Public Notice: NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE

PUBLIC NOTICE:
NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE

Please take notice that Boothbay Harbor Sewer District, 27 Sea Street, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538, (Attn: Chris Higgins, Superintendent at 207-633-4663) is intending to file a Natural Resources Protection Act permit application with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) pursuant to the provisions of 38 M.R.S.A. §§ 480-A thru 480-BB on or about August 23, 2023. The Town will also be filing a copy of the permit application with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) pursuant to Section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act.

The Boothbay Harbor Sewer District’s application is to allow for the construction of a sea wall around the District’s Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) to protect it from the threat of flooding from future sea level rise and storm surge. The project is located at 27 Sea Street in the Town of Boothbay Harbor in Lincoln County, Maine. This continuous sea wall will be constructed around the perimeter of the property and will have one flood door that is installed at their driveway entrance on Sea Street to allow for access to the facility during non-flood stages. The approximate length of the wall is 900 linear feet, including the flood door. The Boothbay Harbor Sewer District’s WWTF Coastal Resiliency Upgrades project is specifically designed to accommodate future climate change projections, including managing sea level rise to the levels recommended by the Maine Climate Council and other industry standards.

A request for a public hearing or a request that the Board of Environmental Protection assume jurisdiction over this application must be received by the Department in writing, no later than 20 days after the application is found by the Department to be complete and is accepted for processing. A public hearing may or may not be held at the discretion of the Commissioner or Board of Environmental Protection. Public comment on the application will be accepted throughout the processing of the application.

The application will be filed at the Department of Environmental Protection's office in Augusta. Any member of the public may request an electronic copy of the application by calling the MDEP regional office where the application is filed. A copy of the application may also be seen at the municipal offices in the Town of Boothbay Harbor, ME.                                                                                                                 

Written public comments may be sent to the regional office in Augusta at the following address:

MDEP, Central Maine Regional Office, 17 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333 (207) 287-7688

A public informational meeting regarding the proposed project will be held on August 7, 2023, at 5PM. The meeting will be held in-person at the Boothbay Harbor Town Office meeting room at 11 Howard Street in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

The purpose of the meeting is to inform and gather feedback from the public about the project and its anticipated environmental impacts and to educate the public about the opportunities for public comment on the project. Additional information regarding public participation in the licensing process is available here: https://www.maine.gov/dep/publications/is-public.html or by contacting the MDEP office listed above.