The back-to-back coastal storms that pummeled the Maine coast last January dealt a tremendous blow to wharves, piers, and many other critical parts of the state’s working waterfront. The scale of the damage along the coast was historic. Many feared that it would take years for private owners and municipalities to rebuild what had been lost.
Chipman's Wharf was one of many heavily damaged by the January storms. C. Clegg photo.
In response, the Maine Legislature in May authorized $60 million in the state’s supplemental budget to address the storms’ damages. Twenty-five million dollars went to a new Working Waterfront Resiliency Grant Program, overseen jointly by the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Marine Resources (DMR), and the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF). Those harmed by the storms submitted their applications for rebuilding grants by the end of June; $22.4 million was awarded in early August.
“The need to design and execute the Working Waterfront Resiliency Grant Program as quickly as possible was an opportunity for three State agencies with different areas of expertise to collaborate on a goal that none of us could have accomplished alone,” said Deirdre Gilbert, director of DMR’s Bureau of Policy and Management. “DMR brought its knowledge of specific working waterfront properties and businesses, DOT brought their knowledge of marine construction, and GOPIF brought their expertise in improving resilience, resulting in a program that made significant, targeted, and pragmatic investments in this critical infrastructure.”
Moving such a large sum of money to individual property and business owners swiftly posed an administrative challenge. To meet that challenge, the DOT drew on its existing Locally Administered Project program, which uses a municipal partnership agreement with towns to disperse money. “It’s tricky to develop a program to move state money to private entities,” said Chris Mayo, DOT director of ports and marine transportation. “By using the municipal partnership we can fund rebuilding projects at the municipal level. It’s a pass-through process for reimbursement.”
Applicants were required to show that their project served at least 10 commercial fishermen or people involved in aquaculture. In addition, they also needed to provide a 1-to-1 financial match toward the cost of the work.
Mayo said that using the municipal partnerships worked extremely well. “We wanted to make it easy for small towns,” he said. “The town accepts invoices for a project. They make sure the math is good. They send it to me for a final review and I submit it to the finance office. Then DOT sends the money to the town and they pay the grantee.”
Kathleen Billings, Stonington town manager, also felt the process went well. “The state turned it around fairly quickly. We were pretty torn up last winter,” she said. “Everyone got their stuff together, their itemized bills. I copied them and sent them to Chris, who looked it all over. There was about a three week wait after I turned in the invoices. The [grant] money went into the town checking account and out again. It was a nice program to help these guys.”
Thus far 20 projects have received reimbursement through the program. Others are due to be paid this year. Some towns, such as Harpswell, which was severely hit by the two storms, did not have a municipal partnership agreement in place, which has delayed receipt of grant money. The town put a municipal agreement up for vote during the November election. It passed. “I’m really excited to get Harpswell going, now that the agreement has been approved. Now their projects can go forward,” Mayo said.
Occasionally paying for a rebuilding project might be too costly for a business or individual to do all at once, regardless of the fact that the costs would be reimbursed. “We try to be flexible to help get the project done,” Mayo said. “Break it into smaller parts, like $5,000 of work at a time. We don’t mind reimbursing multiple times, that’s OK.”
The goal of the grant program was not simply to fund rebuilding but to encourage reconstruction that will last against a rising Gulf of Maine and more intense and frequent storms. “The purpose is to ensure the longevity of the traditional working waterfront for decades, not for five years,” Mayo said.
Many lobster co-ops took significant hits from the two storms. The Stonington Lobster Co-op lost one of its piers in the storms and received nearly $600,000 through the program. The new wharf, rebuilt in time for the fishing season, is two feet higher than the original; the base of the wharf was heavily reinforced to withstand future wind-driven waves and storm surges.
The New Harbor Co-op was awarded more than $500,000. The storms destroyed the two docks’ pilings, broke fuel lines and damaged its office building as well as bait freezer. The co-op rebuilt its docks two feet higher, relocated the office to a better location, and repaired extensive electrical damage.
The heavily damaged Corea Lobster Co-op received slightly less than $330,000 to repair its wharf and other structures wrecked by the storms. Other co-ops, including the Vinalhaven Fisherman’s Co-op, the Georgetown Fisherman’s Co-op, the Spruce Head Co-op, the Port Clyde Co-op, and the Cranberry Isles Fishermen’s Co-op, also received resiliency grants.
“These co-ops are really crucial for the state,” Mayo said. “All things considered, to launch a new program and funding mechanisms this quickly is pretty outstanding. In terms of government, this is super fast.”
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