Scarborough has broken ground on a $650,000 seawall to replace the existing wall at Higgins Beach.

Crews from Cape Ann Equipment of North Andover, Mass., excavated the site and poured concrete for the foundation, said Scarborough Public Works Director Mike Shaw.

“It’s moving along quite well,” Shaw said.

The project evolved after the 2007 Patriot’s Day storm damaged the wall.

“We had two options at that point,” Shaw said. “We could repair it by piecing it back together or we could take funds to rebuild the wall that was not originally designed by an engineer firm and had some flaws to begin with.”

Completion of the seawall is expected by Dec. 17, Shaw said.

In February, the Scarborough Town Council agreed to bond $450,000 for the project. Also, because the damage was caused by the Patriot’s Day storm, a $214,000 grant was available from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“It was a good deal for the town and it needed to be rebuilt,” Scarborough Town Councilor Michael Wood said.

The town in January submitted an application to the Department of Environmental Protection for a permit to replace the existing seawall. The town’s application is under review and pending approval.

The Higgins Beach seawall dates from the 1960s, when large boulders were put in place to minimize beach erosion from storms. This rock wall was covered with a protective cement barrier in 1992 and has undergone repeated maintenance over the years in response to the problems of erosion and rising water levels. The wall runs approximately 750 feet, from Pearl Street to the Breakers Inn.

“It was just gravity holding rocks in place with nothing to rest on,” Shaw said. “We decided to go with the enhanced project and what we’re going to have is a fitted rock wall (that) will be designed so that the size of the stone that is going to be in the wall takes into account the forces of the ocean.”

The new wall has to be built so that its “footprint, height, and reflection of waves cannot be more than the existing seawall,” according to Steve Dickson, a marine geologist at the Maine Geological Survey in Augusta. In addition, the Department of Environmental Protection mandated in 2006 that that a repaired or replaced wall must be less damaging than the previous one to the environment.

The Scarborough Town Council, DEP and the Portland engineering firm of Deluca Hoffman met with the Maine Geological Survey and Maine Department of Conservation twice in 2007. These groups determined how the wall would affect bird nesting and other local habitats.

The new wall meets those mandates and will be about 500 feet long with a street-level height, Shaw said.

There will also be added amenities such as a year-round staircase and a sidewalk on the ocean side of Bayview, Wood said.

Work last week began on the new seawall at Higgins Beach in Scarborough. It will replace the existing wall that was damaged during the 2007 Patriot’s Day Storm.