Town Awarded State Grant to Support Coastal Resiliency

The Town of Nahant announces that it has been awarded a state grant to address erosion at Forty Steps Beach.

Funding comes from the Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM), which facilitates local planning and shoreline management efforts to address climate change impacts like storms, storm surges, flooding, erosion, and sea level rise.

A significant storm in March 2018 caused damage and severe erosion to the existing seawall and revetment. The Town received an initial resiliency grant in October 2022 to assist with project planning. Sustainable Coastal Solutions, Inc., of North Falmouth, the Town’s environmental consultant, considered multiple options.

The Town intends to create a cobble beach and to plant vegetation to secure the area. Stability of the coastal bank is vital. The adjacent Nahant Road carries critical public utilities and is an essential access and emergency road for those in east Nahant.

The Town will receive $147,295, which it will match with $38,650 in funding.

“Nahant is keenly aware of the impact of climate change as a coastal community, especially changes at Forty Steps Beach,” Selectmen Chairman Mark P. Cullinan said. “Doing nothing is not an option. Sustainable Coastal Solutions has developed a strong plan that will address erosion and provide a long-term solution.”

CZM’s Coastal Resilience Grant Program provides funding and technical assistance for local efforts to evaluate vulnerabilities to climate impacts, increase community awareness and understanding of these issues, plan for changing conditions, redesign vulnerable community facilities and infrastructure, and restore shoreline systems through non-structural approaches. Grants may fund feasibility assessments, public outreach, design, permitting, construction, and monitoring of projects that enhance or create natural buffers to erosion and flooding.

“We thank the Healey-Driscoll Administration for this important support, which is the only way a small town such as ours can complete this work,” Chairman Cullinan said. “We look forward to partnering with the Office of Coastal Zone Management to see this project to completion.”

“In the past year, we’ve seen extreme storms bring catastrophic damage across the state. We need urgent action to address these escalating impacts of climate change,” said Gov. Maura Healey. “Building resilience along our coastal communities is a matter of public health, safety, and a strong economy. This grant program demonstrates our administration’s commitment to working with our local partners to expand and improve climate change solutions.”