ROCKLAND, Maine — Rockland’s Middle Pier, a damaged and decaying fixture of the city’s waterfront, will be replaced by a new structure designed to be climate change resistant and business friendly.
At the urging of Maine’s congressional delegation, Congress passed a Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill last week that includes $4 million for the Middle Pier project.
For leaders of the renovation, the federal boost will allow the city to make its waterfront more resilient, among other goals.
"We’ve got an imminent threat, and it needs to be addressed," Julie Hashem, Rockland’s director of community development, said Tuesday. "It's also an opportunity to do something for the regional economy."
The plan would see a completely new pier go up, built with the assumption sea levels will rise 2.7 feet from where they are now.
Once finished, the complex will serve as a hub and docking point for maritime service industries, like buoy tending, water taxis, and marine construction outfits. There are also plans for walking space.
Supporters of the project see this plan as vital in further developing the relationship between Rockland and its coast.
"What Rockland has been missing is a place that can help bring — people down to the water, help the community orient itself towards the harbor," Nick Battista, chief policy officer at the nonprofit Island Institute, said.
The rebuilding of Middle Pier comes as some areas along the Maine coast are still recovering from a string of winter storms that brought ruin to coastal infrastructure. The resolve of Rockland to rebuild instead of retreat is finding support in the Mills administration, which offered the city the initial grant to plan the Middle Pier project.
"I think the state of Maine still has an incredibly bright future," Hannah Pingree of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future said. “Ensuring that our waterfront is built in a way that can withstand storm surge and sea level rise is incredibly important.”
Project leaders expect construction on the new Middle Pier to begin in 2025.