Havre de Grace's shoreline by the Promenade boardwalk could look very different this summer, as a group of homeowners are working to shore up a piece of land they lost more than a decade ago.
The 34 property owners at the Bayou Condominiums, overlooking the Chesapeake Bay near Millard Tydings Park, have put up $300,000 to restore the shoreline that was destroyed by the remnants of Hurricane Isabel in 2003.
"It's taken this many years, and we went through every government agency there was to get some help, and there was no help," Carl Compton, vice president of the condo building's board of directors, said, explaining why the residents were forced to pay for the work out of their own pockets.
The project, which involves installing riprap and 2,500 large stones, began in early April and is expected to be done by the end of August, Compton said.
He noted when the storm ripped through, the condos lost about 75 feet of shoreline property.
The work also includes rebuilding the property's parking lot, which partly caved in during the storm.
"Raising the money was not easy," he said, but added: "Everybody agreed to do it."
The many walkers, runners, tourists and locals who enjoy the Promenade could soon find it undergoing a dramatic change, he said.
"It's going to look completely different from the beginning," Compton said.
A picture of the site plan hangs along the boardwalk where the work has been going on. Although there have been "a lot of lookers," Compton said he has not heard many comments or questions from residents or passers-by.
"We are very excited and we needed to do this a long time ago. We just didn't have the resources," he said, adding the property owners had to work with the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Department of Natural Resources, among other groups, to get approval for the waterfront work.