Penobscot
Landing
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| Brewer Gears Up to Combat Riverfront Erosion
BREWER — City councilors Tuesday night took steps to prevent further erosion along the Penobscot River. During their monthly meeting, city councilors agreed to have Civil Engineering Services Inc. of Brewer work with riverfront property owners to organize, design and obtain permits for the stabilization of the Penobscot River shoreline — work that must be done soon to avoid further losses of frontage to erosion.Officials said the firm was tapped for the job because of its deep involvement in the early stages of the waterfront redevelopment plan and its familiarity with the area. The councilors set aside up to $5,000 for the work. Halting erosion along the waterfront is a chief concern for the city, which recently adopted a redevelopment plan for Penobscot Landing, the name assigned to the area that runs along the Penobscot River from just north of the Penobscot River Bridge southward to the Orrington line. Among the attractions proposed for Penobscot Landing are a riverside recreational path, an entertainment and niche retail district, a marina and a boat launch, a children’s garden, a public market and artisan cooperative, a boat-building demonstration site and a small performing arts center. Erosion, however, is one problem that planners agree must be dealt with before some aspects of the redevelopment plan can be implemented. During a briefing for regional, state and federal officials last fall, CES’ James Parker said that the segment of the riverfront earmarked for the greatest change — the area around the three bridges between Brewer and Bangor — has about 4,500 linear feet of shoreline, the bulk of which needs to be reclaimed. The exceptions, Parker said, are short sections reclaimed as part of bridge repair work and a stretch south of the Veterans Remembrance Bridge. Much of the timber cribbing that once ran along much of Brewer’s waterfront during the region’s lumbering and shipbuilding days has been washed out by ice and water. What remains is rotting, having gone without maintenance for 75 to 100 years, Parker said earlier. In some unprotected stretches, erosion moves the shoreline back as much as 15 feet a year. Parker said that the rate at which the shoreline here is deteriorating is accelerating. In his estimation, stopping further erosion could be perhaps the single most expensive waterfront problem to address. Parker said earlier that the city has three options for shoring up its shoreline. It could install a barrier of stone riprap at an estimated cost of $600 per linear foot, which might not be suited to spots earmarked for boat access, or it could build new timber cribbing or metal sheet piling at a cost of between $1,200 and $1,400 a running foot. The proposed stabilization program would involve shoring up about 4,000 linear feet of river frontage at a cost of up to $5 million, depending on the method or methods used, according to Economic Development Director Drew Sachs. Given that, the city already is in the process of applying for state and federal assistance for the work. Sachs said members of the state’s congressional delegation have suggested that the city’s prospects for millions of dollars in federal funding look good. In addition, the city is in the process of applying for a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant from the federal government and hopes to receive assistance from the state Department of Transportation. This is a copyright article written by Dawn Gagnon of the NEWS Staff that appeared in the Bangor Daily News, Wednesday, January 17, 2001. Waterfront Advisory Committee |
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The
City of Brewer