Baker administration awards Edgartown coastal resilience grant

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Edgartown's Lighthouse Beach will be the focus of a beach restoration effort funded with a state grant. — Photo by Michael Cummo

The Baker-Polito administration awarded Edgartown a $62,250 grant to bolster coastal resilience projects for Fuller Street and Lighthouse Beach, as well as Lighthouse Pond. The award is part of $2.2 million that the office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) is doling out to coastal communities to fund projects to reduce risks from coastal storms, flooding, erosion, and sea-level rise, according to a press release. Edgartown is among 10 recipients in the commonwealth.

“The town of Edgartown will complete permitting activities for a beach nourishment and dune restoration design for Fuller Street Beach that would restore habitat, improve the natural function of the barrier beach, and provide recreational benefits to the town,” CZM said in a press release.

CZM is a policy and planning agency on coastal and ocean issues within the state’s executive office of energy and environmental affairs. Its coastal community resilience grant program assists local efforts to increase awareness and understanding of climate impacts, and also seeks alternatives to hard structures like seawalls and groins. These grants can be used for planning, feasibility assessment, analysis of shoreline vulnerability, design, permitting, construction, and monitoring for projects that provide storm-damage protection and enhance natural resources.