Falmouth Town Council unanimously approved $50,700 for the design of a bank stabilization project on Old Mill Road, which has experienced a large amount of erosion in recent years. It’s far from the last time the town will have to fund this type of project, councilors said.

“This cost to harden our infrastructure, to make our infrastructure more resilient, to make it more adaptable, is a result of a changing climate. This is like a taste of what we could be looking at as a municipality,” said Town Councilor Sean Mahoney at the council meeting on Nov. 10.

The shoreline running next to Old Town Road, which curves along the ocean off of Foreside Road, has been carved down by storms and wave action significantly over the past several years. Of particular concern to the town was the steady loss of the bank along 150 feet at the end of the road where one house, at 44 Old Mill Road, and a town pump station are located.

A geotechnical slope stability analysis presented in September found that the shoreline slope at 44 Old Mill Road was unstable and “at risk of imminent failure.”

Following the findings of the study by Wright-Pierce, in partnership with S.W. Cole Engineering, the town partially closed the road to traffic, excluding passenger vehicles, light emergency service vehicles and pickup plow trucks, until the slope stability project could be completed.

Homeowners are typically responsible for monitoring, managing and potentially funding most shoreline stabilization projects in Falmouth, with other areas of concern including the nearby Shoreline Drive. The town is funding the design and eventual construction of the bank stabilization project because of the need to access the pump station, one of 33 pump stations in the town.

“I don’t want to downplay the needs of that one homeowner, but we’re investing in that road because we need to get to that town asset,” said Councilor Andrew Sharp.

With the approved $50,700 from the town’s unassigned fund balance, Wright-Pierce and subcontractors will survey the surrounding wetlands and existing slope, and design stabilization methods that will potentially include structural support, such as concrete or riprap, and organic methods such as plants, according to materials from Wright-Pierce. The engineers will include a design to upgrade storm drain infrastructure on the road, as requested by the town. The design and permitting will likely be complete in a few months.

Neither the town nor engineers have yet provided expected cost and timeline for the actual construction of the bank stabilization project.

“I would just note that this is not the total cost … this is the design cost. This is going to have to be a much bigger check that’s gonna have to be written,” said Mahoney.

Justin Early, town engineer and assistant Public Works director, said the eventual stabilization project would likely provide around 50 years of stability for that section of shoreline. Though that estimate depends on the severity of the storms to hit coastal Maine, he said.

Town councilors expressed that over the next 50 years, Falmouth can also expect to have to fund numerous similar projects to protect town infrastructure as waves wear away at the town’s coast.

“You live on the shoreline, there’s a blessing and a curse there,” said Councilor Danielle Tracy.