The town’s draft Cornec Road coastal-resilience master plan — prepared by GZA and discussed before the New Shoreham Town Council on Oct. 20 — recommends a multi-element approach including Scotch Beach regrading, dune restoration, reconfigured access paths, and two options for the Town Beach parking areas.

Committee members described four recommended elements and asked the council if they endorsed the plan’s principles and priorities before the committee moved to 60% design and potential implementation. GZA and staff emphasized that the master plan combines multiple grants and that some implementation funds are already allocated; moving to 60% design would strengthen the town’s position for larger implementation grants.

Council comment focused on sequencing: several councilors, including Molly and Keith, said they preferred prioritizing planning and design work for the Town Beach Pavilion (the beach house) and related dune restoration before undertaking the larger, costlier parking-lot retrofit. Others, including committee members and some councilors, urged addressing the most acute parking flooding problem in the south lot first with permeable pavers and a bioswale because that is the recurring complaint residents raise.

Allison (committee representative) told the council the committee has already begun outreach related to the beach house and that public meetings have been held; she said the committee is not enthusiastic about the parking-lot design but developed it in response to prior town requests. Committee members also recommended starting smaller at Scotch Beach with grading and vegetated solutions before larger paving options.

GZA and staff reported current grant resources: two grants totaling roughly $650,000 support planning and some implementation, and the town retains about $200,000 for potential implementation work. The committee recommended spending remaining implementation funds on shorter, visible projects (path delineation, Scotch Beach grading and plantings) to demonstrate progress and to help leverage follow-on grant dollars for the beach house and larger parking solutions.

Council direction: there was general consensus to move on near-term actions — path reconfiguration, Scotch Beach grading/vegetation, and targeted “shovels in the ground” projects — and to bring the larger parking-lot and beach-pavilion design questions back to the council after the town learns whether it has been included in the next round of National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) funding expected in November.

Committee and staff will return with refined scopes for 60% design work and with a recommendation for how to apply the remaining implementation funds. The council did not adopt the master plan at the meeting but asked staff to re-agendize items as grant responses and funding decisions become clearer.