A long-planned project to dredge a cove in Brooksville and to rebuild public landing infrastructure there got approval and up to $500,000 in local funds from voters Tuesday.
Betsy’s Cove, the public landing at Buck’s Harbor, is not deep enough for boats to access at low tide. Currently, Brooksville has no public all-tide access points to the ocean along its more than 50 miles of coastline.
That costs the local marine economy significantly, a federal estimate found. Fishermen often travel to deep-water public landings in Deer Isle or Blue Hill instead, according to Harbor Committee chair Mark Shaughnessy — and sometimes end up moving there, contributing to young people leaving the town.
“I think it’s a public need,” he said of the project before Tuesday’s meeting. “We can’t rely on private holdings to provide that access.”
About 10% of Brooksville’s 900 residents make their living on or from the water, he estimated. Up to 40 commercial fishermen use the cove throughout the year, the Harbor Committee previously said.
The project is also expected to improve access for recreational boaters and emergency services.
With Tuesday night’s approvals of three warrant articles, voters authorized dredging a channel and turning basin to 6 feet at mean lowest tide, reconstructing the pier and boat ramp, and issuing a bond of up to $500,000 to fund the dredging or to match grant funds for the overall project.
All three passed unanimously by a show of about 60 hands, according to Town Clerk Amber Bakeman.
Brooksville has been working on plans to dredge the cove for more than five years — a project that officials previously said became more urgent in 2023 when a neighboring private marina that does provide deep-water access closed for a year. The town changed tracks to carry out the work itself after an Army Corps of Engineers project proved too expensive.
Officials put the bond question on the ballot after losing out on a major economic development grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission late last year because the town didn’t have matching funds on hand.
That application also didn’t emphasize the recreational benefits of the project, Shaughnessy said. It focused more on the benefits to fishermen, who the Army Corps of Engineers found in 2022 lost $569,000 a year because of the lack of local deep-water access.
The town plans to apply again this spring and has already started the process. It has other funds collected and is also seeking other grants both for dredging and work on the pier and boat ramp.
Extending and widening the pier would help it reach the new deep water point and make it more accessible to use. The boat ramp also has been damaged by rising sea levels and storm surges, along with pressure from groundwater in the steep hill behind it, Shaughnessy said.
All three items are estimated to cost about $1.8 million, which the small town couldn’t cover by itself, he said.
Brooksville is continuing to seek out grants for the project and will likely be responsible for “substantially less” than the full $500,000 if it receives them, according to the warrant.
The project is fully permitted, but its Army Corps of Engineer permits expire in October, though they could be extended for one more year. Starting over could have taken several years and cost another $100,000, the Harbor Committee estimated.