have one segment done and this will continue that around their shoreline,” Holland said.
The project also includes some upstream work to help treat stormwater.
“It treats the stormwater as it runs off the property before it gets to the living shoreline,” Holland added.
The Deale Beach Citizens Association was awarded $40,000 to design a 175-linear foot living shoreline, replacing an existing hardened shoreline, that will also address storm impacts and the impact of battering waves. The project kicks off a wider community storm resiliency effort, the Department of Natural Resources said.
The third project funded Wednesday was St. Mary’s Catholic Church’s effort to improve conditions of its shoreline along Spa Creek in Annapolis. The $75,000 grant will design a 650-foot living shoreline to work hand-in-hand with stormwater treatment practices on the site.
The West/Rhode Riverkeeper is also overseeing a similar Coastal Resiliency Program project at Franklin Point Park, a 477-acre park saved from development by local residents 20 years ago near Columbia Beach on the Shady Side peninsula.
That project was granted $70,000 in March for design work.
Holland was excited to report that the design bids would be opened on Thursday.
“Part of the Resiliency Program is community engagement to get local residents to buy into the work being done,” Holland said. “When the designer comes up with a preliminary plan we will have public meetings to ask the community what they think.”
The project should break ground in a year. A $1.3 million grant has already been awarded for the construction.
The other grants awarded Wednesday were for projects in Oxford and Worcester County.
Source: Capital Gazette
