FLOOD OF PROBLEMS ON WHARF
The owners of the nearly 200-year-old Custom House Block on Long Wharf are looking to fasttrack repairs for a foundation that is being flooded on a daily basis, and experts say the problem shines a light on flooding issues that are a danger to old and new buildings alike.
The owners of the Custom House Block at 62-70 Long Wharf are going before the city’s Conservation Commission today to ask for a expedited process to waterproof the building’s basement, which is flooding daily after wall mortar and protective dams have eroded away, according to documents filed with the city.
“This has become more and more of a problem in Boston,” said University of Massachusetts Boston professor Paul Kirshen, who has worked on several studies of Boston’s tides and flooding and said some Seaport projects could see their first floors flooded in the future. He added, “Most of those buildings under construction now were permitted years ago, there was nothing in the permit requirement to make them resilient to coastal or tidal flooding ... those buildings are very vulnerable.” The building’s owners, Capital Properties, had no comment. A 2013 study released by the Boston Harbor Association and UMass Boston in the wake of Hurricane Sandy looked at the danger of flooding at times of high tide and with a potential six-foot increase in sea level over the next 100 years. City group Climate Ready Boston is continuing to examine the problem along with other climate change issues, Environment Department Director Carl Spector told the Herald, and will likely release a new report highlighting vulnerable areas in the city and outlining next steps by the end of the summer.
Kirshen said city officials were doing a good job of assessing potential problems, but said relatively new construction, including areas in the Seaport, is vulnerable as well as older buildings. Spector said while the city currently asks large developers to plan for environmental changes 60 years in the future, that only officially became part of the process in 2013 — after many plans already received their permits. And though those developers have to present the Boston Redevelopment Authority a climate preparedness analysis, that is not tied to any requirements for action.
“There’s no specific performance requirement, but it does open up a conversation, and developers are taking steps,” Spector said.
BRA spokesman Nick Martin said some waterfront projects have retroactively added measures such as temporary walls and barriers.