The Town Council voted unanimously via Consent Calendar to approve a Memorandum of Understanding with the Town of Scarborough for the Maine Natural Resources Conservation Program (MNRCP) Sawyer Road project grant. The MNRCP awarded the Town of Cape Elizabeth with a $1.59 million grant to remove a 1/4 mile portion of Sawyer Road/Street that transcends the Spurwink Marsh in both Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough.  The total road removal will eliminate tide restrictions, restore saltwater marshland, and enhance emergent salt marsh upstream of the restriction. 

Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough Town Councils held a joint workshop on February 7, 2024 to discuss the grant project.  Images taken from recent flooding at this location during the January 9-13, 2024 storms were shown to demonstrate the real-time negative impacts of rising sea levels and tidal restrictions caused by the existing culvert.  These include not only an increase in the intensity of flooding in this location, but the loss of habitat and wildlife.  Alternative solutions, including a multimillion dollar causeway, were discarded due to costs, lack of longterm solutions, and/or loss of wildlife.

Town Manager Matthew Sturgis reported that the grant represents the single largest grant the Town of Cape Elizabeth has ever received.  "It was a very exhaustive and very competitive process," and Cape Elizabeth was awarded the largest amount of funding because of the identified environmental impacts and mitigations. "This is one of the lowest cost approaches we can take to mitigate this issue and also the most environmentally sound," Sturgis added.

Meeting materials and video from the February 7th Joint Councils Workshop are available here.

Below is a timeline of Critical Grant Dates outlined at the February 7 Joint Workshop:

• 2024 March:  Contract Issued
• 2024 Spring/Summer:  Environmental Assessment/Modeling Scoped
• 2024 – 2025:  Environmental Assessment/Restoration Plan Prepared
• 2025 December - 2026 April:  Implement Marsh Restoration
• 2026 December – 2027 February:  Road Removal
• 2027 February – April:  Road Bed Removal
• 2027 February – April: Road Bed Environmental Restoration
• 2028 – 2035:  Environmental Monitoring