At a public workshop, the City of Salem and its consultants presented conceptual options to reduce coastal and stormwater flooding in the Collins Cove Park neighborhood and sought resident feedback on designs, timelines and next steps.

The session, led by Neil Duffy, director of sustainability and resiliency for the City of Salem, summarized a year of study funded by Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management (CZM) and identified three primary flood pathways into the neighborhood: across Collins Cove Park, at the end of Connors Road, and at the end of Osgood Road. Consultants from AECOM described updated hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) modeling showing how those pathways drive flooding today and under future sea-level scenarios.

City and consultant presentations focused on why the neighborhood floods, what the technical model shows and what conceptual interventions could reduce flooding. Ellen Douglas, senior project manager at AECOM, said the Collins Cove area includes extensive fill, and “as sea level rises, the sea starts to reclaim some of that area,” increasing the risk to low spots identified by high-resolution drone topography. Tyler (modeler, AECOM) described the H&H model as a tool to simulate compound flooding — coastal surge plus intense rainfall — and said the team ran 12 simulations, including mid- and late-century scenarios.

Model results highlighted a January 13, 2024 event the team used for calibration and projected larger future impacts. In a 2075 rainfall scenario at low tide the model predicted about 3.5 acres of flooding in the study area with maximum depths of 1 to 1.5 feet; the same rainfall under mean high water rose to about 7.5 acres flooded and maximum depths of 1.5 to 2 feet at the Beacon and Collins Street intersection.

The technical team identified undersized pipes and restricted catch basin inlets as contributors to stormwater flooding and confirmed the three coastal flood pathways. Stormwater interventions tested in the model included increasing pipe capacity, adding catch basins, creating additional conveyance paths (for example a new pipe from Barton and Collins to an available outfall), and providing storage via floodable parks or subsurface tanks. Coastal options shown in concept drawings included redesigning and raising seawalls, adding backflow-protected scuppers, and combining hardened structures with natural features such as beach nourishment, dune or berm construction to preserve access while providing protection.

Consultants emphasized that concepts shown are preliminary. Neil Duffy said, “these are potential concepts and alternatives that are being developed and discussed. There's certainly not anything that we are definitively pursuing right now,” and staff asked for neighborhood feedback to guide preferred alternatives.

Salem Sound CoastWatch described outreach conducted to date: door-to-door surveys, interviews, on-site meetups and an ongoing online public-input survey. The group encouraged residents to continue sharing photos and storm observations through the project public-input page and the organization's email contact (info@salemsound.org).

During Q&A a resident asked whether temporary sandbags along Connors Road will be removed and how their height compares with a redesigned seawall. Neil Duffy replied that the plan is to remove the sandbags but the city's front-end loaders were temporarily out of service; removal will happen once equipment is available. He said the sandbags are about 3 feet high and that the existing ground at that location is roughly 8 to 9 feet, putting the top of the sandbags near 12 feet NAVD 88 — slightly lower than the elevation the team would design for.

On schedule and next steps, Duffy said the two-year CZM-funded project will finish its first year of study and that the team expects to identify a preferred option (which may include multiple interventions) by the end of the grant period at roughly 20–30% design. After selecting a preferred alternative, the city intends to pursue full (100%) design and permitting for some or all measures in subsequent work, pending funding and approvals.

The presenters urged continued community engagement as conceptual designs are refined; the city and Salem Sound CoastWatch plan more in-person meetups in the park, additional public meetings, and continued online outreach to collect neighborhood priorities and storm observations.

The presentation and contact information for the project are available on Salem’s public-input site for the Resilient Together Collins Cove Park neighborhood project; Salem Sound CoastWatch is serving as the outreach partner for the effort.