By Journal Staff
The Beachmont Resilience Project (BRP), which consists of city officials, the North Suffolk Office of Resilience and Sustainability (NSORS) , and the Woods Hole Group (WHG), held a meeting via TEAMS last Wednesday, February 5. The virtual meeting was a follow-up meeting to one that the BRP held in-person the previous week.
The meetings were aimed primarily for the benefit of Beachmont residents whose properties fringe Belle Isle Marsh to inform them of what the BRG is doing to address the problem of flooding and to hear their concerns and suggestions.
Beachmont long has been viewed as the proverbial canary in the coal mine for the impending impacts of sea level rise attributable to climate change. The meeting was moderated by Kristin Homeyer, who is the Resilience Manager for NSORS.
Also on hand were Justine Rooney, Conor Ofsthun, and Linnea Laux from WHG; Rebecca Haney, Katherine Glenn, and India Mackinson from Office of Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management (MCZM), which is providing the funding for the project; and Tom Swierawski, the head of Planning and Development for the city, and Elle Baker, who is the city’s Open Space and Environmental Planner.
Ofsthun from the Woods Hole Group (WHG) explained that resilience work has been ongoing around Belle Isle Marsh for the past five years. He said the marsh, which is an Area of Critical of Environmental Concern (ACEC), is a habitat to birds, fisheries, animals, and pollinators. It is one of the largest remaining wetlands in Boston Harbor, but has been impacted by encroaching development within the coastal zone.
He noted that presently there are two ongoing resilience projects in the areas of Bennington St./Fredericks Park/Morton St. and Short Beach/Winthrop Parkway. The focus of the discussion last week was the MCZM’s Beachmont/Pearl Ave. Project, which essentially is the connecting link between those other two projects.
Rooney of the WHG explained that the focus area of the project is the residential and municipal roadways on the outskirts of the Belle Isle Marsh (Pearl Ave., Summer St., Crystal Ave., and Winthrop Ave.). The project’s goal is developing a plan for protecting at-risk Beachmont homes that are near the marsh and that are vulnerable to the threats of sea-level rise, more-intense storms, and so-called “sunny day” flooding. She said the aim of the project is to enhance resilience and mitigate the effects of flooding in that section of Beachmont.
Rooney noted that the WHG already has conducted a wetland resource delineation of the area and a topographic site survey, and soon will be developing a coastal flood risk assessment and a cost-benefit analysis with recommendations for both near-term and long-term solutions.
There will be another community meeting in May to present the findings of the BRP and to receive more community input, after which there will be a final report.
Laux from the WHG said that the community has been very helpful in providing feedback via photos and videos to show what is happening “on the ground” during flooding events. She also presented FEMA’s 100-year flood map, as well as a map developed by the WHG detailing the vulnerability of the coastal areas to flooding from a storm based on a sea-rise level of 1.3 feet.
Another map showed the projected impact of so-called “sunny day” flooding events for the marsh for 2030, 2050, and 2070. A final map showed the homes in the area that are likely to experience flooding by 2070 thanks to sea-level rise.
“There is not going to be one silver bullet that will mitigate flooding for everyone,” Rooney cautioned. “Each property is unique.”
Jim, a resident of Beachmont for many years, commented, “You are dead-on with the sea level rise. We see multiple storms a year where the water comes over the Winthrop Parkway and floods the marsh. What kinds of measures are you thinking about, such as dam structures or anything else, to control water levels in the marsh during high-impact times?”
Ofsthun said that the idea of damming the marsh, such as putting up a storm-surge barrier at the inlet at the Winthrop/East Boston line that could be deployed for a Nor’easter, has been raised by the Friends of Belle Isle Marsh, among others.
“However, the feasibility for that is difficult and expensive and would have significant impacts on the environment,” said Ofsthun. “In addition, there are other sources of flooding, so plugging just one of those holes does not really solve the full problem.”
Rooney also noted that the limited scope of the BRP is to address immediate needs and to do something that can protect homes in the short-term, which may be as simple as providing sandbags to residents.
A Pearl Ave. resident asked about the routine flooding in his section of the street that typically reaches 2-3 feet.
“That is the lowest-lying part of Pearl Ave., which definitely is ‘ground zero’ for flooding,” said Laux, who noted that sunny-day flooding is common there.
Tom, another resident, suggested that private homeowners and the city should split the costs of deployable flood-barrier structures in their neighborhood.
Rooney noted that whatever is done, neighbors have to figure out how to work together in order to come up with a solution that will benefit the entire neighborhood.
Another resident said, “I do not get flooding from the marsh, but from the underground stream and when the water comes over the seawall, there is a pool of water in our street.” Haux noted that rainwater that combines with sea water is contributing to this problem.
Residents noted that they typically move their autos to higher ground in order to save them from flooding and communicate with each other about the possibility of a flooding event that would require them to move their vehicles.
Some residents noted that flooding has caused damage to their electrical and other systems in their homes. They said that even multiple sump pumps often do not provide relief, but that the cost of raising their homes is prohibitively expensive.
A few residents said that they expect to be moving from the area within a few years because the flooding problem has made their neighborhood unliveable. Another resident said his recent tenants moved out after just two months because of the flooding issues.
“This is a great neighborhood, but living with flooding is hard, especially when you’re not expecting it,” one resident commented, while another commenter noted, “Flooding is the worst (to deal with) when it’s nice out.”
The meeting concluded with Homeyer thanking residents for their input. She added that the BRP will be looking forward to meeting again with residents in May.
