By Adam Swift
State and local leaders discussed the impact of climate change on beaches from Hull to Lynn as part
of the state’s Metropolitan Beaches Commission’s initial public hearing on Tuesday morning.The
meeting was expected to be the first of many to address flooding, sea level rise, and erosion along the
metropolitan coastline.“Our goal is to start the conversation from the goal of the Metropolitan Beaches
Commission to prioritize the resilience and protection of metropolitan beaches from Nahant to
Nantasket,” said Chris Mancini, the Executive Director of Save the Harbor, Save the Bay.Mancini
said there are three main questions that are the focus for the communities during the initial stages of
the beach commission hearings. Those include actions that are working now in the communities to
address climate issues at the beaches, what are the gaps that need to be addressed, and what the
communities would most like to see preserved along their beach and waterfronts.State Senator
Brendan Crighton, who co-chairs the Metropolitan Beaches Commission, said that when he first came
to the State House, climate change and climate resiliency was an issue but not one that was necessarily
at the top of everyone’s agenda.“But climate resiliency certainly is now, particularly for those of us
who represent communities along the coast,” said Crighton.Over the past weekend, Crighton said he
went to the beach in Nahant and his son asked him if he could imagine the whole world covered in
water, and Crighton said the idea wasn’t that far-fetched.“This is a serious issue, one that affects us
not only now, but thinking about future generations and what exactly the beaches will look like,” said
Crighton. “Imagine Massachusetts with no beaches, it is certainly a troubling notion for all of us.”Julia
Knisel from the state’s office of Coastal Zone Management said there needs to be a collaborative
effort among state and local agencies and organizations to address the coastal impacts of climate
change.Knisel noted that concrete seawalls line the Massachusetts coast, but that many of them are a
century old.“We need to look at the condition and height of the structures relative to current storm
surge and conditions, and we need to look to the future, as well,” said Knisel.There also needs to be a
closer look at the lowering of beaches in addition to beach erosion, as well, Knisel said.Over the past
decade, Knisel said the office of Coastal Zone Management has awarded over $34 million in grants to
local communities for coastal climate resiliency projects to retrofit current infrastructure and put in
place shoreline and dune restoration projects.Nick Connors of the DCR addressed how that
department has pivoted in the past several years to address climate change issues.“DCR’s mission is to
protect, promote, and enhance our natural, cultural, and recreational resources,” said Connors.Chief
among those natural resources are 27 saltwater beaches, many of which are in the Greater Boston
area.“Climate change is already exacerbating natural hazards and extreme weather events leading to
new impacts that will affect the Commonwealth,” said Connors. “This is such a critical issue that
DCR recognized this and established a new office in early 2021 to develop and implement an agency
framework that climate change considerations are included into the agency’s initiatives and agency
projects,” said Connors.The office works across the spectrum of federal, state, regional, and municipal
partners to ensure that the DCR is implementing its core values and sustainable practices and
resiliency across its infrastructure, assets, and resources, Connors said.Catherine McCandless of the
Boston Environment Department and Delaney Morris of the Boston Planning and Development
Agency highlighted the recent planning efforts and proposed climate resiliency projects for Boston’s
beaches.Those efforts include a project at Constitution Beach in East Boston, where officials are
looking at a system of berms and dunes with a reinforced core that would reinforce the sandy beach
and protect the Blue Line from flooding.In discussing the Town of Hull’s coastline resiliency efforts,
town Conservation Director Christian Kahforst said it is important to listen to and understand local
history.“It really matters to get what locals understand and witnessed in the past,” said
Krahforst.Mancini said the beach commission will begin to zero in on more specifics as it continues to
meet in the coming months.“This is really the first conversation, the first meeting,” said Mancini.
Future meetings will take a deeper dive into individual communities and beaches, although he added
that all of the communities and beaches will benefit from the more region-wide discussions.Revere
State Representative Jessica Giannino said the issues with flooding and resiliency in Revere stretch
back to at least the Blizzard of ‘78. She also noted that as a city councilor, she would tour beach
communities with the public works department as neighborhoods were flooded by storm surges.In
addition to maintaining the beaches for everyone to enjoy, Giannino said it’s important to maintain
infrastructure for those who live close to the coast.“It is also really important that people don’t lose
their homes and that we invest in infrastructure that ensures that their homes are still there in 100
years,” said Giannino.She also said that there needs to be an investment in vegetative berms and other
natural solutions to rising sea levels, and not just concrete seawalls which don’t always last.First
Suffolk State Senator Nick Collins praised the advocacy work Save the Harbor, Save the Bay has done
over the decades, and said he was looking forward to working with new DCR Director Brian Arrigo
on resiliency efforts in the coming years. Collins did suggest that an increased investment from the
DCR in providing more beach sand could provide some short-term relief for beach erosion.