A project to extend the breakwater jetty at Weirs Beach to prevent erosion and save the sand is badly needed and could be addressed through the use of a grant, bond or tax increment financing dollars.

The Weirs TIF was established about 10 years ago and serves to capture tax dollars from capital improvements and development projects in the area to reinvest those funds in important projects there. 

“Over the years, certain priorities changed in terms of what we think is most important so we have revised our list of activities,” Weirs TIF Chair Robert Ames said at the city council meeting on May 28. “The most important development activity, at the very top of our list, is to restore the public beach at the Weirs.”

The beach was built in the 1950s and has experienced severe erosion since then, Ames said. Sand has repositioned from the north end of the beach down toward the Weirs Channel and much has left the beach and entered the channel.

“We went to the state Department of Environmental Services and we told them what we wanted to do. We’ve had a couple of studies that have been done by the city,” Ames said. “There’s a plan out there for what needs to be done and how to do it and there has been money budgeted by the city.”

Ames said a previously appropriated $300,000 would greatly alleviate the financial stress of the project and could help to make progress on the restoration of the beach. 

A 2015 study of the issue commissioned by the city and conducted by Woods Hole Group of East Falmouth, Massachusetts, found the best option to combat erosion along the beach would be to introduce between 7,300 and 9,000 cubic feet of beach-compatible sediment, which would increase the width of the beach by 60–75 feet at various points.

The study also noted constructing seasonal sand fencing along the eastern edge of the beach would serve to reduce sand loss, and extending the jetty would further reduce erosion by protecting the shore. The study listed the potential cost of extending the jetty at between $90,000 to $100,000, but could extend the life of the beach by 75 years. 

The sand fencing was projected to cost between $8,000 to $9,000 and replacement could be expected after five or six years, according to the study.

“One of the items in the engineering study was the need for extending the breakwater jetty along the Weirs Channel because a lot of that sand would be saved if the dead jetty was longer than it is in its current form,” Ames said. “So this is our No. 1 priority, the main problem has seemed to be, up to this point, getting permission from the state to go ahead and do this project.”

Ames said the city’s special beach fund, which is funded by annual parking revenue of over $25,000, and the beach sticker fund combine to about $200,000, which in addition to previously-appropriated funds, makes roughly $500,000 available to fund the project.

City Manager Kirk Beattie said Director of Recreation and Facilities Amy Lovisek has been working with DES to move forward on the planning phase of the project but hasn’t found much success to this point.

The second-highest priority item on the Weirs TIF district’s list is the potential reconfiguration of the Weirs public docks to accommodate larger boats. 

“Obviously, a lot of these old buildings needed a lot to be put back in, to bring them back up to par, get investors over to the lakes — they needed to know numbers,” said Ryan Cardella, East Coast Flightcraft co-owner and member of the Weirs TIF district advisory board. “What can they do for parking by boat, by car. The average boater spends 30% more than somebody by car, a boat brings four to six people in.”

The current slips at the dock were built for significantly smaller boats, Cardella said.

“Now the boats are built larger, wider, so it’s almost impossible to ever get anywhere near full-occupancy on them,” Cardella said. “If you put two boats on the end, you can’t get anyone inside.”

The reconfiguration is needed in order to attract further investment and tourism to the Weirs, Cardella said. These stresses could be alleviated by moving smaller “finger slips” to the ends of the longer docks, thus widening the gap between slips and providing larger boats with the space needed to dock.

“We have the ability to do it,” he said. “I do feel like it’s not a big exercise.”

Cardella said his company owns a barge and would be willing to donate its usage for the project, understanding a barge would be one of the most important and expensive aspects of the project. 

“We’d love to see this happen and we do think this is the biggest change down there,” he said. “We’ve seen what they did in Meredith; we’ve seen what they’ve done in Wolfeboro, and if you look at Wolfeboro, it was a big change right out of the gate. Just by swapping what they did, it’s bringing in a ton more revenue which is bringing in more business, more tourists, and I don’t want to get left off this map, I guess.”

Beattie said the costs associated with the project increased from around $300,000 before the COVID pandemic to about $750,000 today and city employees are looking for grant opportunities which could help to advance the project.

“The costs changed after COVID,” he said.