As the North Bluff restoration project in Oak Bluffs comes under fresh public scrutiny, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission asked for more information and better drawings at a public hearing Thursday night.

The commission is reviewing the project as a development of regional impact following a referral by the town planning board last month. Oak Bluffs selectmen, who have already awarded a bid for the project, are concerned that $5.6 million in state funding will be lost if work does not begin soon.

Plans to restore the crumbling bluff date to 2010; the original scheme called for replacing the concrete seawall from the harbor parking lot to the Steamship Authority wharf. But when funding options later shrank due to FEMA funds that did not come through, engineers scaled down the plans, which now call for installing sheet metal barrier in front of the seawall and building a timber walkway atop the steeply-banked bluffs.

Engineer Carlos Pena: "The idea is to create a more stable coastal bank."

Steve Myrick

Engineer Carlos Pena: "The idea is to create a more stable coastal bank."

Steve Myrick

A beach renourishment project is also planned in tandem with the seawall work, and the conservation commission is in the process of securing permits for bringing fresh sand to the thin ribbon of beach which has been ravaged by erosion and storms.

At a three-hour hearing before the commission Thursday night, project designer Carlos Pena of CLE engineering said replacing the seawall with another concrete structure would not only be prohibitively expensive but may not even be a good option because of unstable sand and soil around the old wall, built in the 1940s.

“It is well beyond its time when it should have been replaced,” Mr. Pena said of the wall. “The idea is to create a more stable coastal bank, come up with a more efficient design.”

Critics, including residents in the North Bluff neighborhood, are primarily concerned about protecting what’s left of the beach.

“We’re not even allowed, in Oak Bluffs, to go to the beaches up-Island, and we’re going to throw our beach away,” said Mark Wallace, a town businessman and North Bluff resident. “If a private person owned it, they wouldn’t suggest this. You could repair that wall for way less money and not affect the beach.”

Town officials said the complex process of obtaining permits for beach renourishment is underway, but they could not offer a firm date for the project. And they conceded there is no funding in place for that part of the project. The concerns resonated with several commissioners.

“I think we need to assure the townspeople and the Island people that beach is going to be back there in a reasonable amount of time,” said commissioner Jim Vercruysse. “Before I would approve any permit for this, I would need to have a specific timeline about getting that beach there.”

Town administrator Bob Whritenour said the town is facing a firm deadline to use the state grant money allotted for the project.

“The town’s current contract to complete this project expires on June 30,” Mr. Whritenour said. “If the project isn’t substantially complete, it’s unlikely those grants will be extended.”

Expressing sympathy for the looming deadlines, the commission continued the hearing to next Thursday (Dec. 17) with a request for more information and better drawings from engineers. Deliberations and a possible vote were also scheduled for next week, although hearing chairman Linda Sibley said with the Christmas holidays coming up, there could be some delay.

“We want to accommodate you,” Mrs. Sibley told town officials. But with more staff work and documents needed, she said:

“That probably means January.”