Riverfront residents seek solid protection from flooding over vegetative berms

By Barbara Taormina

City officials met with Point of Pines and Riverside residents at the Point of Pines Yacht Club last month to review the Riverfront Master Plan. Once again, the discussion focused on the proposed vegetative berm that planners hope would prevent the chronic nuisance flooding that occurs during high tides and storms in the neighborhood surrounding Gibson Park.

Director of Planning and Community Development Tom Skwierawski explained that the city has been awarded a $280,000 grant to study and plan drainage for the neighborhood. The city is committing another $100,000 for the drainage work along with a $1.9 million grant to study and design the berm.

But residents are united in their opposition to the berm, which they say will limit their access to the waterfront and interfere with the waterfront views from their homes. The proposed berm would have three access points to the water. There are currently 11 places where residents can get to the water.

Some residents said they would prefer the flooding, which they have been coping with for generations, but climate resiliency is baked into the master plan and rising sea level is a concern. And Skwierawski said flooding needs to be addressed to ensure emergency vehicles have access to the area.

Residents have continually asked for a seawall to protect the neighborhood from flooding, but Skwierawski explained that the state will not construct any new seawalls and will only repair structures built before 1978. He did, however, say that state regulators were open to discussing the possibility of increasing access points to the waterfront.

Residents also proposed dredging the shoreline and said flooding wasn’t as bad in years past when dredging was done. But Skwierawski said dredging would be a federal issue and would cost more money.

Mayor Patrick Keefe, who was also in attendance at the meeting, said work to improve neighborhood drainage should have been done years ago. He added that the city was told a seawall isn’t an option and to please stop asking. He did say planners would investigate if the $1.9 million for study and design of the berm could be used for designing drainage improvements.