Coastal Resiliency - Marshfield & Duxbury
Welcome to the Duxbury-Marshfield CZM Resiliency Grant Page!
March 19, 2024 Beach Nourishment Public Information Session video.
Click HERE for the 3/19/2024 presentation slides
3/19/2024 Meeting Notice
December 5th Public Information Session video can be be viewed HERE.
Updated 6-21-2023 - June 14th Public Meeting video posted at THIS LINK
Updated 3-10-2023 - Public Meeting information on CZM-CR grant posted below.
Woods Hole Group is the consultant working with Duxbury and Marshfield to explore ways to incorporate more resilient strategies for shore protection that can be used to supplement the Towns' existing approaches to shoreline management along the coast from Marshfield's northern end to the meeting point of the sands of the Duxbury Beach Reservation (DBR is studying its coastal management with the Woods Hole Group as a separate project with a grant from the same program): MA CZM Coastal Resilience Grant Program, which advances efforts to increase natural storm damage protection, flood control, and coastal community resilience.
Marshfield and Duxbury has received several grants from CZM over the years to implement beach and dune nourishment projects at vulnerable coastal beaches along the Towns’ east facing shorelines. Coastal armoring along more than 83% of the developed shorelines in the two towns has resulted in long-term beach erosion and a littoral system that is starved of sediment. This beach erosion has undermined many of the existing shore protection structures necessitating frequent and costly repairs. Wave overtopping during storms often causes flooding and damage to public, commercial and residential properties located behind the shore protection structures. The Towns are committed to improving the resiliency of the shoreline to sea level rise and the impacts of climate change by augmenting their current management approach of seawall repair with a program of beach and dune nourishment. Below is a description of each of the grants received for this project:
FY24 Grant - The Towns of Duxbury and Marshfield
were recently awarded FY24 Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Coastal Resiliency (CR) grants totaling $3.2 million dollars to construct a beach nourishment project along the Bay Avenue and Gurnet Road beaches. The grant monies will be used to place approximately 25 to 35% of the total volume of sediment planned for the project. Grant funding will be sought in future years for the placement of additional material. Construction is expected to begin in mid-December 2023 and will continue through the end of March 2024. Sediment will be imported to the site via trucks with beach access points located at the Bay Avenue ramp and the northern end of the Duxbury Beach Reservation (DBR) property. End dump tractor trailers will be used to place the nourishment material along the beach and front end loaders will grade the material to match the engineering design. Questions can be directed to Sheila Sgarzi at the Duxbury Department of Public Works (ssgarzi@duxbury-ma.gov) or Greg Guimond at the Marshfield Planning Department (gguimond@townofmarshfield.org).
Construction Updates:
February 9, 2024: Construction activities will be wrapping up in the next two weeks. Roadway trucking is scheduled to end on Monday, February 12, 2024. Hauling and placement of sediment on the beach will occur through the week, with Friday, February 16, 2024 as the target completion date. Cleanup and demobilization is scheduled for the week of February 19th. Please note, the Duxbury Beach Reservation is conducting a separate nourishment project, which commenced the week of February 5th. Please click on this link for information on the Duxbury Beach Reservation project. Please reach out to info@duxburybeachreservation.org for questions or concerns.
January 22, 2024: Extended construction hours are scheduled for Monday, January 22nd through Thursday, January 25th to accommodate tides. Construction activities on the beach will extend up to 7:00 PM during the work week, however trucking and hauling activities will remain on the normal delivery schedule.
A public information session was held on Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at 6:30 PM at the Duxbury Senior Center.
Public Information Session Presentation Slides 12-5-2023
Bay Ave/Gurnet Road Beach Nourishment Plans 11-7-2023
FY23 Grant – Service the outstanding state and federal permit applications, facilitate beneficial reuse of sediment dredged from Green Harbor as beach nourishment in the Bay Avenue permitted footprint, & continue public outreach. Work is ongoing.
FY21 Grant – Complete environmental permitting for beach and dune nourishment & continue public outreach. Beach nourishment permit applications filed with the appropriate local, state, and federal agencies for beach and dune nourishment at 3 sites in Marshfield and 1 site in Duxbury. MEPA review process and local permitting with the Marshfield and Duxbury Conservation Commissions was completed. Permits from MassDEP Division of Waterways, MA CZM, and the USACE are still pending. Work on this grant continued through June 30, 2022.
FY20 Grant – Study alternatives, public outreach, & initiate permitting for future nourishment or other stabilization of the beaches fronting the public seawall along the ocean-facing Gurnet Road neighborhood in Duxbury, and the seawalls in Marshfield. Six beach sites (five in Marshfield and one in Duxbury) were selected for beach and/or dune nourishment, engineering designs were developed, and the permitting process was initiated with the filing of an Expanded Environmental Notification Form (EENF) with MEPA.
Public Outreach Info:
June 14, 2023 Public Outreach Meeting:
- Recording of the meeting
- Woods Hole Group's PowerPoint presentation
May 4, 2020 Public Outreach Meeting:
- Recording of the meeting *NOTE: AFTER the intro, please move to 11:58, when sound issues are resolved and the presentation begins.
- Woods Hole Group's PowerPoint presentation
- FAQs from May 4th Meeting
August 27, 2020 Public Outreach Meeting:
November 2020 Mailing to Residents Regarding Easements:
- Duxbury Cover Letter
- Duxbury Seawall Easement Plan
- Marshfield Cover Letter
- Overall Plan of Beach and Dune Nourishment Sites in Marshfield and Duxbury
January 20, 2021 Public Outreach Meeting:
August 2021 Mailings to Residents in Planned Beach & Dune Nourishment Footprints:
August 18, 2021 Public Outreach Meeting:
July 2022 Public Notices of Federal Consistency Review:
- Clipper Ad - Published on July 6, 2022
- Coastal Mariner Ad - Published on July 7, 2022.
March 9, 2023 Public Outreach Meeting:
Other Project Documents:
- Expanded Environmental Notification Form - filed with Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs in September 2020
- SEIR Certificate - issued by Secretary of Energy & Environmental Affairs in October 2021 (indicates that no further MEPA review is needed)
See also Marshfield's Planning Department webpage at: https://www.marshfield-ma.gov/planning-department/pages/czm-coastal-resiliency-grant-beach-nourishment.