By David Harry

Staff Writer

From tidal surges to trash in the sand, little was left uncovered in the 11^th annual summit on the state of Maine’s beaches Friday at Southern Maine Community College.

The conference opened with some good news mixed with dire warnings about warmer weather and higher tides in the next century.

Greg Berman, a coastal processes specialist from Woods Hole Sea Grant in Massachusetts, said long-term beach erosion in Maine may not be as severe as other New England states, but short-term rates are increasing. He projected the state will have a summer climate that resembles Maryland’s by 2100 if carbon dioxide emissions levels remain constant.

Berman estimates sea level increases from melting glaciers at about 3 millimeters annually, nearly double the 1.7-millimeter rate in the 20th century. He said the level may seem imperceptible until a large storm.

“One hundred-year flood levels could become almost annual,” Berman warned.

Derek Sowers, a conservation program manager at New Hampshire-based Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership, predicted storm water flows from the sea and inland streams and rivers will wash away culverts and collapse roads then inundate local water treatment plants. Evacuation routes could be flooded, he said.

The effect elevates e-coli and other contaminant levels at beaches, said Jeremy Miller, who coordinates monitoring programs at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve. Miller said this includes Willard Beach at South Portland, where three outflow pipes channel storm water to Casco Bay.

Macolm Burson, associate director of policy services for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, provided a blunt view of how communities should prepare for effects of rising sea levels.

Burson presented department recommendations for protecting state beaches and shorelines. Included as part of a fuller plan are suggestions to develop land use guidelines for buffer zones, involve the tourist industry in creating businesses resistant to climate change and maintain wetland buffers to absorb and filter storm water flows.  

The agency was expected to present a full report in 2012, but Burson said work seems to be on hold.

“Because of the change of leadership in Augusta, the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) has been unable to implement any changes,” he said.

Moderator Nancy Veihmann of  Wells National Estuarine Research Preserve introduced a panel discussion on access to beaches, and said she hoped the panel would hear the range of opinion about whether beach access is a public right or preserved for property owners.

The panel of Wells Selectman Bob Foley, Scarborough Town Planner Dan Bacon and Kennebunkport resident Mic Harris said they have all experienced how divisive beach access can be for residents.

A 1989 Maine Supreme Judicial Court decision regarding Moody Beach in Wells upheld a 1647 colonial ordinance that gives property owners clear title on beaches except for public use for “fishing, fowling and navigation.” 

The ordinance predates Maine establishment as a state in 1820 and American independence in 1776, and is in place only in Massachusetts and Maine.

Harris, a member of Save Our Beaches, said the concept of private ownership was inconceivable to him when he grew up in the south.

“The beach was not viewed as a front lawn,” he said.

Parker Dwelley, a Goose Rocks Beach resident and plaintiffs in a York County Superior Court suit over beach access, took the opposite view.

“Private property rights built this country,” Dwelley said. 

In 2000, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled long-term public use of a beach, even if privately owned, created “prescriptive” rights that allow continued public use for recreation.

Extensive use has its drawbacks, said Wells resident Virginia Calvo, with erosion adding more problems at Drakes Island in Wells.

“The beach is getting so narrow at high tide, people are having a picnic on your front lawn,” she said. “The property owner is really not the enemy. We need to look at what the resources can sustain.”

Calvo, who monitors piping plover nesting grounds in Wells, wondered how many people a beach can sustain. She has seen an increase in visitors who enjoy beaches and how hard it can be to clean up when the crowds are gone.

Bacon said preserving or creating access at Higgins Beach, on Black Point and at Pine Point in Scarborough have caused contention in the town over the last several years. 

Opposition to a land swap with Lighthouse Inn owners Peter and Nicholas Truman was pronounced, but the trade led to the creation of a public beach drop-off area and small park on Pine Point, Bacon said.

At Higgins Beach, where public access is deeded, efforts to add parking and change on-street parking regulations put some homeowners and beachgoers at odds, Bacon said.

A Scarborough Zoning Board of Appeals decision that that approved privately owned beach with public access on Black Point has been appealed to Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland.

Scarborough resident Barbara Luke said the plan has not fully considered how more visitors will affect the beach, adjacent to Scarborough Beach State Park.

“Is capacity a question of recreational use or simply how many people fit?” she asked.