NewburyportNews.com, Newburyport, MA

July 20, 2013

Gov’t could buy PI properties

In rebuilding, owners struggle with rising insurance, costs

BY DYKE HENDRICKSON
STAFF WRITER

—- — NEWBURY — It’s getting costly to rebuild on Plum Island. As a result, the town might someday be asked to buy oceanfront property should current homeowners chose to take a government “buyout” and leave their seaside land.

At a meeting of the Merrimack River Beach Alliance yesterday, a town official said that several oceanfront property owners are considering selling their properties to the government rather than rebuilding.

Government agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, maintain a fund of about $7 million that can be directed to communities that are attempting to mitigate storm damage. Officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection said that this acquisition fund can be used to purchase property from owners, with the…