SAUGUS — The Board of Selectmen threw its weight behind the Saugus River Floodgates project on Tuesday, an initiative that has gained renewed attention in recent weeks following a number of flooding events in town.
The selectmen did so after hearing from Precinct 10 Town Meeting member Peter Manoogian, a staunch supporter of the proposal that at one point seemed to be on the precipice of approval. Manoogian sent a letter to selectmen calling for their backing on the renewed effort behind the floodgates. In his brief message, Manoogian called on board members to “immediately endorse the Saugus River Floodgate Project and to communicate such to our state and federal delegations” or to create a sub-committee to report back to the board within 30 days regarding the project.
Board members were adamant in their support of the floodgate project, agreeing with Manoogian on the need to move quickly to lobby the town’s state and federal delegations to secure funding for a study into the project’s viability. The board’s chair, Debra Panetta, said state representatives Jessica Giannino and Jeffrey Turco, both Revere democrats, supported the floodgates project.
The renewed effort behind the floodgate project comes in the wake of what Panetta described as “horrific” flooding in town. Manoogian said 6,000 structures were affected and stressed that flooding would impact more than just residents of low-lying areas of town, like east Saugus, but the entire town because of plummeting property values.
The study would cost $3 million and serve as an update to work done decades ago when the floodgates were first considered. President Joe Biden directed the secretary of the army to “expedite the completion of a feasibility study for … flood and coastal storm risk management and ecosystem restoration, Boston North Shore, Revere, Saugus, Lynn, Maiden, and Everett, Massachusetts” in December 2022, but the study was not funded at that point.
Selectmen Vice Chair Jeff Cicolini said he believed the study would “prove what we need it to prove.” But he mentioned that without the support of Saugus’ legislators, any support would ultimately “fall on deaf ears.”
Manoogian suggested Saugus put its money where its mouth is and create a targeted stabilization fund through Town Meeting, setting funding aside to ensure the town can foot its share of the bill for the study.
“We need to convince them we’re serious,” he said.
But Town Manager Scott Crabtree sought to take a more conservative approach, waiting for the support of elected officials at both the state and federal levels along with those in other communities in the Saugus River Watershed — Everett, Revere, Lynn, and Malden.
“The money [is] the least of the issue,” Crabtree said, though he cautioned against throwing money behind a project that would ultimately not come to fruition.
Selectman Michael Serino noted the town had put considerable effort behind developing a hazard mitigation plan and pumped money into stormwater management.
“We need to push this project again,” he said.
Board members and other elected officials, including one of Manoogian’s fellow Town Meeting members, all agreed that the flooding in town had reached previously unforeseen levels in recent weeks, seemingly underlining the need for some intervention to stem the tide.
Carla Scuzzarella, a resident of Precinct 10 for three decades, said she had never seen anything like what occurred this month.
Board members made no motion and suggested inviting the state delegation, which includes Giannino, state Rep. Donald Wong, and state Sen. Brendan Crighton, to the town to discuss the project further.
