ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
A proposed breakwater in Swampscott would control waves like these taken from Red Rock in Lynn.
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
SWAMPSCOTT — Two proposed breakwaters could help to improve the protection given to the waterfront and harbor in Swampscott, according to representatives from the Harbor and Waterfront Advisory Committee and APEX, a consulting firm.
“It will help make Swampscott a destination city,” said Jay Borkland, vice president and director of waterways and new energy services at APEX.
Milton Fistel, member of the Harbor and Waterfront Advisory Committee, said a $475,000 grant was received in 2010 for what was supposed to be a dredging project study.
Fistel said the committee went out for a Request for Proposals for the study and decided to hire APEX, a Boston-based company that offers comprehensive professional and field services to assess, prevent and cure environmental issues related to water, ground, facilities and air quality, according to a company description.
Fistel said APEX came on board in 2012 and started the preliminary study work on the dredging project. He said another $115,000 was needed to study the breakwater. Those funds were provided by the Seaport Advisory Council.
The results of the study were presented at a Feb. 3 Board of Selectmen meeting by Jackson Schultz, chairman of the Harbor and Waterfront Advisory Committee, Borkland and Donald Boye, senior project manager for APEX.
With the study, it was found that dredging would prove to be too costly and not a permanent solution. Fistel said eelgrass was found in the harbor and would have made the project too expensive.
According to the presentation, there are many regulatory approvals involved with eelgrass and dredging. Eelgrass restoration costs would be $120,000 per acre. The dredging project price would be driven to the $3.7 million to $4.2 million, which includes about $2 million for beach nourishment. The dredging would also need to be repeated every 10 to 20 years for maintenance and wouldn’t be a one-time cost.
According to the presentation, the dredging project would improve access, but does not protect the harbor from damage.
Instead, presenters recommended that the town move forward with a two-part breakwater design on Humphrey Street, which would protect the harbor from the Southeast and Southwest. Fistel said a breakwater off Lincoln House Point would mitigate waves coming out of the Southeast, and the other breakwater, which would be off Humphrey Street going towards Lynn, would mitigate waves from the Southwest. He said the harbor is already protected from the Northeast, as Lincoln House Point sticks far out into the harbor and provides a natural land area of protection.
Fistel said the breakwaters, which are typically made of very big stones or boulders about 10 to 15 tons each, in a pyramid design, would be about 1,800 feet offshore from the beach. At low tide, he said the breakwater would be about 20 feet above the water and eight feet wide at the top of the structure. He said the length of the breakwater would be about 2,200 feet.
The cost of the proposed $7 million breakwater project could be driven down to about $4.8 million if stones could be acquired from the Boston Harbor dredging project, according to the presentation.
“When I think of the harbor, I see three ways you can go,” John Callahan, member of the Board of Selectmen, said. “The way we have been going, [which is] stick your head in the sand and forget about it, dredge and replace, [which we would] do every 10 to 20 years, or put up the breakwater, [which is] a one and done solution. It seems like a pretty sensible solution.”
According to the presentation, a breakwater design would offer greater protection for the harbor and shoreline infrastructure than a dredging project. It would also reduce the regulatory difficulties associated with impacting eelgrass beds.
Dredging the harbor would benefit the boating community, while a breakwater would benefit the entire community, according to the presentation. Benefits outlined include making Swampscott a very protected harbor by sharply reducing storm damage to vessels and the waterfront, and wave run-up flooding. Other benefits outlined include encouraging waterfront development on Humphrey Street and providing a rocky habitat for lobsters, mussels and juvenile fish.
Fistel said the breakwater would reduce flooding on Puritan Road and Humphrey Street during storms. He said the breakwater wouldn’t stop an eight- to 10-foot wave during a storm completely, as some of the water is going to come over, but would break a typical five-foot wave.
“Another positive project associated with the breakwater is that the Swampscott Renewable Energy Committee is exploring the feasibility of using the breakwaters to attach a wave-powered turbine to produce electricity,” Fistel said.
Boye said if the breakwater project were to move forward, he would expect it to begin in early 2017. Public input is still needed as the committee and APEX will present the project in a series of public meetings before possible approval is received from the Board of Selectmen. A timeline has not been set for those meetings.
“While we’re doing this, simultaneously, we need to look at various options of how we pay for this,” Town Administrator Thomas Younger said. “We don’t want to be stopped along the way with ‘how do we pay for this.”
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.