If there was a theme to the June 18 Waterfront Project open house, it was that there are big challenges ahead, but also big opportunities.

The open house featured a presentation about Damariscotta’s municipal parking lot and the status of the lot project's progress, and several people involved with the project spoke about the work that has been done so far.

Similar to a February meeting in which some of the possibilities were discussed, Thursday night's meeting focused on why the project will need to be completed.

Town Manager Matt Lutkus said that despite the challenges ahead, he believed the town could come together quickly to see something done.

“I believe we have the willpower and possibly the access to resources to see something happen,” he said.

Lincoln County Planner Robert Faunce discussed some of the history behind the project and the need to improve portions of the lot in order to protect the town.

“About three years ago, after hearing anecdotal stories about how sea levels are rising, I decided to do a more rigorous study,” he said. “We teamed-up with the Maine Geological Survey and completed the study using a NOAA grant.”

What they discovered was that if the town was hit with another storm of record, large swaths of the downtown could be threatened, Faunce said. The February 1978 storm, which is the biggest on record for Damariscotta, was shown on overhead maps to illustrate how rising sea levels could exacerbate a potential flood.

“What we did was do an analysis, 'If that storm happened today, what areas of county would be hit,'” Faunce said. “What happens if sea levels go up? We have 100 years of tidal data, and (the sea level has) gone up. About eight inches (in the last 100 years), and over the last 20 years, the rate of increase has gone up quite a bit.”

So, Faunce said, he studied what would happen if a repeat of the 1978 storm happened with a higher sea level in Damariscotta.

Haas Toby, member of the waterfront committee, showed a slide show about how the town could avoid significant flooding. The proposed solution would involve building up the grade of the parking by several feet, and adding a sea wall.

The next big question was how to pay for it. One suggestion was to have outside donors fund the project, which is one of the reasons why committee member Barnaby Porter wants to tap into the Twin Village's past.

“From the 1700s to World War II, over 700 ships were built in Damariscotta and Newcastle,” Porter said. “The whole idea of adding the boardwalk was to celebrate our history.”

The boardwalk would be built to emulate the Ocean Herald, a Damariscotta tall ship. Porter said it would be hard sell to have outside donors pay for just infrastructure, but securing money might be easier if the project enhanced the downtown.

“There were 31 shipyards from the Great Salt Bay to the Bristol town line, and 33 family names on those shipyards,” Porter said. “The Twin Villages were the center of clipper ship building in Maine. Those people had a challenge and they didn't lose their nerve, or shrink away from it.

“That, we feel, is something worth commemorating and celebrating. The example of those who made this place what it became — to grab the bull by the horns, and not just facing but rising to the challenge of the day.

“Today we have the challenge, and it's not as glamorous, but it’s pretty big for a small town.”

That challenge will be repairing the infrastructure, protecting from flood waters and creating more parking spaces, Porter said.

And that infrastructure is failing, Superintendent of Roads Steve Reynolds and Great Salt Bay Sanitary District Manager LeAnna Libby said.

“Everyone who drives through the lot understands the material is deteriorating, and we can’t just keep patching it up with new material,” Reynolds said. “(The section constructed) in the late 50s and early 60s has deteriorated. Because that's happened, we've started getting sinkholes and the lot does flood.”

Things aren't looking much better below the surface, Libby said.

“The pipes leaving the (downtown) buildings are very old clay tile and they need to be replaced,” she said. “The collection line is in poor shape itself — it has sags in it and it's been squashed in some places. All clay tile leaks.”

Reynolds said there have been temporary measures taken to try and curb the lot's decay, but that the lot should rebuilt and soon.

“The cost we've looked at is just shy of a million to do the infrastructure and paving,” he said. “It's time to do something, where the dollars come from and what we want to do ... that's why we're at this meeting.”