Scituate group wants town to expedite restoration of crumbling seawall
SCITUATE – A vote on whether to allocate $7 million of town funds to restore of a small portion of the seawall in Scituate failed at town meeting Monday night.
The area of crumbling seawall is about 570 feet and runs along the narrowest stretch of land on Lighthouse and Rebecca Roads.
The article required a two-thirds approval and did not meet the threshold.
Advocates say the seawall hasn't been updated in 50 years. "This wall has been a great job for 50 years. It's done exactly what it's supposed to do, we have the ocean over there, it's kept the harbor safe," George Simmons, a member of the Friends of Scituate Harbor group said.
But now, the wall is in such a state of disrepair that you can pull crumbling pieces off easily by hand.
Simmons fears one major storm could mean the open ocean water breaks over the 160 foot stretch of land into Scituate Harbor.
"I've got all of the marinas. I've got 1,000 boats in the summertime," plus the work of first responders that could be destroyed or impacted, he explained.
The Army Corps of Engineers recently essentially rejected the town's bid to fund and conduct reconstruction of a large portion of the entire seawall.
Simmons's group, Friends of Scituate Harbor, calculated based on the Army Corps' estimates that the small portion of seawall it aims to fix immediately would cost about $7 million.
The Town Administrator said the vote to free up the funds at town meeting Monday was premature.
"Everybody agrees that the seawall needs to be fixed," Jim Boudreau said, but added that a town vote "does not advance the seawall project by one day, one minute, or one second."
That's because the process is still in its early stages: design and permitting will take at least two years, he says, before the town can work to secure the funding to fix the wall.
But advocates like George Simmons says residents and homeowners can't wait much longer.
"People love to walk that wall. It's dangerous now," he said. "If we don't start now, that wall is going to fail."
Select Board member Maura Curran said the Board will be pursuing funding design financing at its next meeting.
