The town of Boothbay Harbor and the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission (LCRPC) are announcing the start of a flood impact study along the downtown waterfront. The town was recently awarded a grant from the Maine Coastal Program to retain an engineering-survey consulting firm to assist participating commercial property owners in evaluating the susceptibility of their waterfront buildings to damage from storm-related flooding. Participation is strictly voluntary and is limited to commercial buildings within the project area, which includes that portion of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood zone that extends from Bristol Lobster Sales to the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard.

As many local property owners are aware, FEMA issued new flood maps last year showing those areas in Boothbay Harbor that would be impacted by a 1 percent flood (previously this was referred to as a 100-year flood but a more accurate description is a flood that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any year). The new flood maps, which are available online on the LCRPC website at http://lcrpc.org/coastal-projects-planning/2015-firms, show those buildings and portions of buildings in the flood zone but do not include information on how susceptible these buildings might be to flood damage.

To help commercial building owners to answer this question as well as how they might better protect their properties, the proceeds of the grant, along with additional financial and in-kind contributions from the town and Lincoln County, will be used to retain an engineering-survey consulting firm to determine the actual 1 percent flood levels on each property that is participating in the project. The surveyor will also determine the elevations of doors, windows, vents and other points of water access into buildings and the elevations of critical building infrastructure such as electrical entrances, fuel tanks, furnaces, etc. in relation to the 1 percent flood elevation. The engineers will then conduct individual on-site external and internal inspections of all buildings predicted to be impacted by flooding and identify building, building systems and equipment vulnerabilities. Finally, they will identify and analyze the feasibility of a range of strategies to achieve protection from flooding and estimate rough costs. The strategies may include but not be limited to walls, berms, building flood proofing, elevation of equipment within impacted buildings, and similar techniques. Implementation of any recommended strategies will be strictly at the discretion of the building owners.

The purpose of the study is limited to providing sound technical information at no cost to participating property owners and allowing them to decide whether or not to implement any of the recommendations.

The project will be overseen by a committee to be appointed by the board of selectmen. The owners of candidate property owners will soon be contacted by Town Manager Tom Woodin to inform them of the program. Any questions should be directed to Lincoln County Planner Bob Faunce at rfaunce@lcrpc.org, who will serve as project manager.