Christopher R. Vaccaro

Residents of beach neighborhoods in Newbury, Scituate, Sandwich and Nantucket are painfully aware that ocean waves and currents are ruthless, especially in winter. Rarely does a storm season pass without these forces inflicting severe damage on coastal properties in those communities. Unfortunately, available options for protecting properties from such damage are limited.

Erosion and accretion are natural processes that constantly change shorelines, as waves and currents remove sand from some coastal areas and deposit it elsewhere. If sea levels rise as expected, changes to the shoreline will become more dramatic and coastal properties will be at increased risk. In 2013, the Massachusetts Legislature established the Coastal Erosion Commission to investigate the magnitude and impacts of coastal erosion and to recommend strategies to reduce adverse effects. After months of meetings and data collection, the commission issued its report in December.

The report notes that 27 percent of the Massachusetts coastline is armored with hard structures such as seawalls, revetments and jetties. While these structures can protect local shorelines, they impede the natural flow of sand, harming nearby downdrift beaches where eroded sand is not replaced.

Town Neck Beach in Sandwich exemplifies this problem. Before construction of the Cape Cod Canal, shoreline currents carried eroded sand from the bluffs in nearby Plymouth to Sandwich. As part of the canal’s construction, lengthy jetties were installed where the canal meets Cape Cod Bay to keep the canal open for navigation. The jetties block the natural flow of sand, so today Town Neck Beach must be nourished with sand imported from other areas so it is not washed away altogether.

Hard Permits

When communities face severe erosion, affected residents naturally seek to armor their properties to prevent further loss. Traditionally, this armoring took the form of seawalls and other hard structures, but today such structures are subject to numerous constraints from different federal, state and local government agencies.

Construction projects affecting the shoreline need permits from local conservation commissions and face scrutiny from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) under the Wetlands Protection Act and local wetlands bylaws. Developers seeking to install seawalls and jetties in tidal areas must obtain licenses from the DEP under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 91. The state building code has special rules for construction in flood-prone areas. Dredging and filling in coastal waters trigger requirements for federal and state permits under the Clean Water Act. Projects affecting navigable waters are subject to federal permitting under the Rivers and Harbors Act and the Coastal Zone Management Program.

The permitting process for hard structures is rigorous and sometimes overwhelming. Even when successful in obtaining permits, applicants often face expensive and time-consuming administrative appeals and litigation while waves and currents continue the damage.

New Strategies

In recent years, new strategies for erosion control have become available, including coir rolls and coir envelopes made of biodegradable coconut husk fiber. The word “coir” is derived from a Malay word for rope. Coir systems can be placed along an eroding shoreline, covered with sand and imbedded with plantings to slow erosion.

These systems have drawbacks, however. They are often enmeshed or anchored using non-biodegradable materials that become exposed as sand erodes and the coir decomposes. Their lifespans are limited to five to 10 years, so the need for eventual replacement is likely. Coir systems can be reburied in sand as needed to extend their useful lives.

Despite the drawbacks, coir systems can slow erosion enough to allow plants to grow stabilizing root systems in areas at risk. Because coir systems provide fewer negative impacts to neighboring properties than revetments and seawalls, government regulators can be more receptive to projects that incorporate them.

There is no panacea for erosion problems facing the shoreline. However, coir systems offer a biodegradable and less invasive means of protecting coastal properties from the elements. They are likely to become more familiar to Massachusetts beachcombers in years to come.

Christopher R. Vaccaro is a partner at Dalton & Finegold LLP in Andover. His email address is cvaccaro@dfllp.com.