Background: Indian Point Road Stabilization Project

The freshwater marshes that border the lower section of Indian Point Road drain through a culvert onto Front Beach. For years a flapper valve on the culvert pipe had to be shoveled clear of sand and debris after rains, storms, or high tides jammed it shut. The price of a plugged culvert: rising marshwater washed out the roadway. For several years volunteers—mostly Bud and Ellen Grant—maintained the drain, shoveling it clear as needed, sometimes through feet of driven sand. Click here to view the drain after shoveling.

Around 2009 hinges on the flapper valve rusted through. Storms drove logs and debris into the culvert pipe, blocking it completely. In 2010 a concrete outlet structure (the "pillbox") was installed, modified from the original design location. But the pillbox has not fared much better than the flapper valve. It sits low enough on the beach to get jammed, even buried—yet not low enough for high tides to clear. Click here to view an example from last winter.

Through the fall of 2013 Eco-Analysts, Inc, of Bath — our consultant — researched and explored the issue, concluded that a pipe extending to the intertidal zone would drain marsh water, be far less subject to plugging, and, ironically, be less visually intrusive. The installation required a full NRPA permit from Maine's Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and other agencies. An application was filed in December, 2013, modified in January, 2014 (with change of project manager), modified again (with change of pipe terminus). DEP granted the permit in April, 2013; in May the Board voted to move ahead with option #3 as spelled out in the permit. The pillbox was modified and the pipe installed in two stages from mid to late May, 2014.

At the Annual Meeting on August 2, 2014, the Association voted to create an Indian Point Road Project committee to examine all possible methods to manage the roadway and report back to the Association in August 2015.

The table below lists the documents, numbered and arranged in chronological order. Not every single email is here, but this includes the essentials — where a shift is noted, or a member expressed a perspective, an opinion, offered information. Documents are noted where statements may be incomplete or open.

The shaded rows indicate applications or formal documents — numbers 1, 9, and 17. They are large, and may take longer to open than the others.
All documents are in Adobe PDF format — requiring the Adobe reader to view. If you have difficulty viewing any documents please click here to send email to the secretary.

In the list of documents:

"Brown" is Bud Brown, president of Eco-Analysts, Inc, in Bath, IPA's consultant and agent.
"Woodruff" is Christine Woodruff, our project manager at the state DEP.

Exception: The date for the application filed with the state on December 11, 2013, may appear incorrectly as "December 10, 2013."