Topsham officials are looking to explore potential sites for a boat launching facility off Foreside Road.
In June 2021, the select board accepted a grant from the Maine State and Harbor Planning Grant program to conduct a feasibility study regarding public water access.
“The grant will be used to conduct a feasibility study to locate a water access facility, which would be a boat ramp on the lower Androscoggin River,” said the town’s Planning Director Rod Melanson. “We are looking at off of the Foreside Road where the town already owns properties and waterfronts.”
On Thursday, planning board officials will seek authorization from the select board to allow Baker Design Consultants Inc., a Freeport-based engineering firm, to conduct the study.
The town’s Foreside Road properties provide a variety of on-shore recreational facilities, located within surrounding residential neighborhoods and within a short distance of state access routes.
The project aims to allow public access to the tidal portion of the Androscoggin River and Merrymeeting Bay in Topsham and, subsequently, the lower Kennebec River.
Currently, there are no fully public boating access sites along the Androscoggin River in Topsham. Brookfield Energy group maintains an access site on the Lisbon town line, which is open and maintained on a limited basis. It also sits between two dams and has no tidal water access.
The total cost to conduct the study is $15,000. The funding from the state is $13,000, with a local match of $2,000.
“We always have a goal of providing public water access in the town, so this project would be a kind of step to determine if providing more active access in that area is a feasible thing to do,” said Melanson.
He added that there is also a public need for emergency services to formal water access within Topsham.
Melanson said they had conducted feasibility studies in other areas in the town to incorporate water access that has been probably difficult to pull off.
“There is access in Brunswick that exists, so there are a lot of recreational users on the river, but there is no access in Topsham to either respond to or to allow for people to get in the water,” said Melanson.
“Right now, it is just a study,” said Melanson. “If the area is feasible, then the question for the community will be, how do we go about implementing it and making it a reality.”
If the select board approves the study, Melanson said the project could probably start in December.
The consultants will start working on collecting the data. The study is most likely to be completed by December 2022, he said.
Melanson added that they are also planning to install a tidal gauge at the location, so local or state agencies can use the data collected to monitor tidal fluctuations.
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