While no formal plans have been finalized for what the future of Damariscotta's downtown will look like, the waterfront committee received a large vote of confidence on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

The Damariscotta Board of Selectmen approved, 4-0, to accept the waterfront committee’s update and summary for the proposed waterfront project.

The document, which is available online, details the work that was put into researching possibilities for updating the municipal lot and surrounding areas.

The final report also allows for the creation of a new board, and the pursuit of grants to offset the cost of some of the projects outlined.

When the waterfront committee was first established in early 2014, its goals were more vague; now the committee and the board have a clearer idea of what shape the project could take, waterfront committee member Haas Tobey said.

“(The report) really defined the lay of the land,” he said. “Before people would ask 'What do we do about sea rise?' then the county came out and decided to do a study, and they found that we are the most at-risk town in the county (when it comes to flooding). We were able to get a grant, and get a study done.”

Tobey was referencing a project spearheaded by Robert Faunce, Lincoln County planner, that mapped all of the county towns and showed which ones were at risk for normal flooding, flooding with increased sea levels, and flooding during a historic storm. Damariscotta was shown to be in immediate danger when it came to all three.

In December 2013, the town was awarded a Coastal Communities Grant to study what could be done about the flooding.

At the same time, the town began hosting open houses to discuss different plans that could be undertaken to improve the parking, not only structurally, but aesthetically as well. Because the infrastructure below the lot is failing, and the lot itself is deteriorating, the town backed the formation of the waterfront committee.

Open houses hosted by Newcastle, Damariscotta, the Twin Villages Alliance and the waterfront committee have outlined several plans for the parking lot, including adding a boardwalk, restrooms, pedestrian walkways and creating a section over the gully known as Misery Gulch.

In the final report, there are six total components, including four that the town will begin to try and implement along the waterfront.

The first component is the reconstruction of the lot, as well as flood resiliency measures. The pipes underneath the lot will have to be replaced, along with several of the connections to the local buildings, which still use clay pipes from when the lot was first built. The edge of the lot that abuts the water will also need to be raised to create a seawall.

The early cost estimate for the first component is approximately $2.8 million; and in the report, possible funding sources include the Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA pre-hazard mitigation, NOAA and Coastal Communities, among several others.

The second component would be to try and acquire up to 24 more parking spaces in the lot, while the third component deals with adding public restrooms in the downtown.

The fourth component would deal with the construction of pedestrian walkways through Taco Alley. The fifth and sixth components are the construction of a boardwalk and putting up a structure over Misery Gulch.

While other potential aspects of the lot and waterfront, such as the possibility of paid parking, have yet to be decided, Tobey said the final report has helped the town have an idea of what the rebuilt lot could look like.

“We know the basic shape of it,” he said. “Before, it was like punching a pillow — it was vague. And now we know precisely what it is.”

The final report also took into account a recent survey that was filled out by residents and non-residents alike. In that plan, most respondents voted “yes” to restrooms, walkways and the reconstruction of the lot, while remaining split on the boardwalk.

To dictate how the project takes shape as it moves forward, there will be a plan implementation oversight committee installed. That committee will help further define the project and seek out public funding through marketing and fundraising and to select and hire a full-time project manager to see the project to its completion.