Newry CEO Joelle Corey points to a “rock bar” deposited by one of the strong storms that struck the area in the past year. The rocks are in an overflow channel that carried water during the storms and damaged properties downstream. Submitted photo

NEWRY — Newry selectmen last week gave Code Enforcement Officer Joelle Corey the green light to produce an estimate for erosion mitigation work on the Sunday River near Outward Bound. The officials hope the project can be largely funded by a FEMA grant.

Storms in the past year caused the river to overflow its main channel, in the area of Outward Bound, and eroded away land belonging to several property owners downstream, also threatening the Artists Covered Bridge, Corey said.

She told selectmen that in 2006-07, after similar damage, downed trees held with cables had been placed in the river near Outward Bound to divert the river back to its main channel. But those were washed downstream in the more recent storms. She said rock structures had also been placed in the river to control it, but were not effective.

Corey recommended the town apply next year for a FEMA mitigation grant to fund a project to again try to keep the river in its main channel, using a more effective design. She said the cost of the work 17 years ago was about $35,000 for consultation and engineering, and she estimated that costs likely have roughly doubled since then. There would be no way to know ahead of time how much money the town might receive from FEMA, she said, and how much the town would have to pay. A grant would not cover 100 percent.

Corey said the work would help protect four property owners, as well as the town’s road infrastructure and the Sunday River bridge.

Select board Chairman Gary Wight said the river was likely to keep trying to come toward the road, and has done so for the past five or six years. Corey said the Letter S swimming hole area upstream had also sustained damage in the more recent storms, and that perhaps another mitigation project in a couple of years might be considered there.

Selectman Mandy Berry said she wished there was a better system to address the problem, given the storm damage pattern that seems to have developed in recent years.

The officials agreed that a special Town Meeting would be required to authorize town funds for the project, and that an estimate of the cost would be needed ahead of it. They told her to begin work on that.

Corey said she would aim to put in a FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant application for a November 2025 deadline. The project would require Army Corps of Engineers approval and Maine DEP permits.

Corey also said work is underway to fix washed out road edges on the Sunday River Road, and repairs are also taking place on other roads.

ROADWORK ON STORM DAMAGE-Work has been done on the Sunday River Road to fix many places along the edge of the road that were damaged by water during the storms of the past year. Shown here is the road next to the Letter S swimming hole. Alison Aloisio

In other business at the meeting the board approved the appointment of engineer Steve Roberge as a third party inspector for the town for the Pines subdivision project on the Sunday River Road. Roberge is currently a third party inspector on the project for the Department of Environmental Protection, and Town Administrator Loretta Powers said the town attorney confirmed that it was permissible for him to serve in both capacities simultaneously.

At the beginning of the meeting state Sen. Lisa Keim made a presentation recognizing Polly Mahoney and Kevin Slater of Mahoosuc Guide Service for earning the Wiggie Robinson Legendary Maine Guide Award.