BOSTON — To help Massachusetts’ coastal communities prepare for severe weather events and the impacts of climate change, including storm surge, flooding, erosion and sea level rise, the state’s Office of Coastal Zone Management announced this month that it will be awarding $4 million in grants to support local planning and management efforts, including a significant appropriation to the town of Braintree.
The state’s Coastal Resilience Grant Program provides financial and technical assistance for local efforts to analyze vulnerabilities to climate impacts, increase community awareness and understanding of these issues, plan for changing conditions, redesign vulnerable community facilities and infrastructure, and restore shoreline systems. Grants may fund feasibility assessments, public outreach, design, permitting, construction, and monitoring of projects that enhance or create natural buffers to erosion and flooding.
“CZM is very pleased to support on-the-ground construction of shoreline restoration projects this year, along with planning and design projects that will contribute to a more resilient Commonwealth in the future,” said Office of Coastal Zone Management Director Lisa Berry Engler. “We congratulate all of the Coastal Resilience Grant recipients, and look forward to another year of successful projects.”
The town of Braintree will receive $772,580 through this grant funding, which will be used to help fund the construction of the Watson Park Shoreline Erosion Mitigation and Coastal Resiliency Improvement Project.
With the funding from the grant, the town will undertake a nature-based shoreline restoration that will mitigate erosion and flooding at Watson Park. The project would include fringing salt marsh restoration, natural coastal bank stabilization, construction of an earthen berm and additional stormwater management measures
State Senator John F. Keenan 