Pennsylvania Lake Erie Control Point Bluff Erosion StoryMap

The  Bluff Recession and Setback Act  (BRSA), enacted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1980 and amended in 2011, provides for the regulation of structure setbacks in bluff recession hazard areas (BRHAs) along the Lake Erie shoreline to limit property damage and bluff recession. Companion regulations in  Title 25, Chapter 85 of the Pennsylvania Code  were subsequently adopted to authorize a comprehensive and coordinated program to regulate development activities to preserve and restore the natural ecological systems, while preventing continued destruction of property and structures. Under the program, The Coastal Resources Management Program (CRMP) within the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is charged with the identification and establishment of BRHAs, development of minimum bluff setback distances, and review of municipal setback ordinances and regulations. 

CRMP, municipalities, and the Erie County Department of Planning and Community Development provide technical assistance to individual property owners to promote best management practices that can minimize bluff recession and educate those property owners on the regulatory requirements of Chapter 85.

Pennsylvania Sea Grant, Mercyhurst College, and CRMP collaborated on the development of  Vegetative Best Management Practices: A Manual for Pennsylvania/Lake Erie Bluff Landowners . The PDF document is accessible to view and download, providing background of bluff processes and information for homeowners to manage vegetation to foster stability.

A layer representing all control point locations and measurements can be  accessed as a feature layer  or  downloaded as a shapefile  for use in mapping applications. A non-interactive series of these maps and graphs can also be downloaded as  a PDF file .

Note: There are several control points that are no longer monitored (suspended) and were never located using a GPS. These points are not located on the map above, but are included on the following graphs.

Use the slider below to see the erosion that occurred at this site between 1978 and 2018.

Some oblique views of the western end of Lake Erie Community Park from 2006-2017

The map tour below shows site photos from Lake Erie Community Park from various years. Most of the recent recession has taken place in the center of the park, west of the pavilion.

 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's Coastal Resources Management Program 

 Erie County Department of Planning and Community Development's Coastal Zone Management 

 United States Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources: Coasts 

Questions or comments on this Story Map or any topic related to coastal management can directed to the Pennsylvania Coastal Resources Management Program at  ra-epcoastalzone@pa.gov .