A project to restore more than 2,000 feet of eroding bluff in Oak Bluffs is in funding flux after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) pulled $10 million that was awarded to the town years ago.
The project to revitalize the coastline, called the East Chop Drive Coastal Restoration, was underway due to significant erosion from roaring waves and surging storms. The impacts have affected traffic, and the road is often closed, especially during storms. Parts of the road have been fully closed for nearly 15 years. Current efforts to repair the area started in 2018, based on a decade of reports and damage to the area, but there’s been choppy progress.
The town first applied for funding from FEMA in 2013, after Hurricane Sandy decimated some of the coast a year prior. Nearly a decade later, in 2022, the $10 million from FEMA was awarded through the agency’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation program, which is now known as the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program. That year, the federal funding was joined by a $3 million grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and $6.9 million approved by the town.
In 2023, a presentation by the town of Oak Bluffs detailed plans for the restoration. These included stone revetment, which is a sloped or protective wall that absorbs surf impact, as well as roadway improvements, drainage upgrades, and pedestrian access. The town detailed several permitting delays in the presentation, and pushed construction plans to around 2025.
But the setbacks continued. In the spring of 2025, The Times reported that town officials were worried regarding the $10 million in federal funding. Brough told The Times that the town received mixed signals from FEMA regarding the funds; FEMA said the agency was dealing with staffing shortages. Additionally, because of the delays, rising material costs, and inflation, the total project cost had increased at that point to $33.3 million, with the town $16.39 million short.
This year, the town sought a 22-month extension to the federal funding in order to complete the project, as the eligibility period to use the funds lapsed in May. But FEMA denied the extension. In a letter to the town stating the denial, FEMA acknowledged permitting delays, but said the agency is “strategically limiting” extensions to improve administrative management of the program. “There is no reconsideration process for this decision,” the letter from FEMA stated.
Wendy Brough, Oak Bluffs town administrator, said while the loss of the previously obligated $10 million is “certainly disappointing,” the scope of and intention to complete the project have not changed. She said the loss in funding has occurred in other communities, and was not due to the merit of the project or delays. Instead, it was due to the expiration of the Pre-Disaster Mitigation program from 2019.
“FEMA acknowledged the permitting challenges that contributed to project delays, and encouraged the town to continue advancing the project so it may be competitive for future funding opportunities. Similar actions have occurred in other Massachusetts communities, where previously obligated funding has also been rescinded,” Brough wrote to The Times.
She added the town will be seeking funding elsewhere, and that significant progress has been made with permitting. She wrote that the town is waiting for final approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which she said will make the grant application for the restoration more competitive, and streamline the construction timeline.
This week, the town is preparing an application for the PROTECT (Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation) Program through the Federal Highway Administration, and a companion application to the state’s Federal Funds and Infrastructure Office. Brough also said it may apply to the BRIC program through FEMA again when applications open in the new year.
“This remains one of Oak Bluffs’ highest coastal resiliency and highway infrastructure priorities, and we continue to move the project forward,” Brough wrote in an email to The Times. “We remain optimistic that, through a combination of grant opportunities, legislative advocacy, and local commitment, a path forward can be identified to advance the project to construction.”
