Westport come up with a draft interim policy designed to help East Beach property owners as much as possible, while still maintaining the integrity of East Beach Road, when damaging storms hit the fragile area.

On Monday evening, Town Manager James Hartnett presented select board members with a draft policy for the handling of cobbles and other natural material deposited along the road after strong storms.

“The highway department will first secure the integrity of the road to prevent further erosion,” he read from the draft policy. “Then the highway department shall relocate the remaining cobble deposited on the pavement to the southerly side of the Right of Way.”

The policy, written by Hartnett and later revised by town planner Michael Burris, is the town’s response to East Beach owners, who over the winter saw untold tons of cobble and fill swept from their lots, particularly on the beach side, by a series of powerful storms from just before Christmas through February.

Lot owners were angered to see much of the cobble removed from the rod trucked off-site, where highway department workers deposited it at various locations across the south side of town. East Beach Improvement Association president Kevin Curt said he and many other lot owners were angered by the policy — he called it “theft” of private property and said the removal of expensive cobble threatened owners’ rights to use their lots.

On Monday, he said the draft is a good start:

“I appreciate the efforts at trying to get something done on paper so we can work together,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to make that area more resilient. It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when the next storm comes.”

The policy still needs to be vetted by the town’s legal counsel, and approved by the select board. But when finalized, it is expected to remain in effect until the board adopts a beach management plan for East Beach, a recommendation of the Coastal Resilience Committee.

The draft policy states that when responding to East Beach Road following storms, highway department and other town employees’ first priority is to maintain the integrity of the road, clearing it of debris. After that, though, remaining cobble will not be taken off-site but rather, left on the ocean side of East Beach Road.

“Lot owners will be responsible for spreading material once it has been pushed to the southerly side of the road,” the policy reads.

Hartnett said that prior to the meeting, he had not yet spoken to Curt or other East Beach residents about the plan, but believes it’s a good start — “this is kind of a first shot,” he said.

Curt agreed: “Any effort we could do together to make that beach a little more resilient” would be appreciated, he said.

Meanwhile, work continues to try to repair East Beach Road, where damage from the winter storms remains.

Highway department foreman Chris Gonsalves has been pricing out repairs, and plans to use ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds to do the work “as soon as possible,” Hartnett said. The original plan was to use Chapter 90 funds, but the town manager said that might take longer than hoped. With the summer swiftly approaching, work needs to be expedited, he said. Hartnett said late last month that the work could cost $45,000 to $70,000.