Local News
Photos show the geotubes, which help shield a vulnerable stretch of Sconset Bluff, cut open, and a private investigator believes the damage was deliberate.
A winter storm batters Sconset Bluff on Nantucket. Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
The geotubes that help shield a vulnerable stretch of Sconset Bluff on Nantucket are on the verge of failure.
Strong winter storms have battered the tube-shaped bags made of porous, weather-resistant textiles filled with sand and slurry. Breaches have caused sand to leak out, deflating them and putting the project’s future in doubt.
One private group of citizens of the Sconset Beach Preservation Fund, who pay for and maintain the geotubes, is blaming vandalism for part of the damage.
On Feb. 2, the organization found thin, deep slices in the sides of the geotubes – as if someone had cut them with a knife.
The Sconset Beach Preservation Fund said in a statement a few days later that it “strongly condemns the intentional damage to the geotube erosion-control system.”
“This damage poses serious risks to the Sconset Bluff, Baxter Road, nearby utilities, and public access to one of Nantucket’s most important and cherished landmarks, the Sankaty Head Lighthouse,” it continued.
The Sconset Beach Preservation Fund reported the incident to the police. The group also hired an independent investigator led by former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis.
“Based on the evidence reviewed, the clean, linear cuts are consistent with a premeditated and willful act of vandalism,” Davis said in a statement. “This is no way an accident or the result of natural forces.”
To support the ongoing criminal investigation, the group also posted a $10,000 reward to anyone who offers information leading to an arrest.
The Nantucket Police Department did not return a request for additional information.
Steeped in controversy
The geotubes have long been controversial. Those against them argue that they have high failure rates, are aesthetically displeasing when not covered with sand, accelerate erosion at nearby beaches, and disrupt the natural process of beach erosion.
While a potential perpetrator is still out there, the geotube system took another big hit when a winter storm, with gusts up to 80 mph, pummeled the bluff from Feb. 22 to 23.
As a result, multiple tiers of the geotube system collapsed, exposing the bluff’s deep edges to the elements.
The group first installed a 900-foot section of geotubes on Sconset Bluff in 2014. Over the past several years, there have been multiple efforts to extend the geotubes to protect the full 3,000 feet of the bluff, but they have failed so far.
The New York Times reported that the project cost the group of homeowners around $10 million.
On March 5, Meredith Moldenhauer, on behalf of the Sconset Beach Preservation Fund, brought the findings to the island’s Conservation Commission, where members noted that the existing geotubes remain out of compliance.
Moldenahuer said that the group agreed to put sand down on the geotutbes in early January, before the vandalism occurred. But, as the investigation unfolded, they were unable to cover them up. Add on the damage from the storm, and they are now close to complete failure.
“It’s pretty nasty,” said Will Dell’Erba, the conservation agent at the meeting, speaking of the damage.
Moldenahuer asked for more time to come back with a plan to get approval to fix the project and will return to the next Conservation Commission meeting with an update.
Beth Treffeisen is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on local news, crime, and business in the New England region.
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