WELLS — Two separate projects on the seacoast ”“ a new footbridge and a historical study of beach access rights ”“ will get help from a state fund that aids with waterfront infrastructure and public access to the shoreline.

In Ogunquit, the Footbridge Revitalization project will construct a new bridge over the Ogunquit River estuary to Footbridge beach. According to Melissa Anson, a coastal planner with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, the project was attractive because it was simple and it provided greater public access.

“It was seen as a good project because that’s a very highly used area,” Anson said. “A lot of people access the beach (there) ”“ and they’re also looking at widening the bridge ”¦ so there (is) a way to access the beach for a medical emergency.”

As reported in the Journal Tribune on June 10, the $275,000 Footbridge Revitalization bond, which will include work to the bathrooms at Footbridge beach, passed by a vote of a 348-116.

The Wells project is more abstract, but could potentially have significant impacts on legal cases down the line. The project, called “Wells ”“ Who Owns the Beach? Access and Ownership Research” will study historical claims to the beach: looking back to the law when Maine was part of Massachusetts, and further to when the King of England granted deeds to land in the area now including Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Ogunquit.

Peter Moody, a resident who spoke at the Wells Reserve during a series on beach access, has done some research into the history of public beach access, and found that the King’s grant to landowners in the 1600s extended only as far as the dune phase. Town Manager Jonathan Carter said the grant would basically seek to “prove it out.”

“Obviously what you see printed in a deed back in the 1600s may not play well in today’s environment,” Carter said. “(But) I think we should figure out if the work he has done is something that can be translated into current day effects.”

Carter was quick to note that the grant was simply a “research project,” however, the legal impact could be far reaching: a historical precedent that private land ended at the dune phase could bolster the legal case for citizens seeking to expand public access to private beaches. The landmark decision in this case was the Moody Beach case, Bell v. Town of Wells, which upheld the right of private landowners to restrict access to beaches in Maine.

Anson noted that the historical survey, while abstract, is still in keeping with the mission of the grant to fund long term projects like planning access or feasibility studies.

“We saw a need for it and public access is something we have a lot of need for, throughout the state,” Anson said.