Living shoreline project proposed for Rehoboth’s Silver Lake

Rehoboth Beach has submitted an application to the state that, if approved, would allow the city to install a living shoreline along Silver Lake, at the end of Scarborough Avenue Extended.

The application for the project was published Feb. 28 by Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Wetlands and Subaqueous Lands Section.

Lyle de la Rosa, environmental project technician for the city’s contractor Envirotech, went into the details of the project in a letter to DNREC.

This project's purpose is to create a living shoreline to stabilize the existing erosive shoreline in the target area, said de la Rosa. Severe shoreline erosion is occurring and present due to capillary and fetch wave action on exposed soil, he said.

The living shoreline will comprise vegetation and other natural components, such as sand, bio coir logs and wood stakes, said de la Rosa. The 16-inch, high-density premium coir logs will traverse about 65 linear feet of the shoreline and be secured in place with 42-inch wooden stakes every 10 feet, he said.

The project site is in the same area where the city completed a stormwater outfall replacement project in late 2023. The city budgeted $97,000 for the stormwater project, but it cost $89,000 to complete.

Comments on the living shoreline project are due to DNREC by Tuesday, March 19. A public hearing on the project will not be held unless DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin determines one is in the public interest or if a written meritorious objection to the application was received. For more information, contact the Wetlands and Waterways Section, 89 Kings Hwy., Dover; by phone at 302-739-9943; or by email at DNREC_Wetlands_Waterways@delaware.gov.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the appropriate date for when comments are needed to DNREC.