By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer

Saco may hire a Washington, D.C.-based law firm from to advocate for its position on how to fix Camp Ellis beach erosion and ensure the city isn’t vulnerable to lawsuits from property owners. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has told the city it will be required to sign a third-party agreement that holds it responsible for maintenance of sand and rocks used to fix erosion issues in Camp Ellis. City Administrator Richard Michaud said the city needs to retain a Washington, D.C.-based firm to avoid signing an agreement that the council is “extremely unlikely” to sign.

The Corps’ preferred plan of installing a jetty spur would cost $17 million. The locally preferred plan requires construction of a spur and three breakwater segments 1,000 feet offshore. A fourth breakwater would be placed 400 feet off Fairhaven Avenue in Ferry Beach, he said. The cost of that project is $40 million.

A jetty is perpendicular to the shoreline, while a breakwater is parallel to the shore. The breakwater structures will be made of “Volkswagen car-sized rocks,” Michaud said.

Michaud said the federally preferred plan would require placing 300,000 to 400,000 cubic yards of sand on the beach, which he said is likely to wash away within two years. He said it costs $10 per cubic yard of sand. If the city signed the agreement and did not maintain the sand, property owners could sue the city, he said.

“This cycle could continue indefinitely,” he said.

Any project plan would require the same level of beach nourishment, but locally preferred plan models indicate sand additions would be needed twice in the next 50 years, Michaud said.

Installing a spur plus four breakwater segments would have a “very significant beneficial effect” on the beach when coupled with the addition of more sand would stabilize Camp Ellis Beach, Michaud said. The public works department currently spends $50,000 to $100,000 per year to haul sand to Camp Ellis. He said that is “very different” than spending $3 million to put down 300,000 cubic yards of sand.

Any project plan would require the same level of beach nourishment, but locally preferred plan models indicate sand additions would be needed twice in the next 50 years, Michaud said.

The New England district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is doing studies to find a remedy for ongoing erosion of Camp Ellis Beach. The study is under the authority of Section 111 of the River and Harbor Act of 1968 and is being done in response to requests from Saco and state officials.

The Corps meets periodically with state and city officials to discuss ongoing computer modeling efforts being conducted by the Woods Hole Group of Massachusetts. The models examine effects of coastal structures of wave climate, currents and erosion.

The project will exceed the $5 million statutory cap under Section 111 authority. However Congress in 2007 waived that cap for the project in the Water Resources Development Act, which expanded the maximum price tag to $26.9 million.

Michaud said he anticipates Corps studies will be done by the end of the year and the group will expect the city to sign a third party agreement at that time to move the project forward. It would be hard to move the project forward without support of state officials during the permitting process, he said.

The jetty was built in 1866 to protect the navigable channel of Saco River from sand. The jetty was extended in 1897, 1930 and 1938. It was raised at various times through 1969.

Maine State Geologist Robert Marvinney of the Department of Conservation said Section 111 is unique because it acknowledges a Corps structure is causing problems in Camp Ellis. He said the Corps has third-party agreements with other types of projects, such as harbor dredging. The state supports finding a solution to the problem, he said.

“To the state a solution for Camp Ellis is not just shifting the problem to the next stretch of beach,” he said.

Mayor Roland Michaud said the agreement would be a “vulnerability” for the city as it works to bring a resolution to the Camp Ellis problems.

“If we could find a way to eliminate the need for the third-party agreement it’s a tremendous relief to the community, he said. “The earlier we strike trying to get this out of the picture, the better.”

Councilor Leslie Smith Jr. suggested the city wait to see what the Corps’ final offer for a project will be before spending money to hire a law firm. He said the jetty spur proposed by the Corps is “way too short and needs to go out a considerable distance to ensure the sand doesn’t keep going to Scarborough.”

Councilor Marston Lovell expressed concern that failure to accept the agreement would cause the Corps to walk away. He asked about the feasibility of redesignating a federal anchorage and removing the jetty.

Mayor Michaud said it would take an act of Congress to do that and the cost would be “astronomical.” Shoreline Commission member Richard Milliard said removing the jetty previously was judged impractical because it would cause “severe” problems at Hills Beach in Biddeford.

“It seems appropriate we would hire someone if we don’t want to give the Army Corps of Engineers some reason to walk away from this,” Lovell said.

Councilor Jeffrey Christenbury asked Michaud if hiring a law firm would draw attention from Maine’s Congressional delegation. Michaud said it seems interest by the delegation in the Camp Ellis problems has fallen off recently. The mayor said Congressional staff continues to work with the city when possible.

George Kerr, an Old Orchard Beach resident who owns three Saco oceanfront homes, said beach erosion was exacerbated every time the height or length of the jetty increased. He said participating in a third-party agreement isn’t “fair to the community.”

“We’ve been kind of patsies lately. This thing has been going on and on and on and on because no one has taken on the Army Corps of Engineers,” he said. 

Ferry Beach resident Joe Walker said the dune in front of his home on Fairhaven Avenue has disappeared during the past three or four years. His home is now “basically at the high-water mark” and seawater fills his basement during large storms.

Walker said the city should have done more years ago to address problems in Camp Ellis and Ferry Beach. Surf Street, which runs along the ocean, is barely passable by foot and is a “disgrace” to the city, he said.

“It’s quite a scene down where when the ocean rolls up the street,” he said.

Mayor Michaud said he has been working on the Camp Ellis issue for 17 years and city officials have dealt with it even longer.

“I really think we have to continue working forward. It’s been a tough road. It must be incredibly frustrating to live there,” he said. “I apologize. We have tried our best as a community to get this done. We’re not giving up. This can happen but it’s going to take a lot more work.”

Michaud, the city administrator, said he will contact the firm Mitchell and Mitchell in Washington to get their credentials and free structure and gauge their interest in working with Saco. He said he expects to present that information to the council for consideration in May.

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.