ST. MICHAELS — On Wednesday, Roy Meyer of the Climate Change Sea Level Rise Commission and multiple engineers presented key sea-level rise mitigation projects to the St. Michaels commissioners.
Meyer said the projects were for the wellbeing of the town of St. Michaels residents and tourists.
“If there’s one thing that impacts the town and the Maritime Museum in the same way, it’s sea level rise and flooding,†Meyer said. “So I mean their campus is going to be flooded, our roads are going to be flooded.â€
The projects, which will be carried out in two phases, will potentially raise road elevations to five feet. An Advanced Systems grant with FEMA and a state grant will help the town cover the cost of the projects.
Phase one involves raising Mill Street, Burn Street, the Harbor walkway and the end of Cherry Street to an elevation of five feet. It also includes demolishing and rebuilding Honeymoon Bridge at a higher elevation and wider size, rebuilding piers at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, installing a larger culvert system where Mill Street meets the tidal area, and adding a north sidewalk along Mill Street.
The cost of Phase one would be more than $5.3 million.
Phase two will address Mulberry Street, Muskrat Park, and Church and Green streets. Phase two features two options, short-term and a long-term solutions.
The short-term would include modifying the parking lot and existing swale in the park to provide immediate relief from flooding by getting water off the streets faster. This solution is expected to be effective for daily high tides until 2050 and cost $708,366.
The long-term approach raises the roads, similar to phase one. It would also move the roads away from the pipe system and allow for overland flow, separating stormwater and tidewater.
Raising to elevation five feet is the ideal solution, but challenges exist with a wall along Church Street near a cemetery and columbarium, engineers said. The long-term approach would cost $896,724.
The commissioners elected to proceed with prioritizing the already advanced Phase one construction plans and will follow up with the Maritime Museum to discuss options.
The commissioners selected the short-term solution for phase two, saying the town will develop a detailed long-term plan for Muskrat Park. The commissioners also said they would defer action on Mulberry Street until more clarity emerges from private development plans.
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