Rockland looks to study landslide risk along city’s coast

Rockland may conduct a geological survey of the coastal sections of the city that were hit by a devastating landslide in 1996 , to assess the risk of any future erosion or slides in that vicinity.

City councilors on Monday night discussed spending $12,000 to hire GEI Consultants, an engineering firm, to conduct a survey of the area, but they have not yet voted on the proposal.

As part of the work, engineers would study an earlier survey that was done after the 1996 landslide and gather newer data by taking photos, monitoring the area with drones and checking meters that were installed in the area, City Manager Tom Luttrell told councilors.

The firm may also inspect the areas north and south of the landslide site, said Luttrell, who was not available to provide additional comment on Tuesday.

The survey proposal comes as some Rockland residents have been warning about the risks of further erosion in the area of a 1996 landslide, which didn’t injure anyone but destroyed two homes on Samoset Road.

In January, Jim and Lucy Ebbert, who live at 41 Samoset Road, pointed to ongoing erosion of the city’s coast to argue their neighborhood should be exempted from new housing density rules that were being considered by the council, to prevent the risk of another landslide.

The next month, Jim Ebbert told councilors that his neighbor has been repairing shoreline that he’s been losing to erosion since 2018, according to The Courier-Gazette .

The newspaper reported that several property owners in the area have spent considerable money protecting their properties from erosion, and Councilor Adam Lachman has asked that erosion also be studied in the area between Sandy Beach and the Dragon Products site.