Local officials are praising the launch of a statewide coastal resilience program focused on safeguarding seaside communities like Marblehead from the escalating threats of climate-fueled flooding and erosion.
Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll announced ResilientCoasts, which will establish regional coastal resilience districts based on climate vulnerabilities to develop strategies and solutions tailored to those areas. A chief coastal resilience officer will lead the coastal resilience efforts across the state.
“Clearly, it is good news because we — through the harbor plan, municipal vulnerability preparedness, hazard mitigation plan and the coastal resiliency project — understand there is a lot of need,” Marblehead Town Planner Becky Cutting told the Current. “This program is designed to help us develop a strategy and address issues that do not know boundaries, so I applaud and welcome a regional approach.”
Marblehead has over 13 miles of coastline and its Harbor Plan outlines over $6.5 million in repairs needed just for municipal seawalls, piers and other structures facing increased threats from flooding and storms due to climate change. That price tag doesn’t even account for costs to armor other critical infrastructure against rising seas and worsening ocean storms.
“As a coastal community with 24 seawalls within Marblehead Harbor (this does not include the others on the shoreline outside of the harbor), there is ongoing maintenance,” Cutting said. “Another major factor is the vulnerability of these areas to storm damage and sea level rise.”
She added that Marblehead is …. “no stranger to the ferocity of the ocean, destructive storms, storm surge and coastal erosion.”
Massachusetts has over 1,500 miles of coastline and 55% of the coastal residents live in environmental justice communities. State models project over $1 billion in average annual coastal damage from rising seas and flooding by 2070.
“Climate change poses a very real threat to our coastal way of life, but it also presents a unique opportunity for us to build communities that are safer and more equitable for years to come,” Healey said.
Through already existing programs, Marblehead has received over $770,000 in recent state grants for coastal resilience planning and projects. And the town is in the process of hiring a sustainability coordinator who will focus in part on resiliency initiatives.
“This sustainability coordinator, when that person comes on board, you know, resiliency is part of the sustainability effort,” said Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer. “So we will have another person focused on working on these types of issues.”
Kezer underscored that advancing coastal resilience in Marblehead would require a deep state-local partnership, given its price tag.
“For local governments to take on these sorts of extraordinary resiliency costs – while we are already struggling to fulfill the everyday obligations of governing – partnering with the state is crucial if we hope to accomplish meaningful progress,” said Kezer. “We actually need the state to partner with us to be able to take any actions on this.”
