Machias Waterfront Resilience & Renewal Study
The town of Machias received a Coastal Communities grant from the Maine Coastal Program to complete three discrete yet related planning tasks:
- a feasibility study to identify conceptual designs and establish a plan to build flood protection along the existing seawall in downtown Machias,
- an economic analysis of the protection afforded by improving flood protection to the businesses in downtown Machias, and
- conceptual plans incorporating seawall improvements into the restoration of the historic wharf and river walk, which could separate pedestrians from vehicle traffic and revitalize downtown Machias.
Each task contributes towards making downtown Machias more resilient, and taken together, provide a complimentary approach to achieving a more sustainable and vibrant community.
The study area includes the tidal shoreline along the north side of the Machias River from the foot of Center Street behind the Machias Hardware building to the boat launch upstream of the dyke. Given its vulnerability to flooding the study also includes the area near the wastewater treatment plant. Finally, though this work does not include the renovations to the gates on the dyke proposed by Maine DOT, it is clearly related to that work and we are coordinated our efforts with Maine DOT.
October 2019
- Award of FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation Advance Assistance Planning Grant for $200,000
November 2018 — January 2019 Activities
- Preparation and submission (1-31-2019) of a FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation Advance Assistance Planning Grant
- Receipt of final Waterfront Resilience Study (12.9MB) prepared by Baker Design Associates (submitted with FEMA PDM Planning Grant)
October 15, 2018 Community Meeting
- Powerpoint Presentations — broken into segments to reduce download time:
- Introduction, agenda, project timeline, oral histories assembly, definitions
- Purpose & Need, engineering study objectives, progress to date, existing conditions, flood risk analysis
- Economic Impact Study
- Flood Scenarios, relationship of scenarios to future flood risk, FEMA accreditation,
- Flood Protection Concepts, Concept Design Alternatives
- Concept Cost Estimate
- Machias Flood Resilience Study, Present and Future Flood Risk prepared by Ransom Consulting Engineers and Scientists
- Meeting handout — with BFE etc. definitions
- Minutes
July 18, 2018 Meeting with Machias Historical Society
- Project background handout for July 18, 2018 Meeting with Machias Historical Society (meeting minutes + technical additions from engineer)
August 13, 2018 Annual General Meeting with Machias Historical Society
- August 13, 2018 presentation (8MB PDF) to the Annual General Meeting of the Machias Historical Society
The agendas and minutes of the Machias Resilience Committee are posted below.
June 27, 2018 Community Meeting
- Presentation (~6MB)
- Preliminary Survey (~5MB — 3 pages: initial survey, flood hazard areas, flood protection layout)
- Definitions
- Minutes
June 11, 2018 Resilience Committee Meeting
May 24, 2018 Contractors Team Meeting
April 9, 2018 Kickoff Meeting
March 13, 2020 RFP Posted for Design/ Build
June, 2020 Ransom/Baker Design Collaboration Selected
July 21, 2020 Kickoff Meeting
August 7th, 2020 Engineers Provide Preliminary Design Proposals & Interpretive Panels