Select Board members reflect on Easy Street coastal-resilience workshops; urge broader visioning

Select Board members and staff reported on recent coastal resilience workshops concerning Easy Street and downtown resilience at the March 19 meeting, and several members urged a broader, long-term vision for circulation and flood protection.

A Select Board member who attended the workshops said roughly 15–20 people attended a morning session and described three design choices presented for Easy Street. She said the material “made me also think about, you know, because we don't there's a lot of different aspects to it, but it makes me wonder, is there another way to tackle this?” The presenter stressed that the designs were at about 30% and that pump reliability and access for higher-elevation properties were key challenges.

Board members compared the Easy Street choices to national examples; one member cited “Dutch dialogues” in Charleston, South Carolina, where planners prioritized higher-elevation properties and used road-level cisterns and drainage to reduce reliance on pumps. Members discussed tradeoffs including the prospect of raising downtown areas, loss of some parking and road segments at certain tide stages, and whether steamboat/terminal access and vehicle circulation could be adjusted to reduce downtown vehicle demand.

The Select Board framed the workshops as part of a wider set of planning efforts — master planning, area visioning and infrastructure sequencing — and called for continued community conversation. Members said the conversation should include consideration of how public access, parking, and vehicle movements might change as the town designs flood protections and that residents must be prepared for substantial changes over 10–30 years.