Castine may add a floating breakwater at its public dock to help protect it from rising seas and strong storms.
The breakwater, which could be added in the next few years, is one of the recommendations in a recent feasibility study of options for protecting the town dock. That process evaluated flood risks there in the face of sea level rise projections, gathered resident input on priorities for the site, and made recommendations for short- and long-term projects.
A breakwater is one of numerous ideas the town will now evaluate and try to find funding for at the downtown dock, which includes municipal parking, numerous buildings, two piers, a wharf, a boat ramp, a pump station and floating docks at the center of its waterfront tourism.
In the coming years, Castine is on track to see more changes to the centrally located waterfront as neighboring Maine Maritime Academy constructs a longer pier for a new, larger training ship and the town considers larger long-term resiliency projects such as raising the elevation of its parking lot.
The study was commissioned in response to historic January 2024 storms that submerged the dock, causing damage the town is still repairing. The study aims to give Castine a road map to think about preparing for future storms and avoiding costly repairs, according to Lisa Vickers of GEI Consultants, who presented its findings to residents Tuesday.
One recommendation for the next two years is installing a floating breakwater, which could stay in the water year-round and weaken the power of waves before they reach the dock and parking lot.
Vickers also presented two different suggestions for major longer-term projects to meet sea level rise projections in 2050.
One would raise the town parking lot and the bulkhead, along with adding a new wharf and floats for vessels to tie up. Another, based on resident feedback wanting more green space that could be used for community events, includes eliminating some parking and connecting walkways in addition to elevating the lot.
Other vulnerabilities and potential projects are also outlined in the 70-page study, and the harbor committee plans to consider them all, according to Town Manager Derik Goodine.
The committee and town staff will reference the study “constantly” in future meetings and use it to consider options when dock infrastructure needs to be replaced, he said.
For now, Castine is budgeting to finish concrete capping work on its Acadia Dock at the town-owned waterfront to protect its bulkhead from rust and looking for cost estimates to add a floating breakwater.
Maine Maritime Academy is adding a concrete breakwater of its own at its neighboring property, Goodine said, and evidence of how that works could help inform the town’s plans.
The study focused on town-owned property, but the effects of the academy’s training ship and new pier on wave action and vessel navigation will inform Castine’s approach. It’s at least expected to challenge how people navigate to and from the town dock because it extends farther out in the water, Goodine said.
Formal conversations haven’t started yet about how the town and academy could coordinate on longer term efforts around raising their waterfront infrastructure, he said, but are expected to this year or next. The completion of the first phase of pier construction and the arrival of the new State of Maine training ship are planned this summer, according to the school.
Private landowners on the other side of the town dock also have resiliency decisions ahead. Dennett’s at the Wharf restaurant, which was flooded in 2024, was recently raised up on tall pilings.
As part of the congressionally directed spending that funded the academy’s pier expansion, the town also received $288,000 to respond to the pier and new ship’s impact on the municipal waterfront.
Long term projects will depend on outside funding, according to Goodine — a challenge faced by small towns along Maine’s coast as they consider expensive infrastructure projects in response to rising seas.
“That’s going to be the most interesting thing, when we start coming up with these longer term solutions and more expensive ones,” Goodine said.
