The following updates have been posted to the City's Coastal Resilience web page.
- The City is currently gathering information to present to Council regarding the fate of the former fishing shacks that were lost in the January 2024 storms. The City anticipates that this will be brought before City Council and they will make a decision in early summer 2024.
- The City is currently working on scheduling a date for the US Army Corp of Engineers to visit South Portland to help assist with possible coastal resilience solutions, including whether they would still recommend a breakwater as they did in the early 1980s.
- The City held a Waterfront Resilience Open House on May 7, 2024 and unveiled new detailed Coastal Flooding Maps that show streets and neighborhoods vulnerable to flooding due to sea level rise under three scenarios — daily high tides, the occasional astronomical high tide, and major storms — over the next 25 to 75 years. The City developed the Maps in collaboration with the Greater Portland Council of Governments and is one of the first communities in southern Maine to produce such maps (read the Maine Public story).
- The City will be holding a follow-up Climate Resilience Community Workshop on June 20, 2024 from 6 to 8:30 PM at the South Portland Middle School Cafeteria (120 Wescott Rd.). Community members will have the opportunity to learn and discuss potential approaches to building resilience to sea level rise, flooding, and heat events across our community by 2040. Feedback will be incorporated into the City's Comprehensive Plan update.