KENNEBUNK – Kennebunk’s collapsed sea wall by the Narragansett by the Sea condominium complex will finally be repaired this fall. A $1.3 million project will restore the barrier nearly three years after a succession of storms undermined the wall and caused the sidewalk and roadway to buckle.
The town originally hoped to incorporate several design changes into the new wall. Those changes would have reinforced the concrete structure and modified the shape to reduce the velocity of incoming waves. However, late negotiations with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection resulted in rejection of the design changes. Because the wall is located in a mapped frontal dune, design modifications would have required a Maine Natural Resource Protection Act permit and additional months of negotiations.
While the DEP’s decision is a disappointment, Town Engineer Chris Osterrieder noted that although the design changes “would have provided more benefit in terms of preventing splash over in smaller events, the larger ones were still likely to have similar impacts.” Essentially cobble and other storm driven debris will continue to litter the road after major storms.
The road and walkways will be reconstructed to better manage the flooding of the roadway. According to Osterrieder, “This is a transitional approach to managing a situation that we cannot design our way out of – rather accommodate – as the impacts of climate change are planned for.”
The restoration cannot come soon enough for the residents of the Narragansett condominiums. Beach Avenue at Narragansett Point (also known as Oakes Neck) has always been a major splash over point during big storms. The road is often littered with cobble after a high surf. But in the last two years, rocks and chunks of cement used as fill for the void created by the collapsed wall have added to the debris – these hazards often blocking the road and carpeting the lawn of the Narragansett.
In its 2024-25 budget, the Town of Kennebunk set aside $2.5 million from its unassigned fund balance for storm-related repairs. According to Finance Director Kayla Tierney, over $2 million has been expended on 13 separate projects, including repairs to the road and sidewalks along all three beaches and flood damage to the Bridle Path and the Lower Village boardwalk.
All 13 projects qualify for storm disaster relief under the March 2024 Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster declaration. As such, FEMA and the Maine Emergency Management Agency will reimburse the town 75% and 15%, respectively, for the town’s storm-related expenses, leaving Kennebunk with a net expense of over $200,000. When all of these reimbursements have been received, over $2 million of the original town allocation will flow back into unassigned funds.
According to Osterrieder, construction is likely to start in mid-September and extend to the end of the year.
