Oak Bluffs got an early Christmas present this week from the state, which has awarded $225,000 to fund design work to protect the eroding bluff. The bluff underlies the scenic but endangered East Chop Drive.

The seaward side of East Chop Drive will remain closed until further notice, as the bluff beneath continues to experience erosion. Selectmen voted this week to restrict traffic on the scenic drive, making this the first time the road has been limited to one lane during the summer.

A recent engineering study of the East Chop bluff has revealed further deterioration of the region, which was severely damaged by erosion and major storm events in recent years.

But help may be on its way.

Oak Bluffs was recently denied FEMA funding for repairs, in part because the majority of the bluff is owned by the East Chop Association. The road is owned by the town.

Nearly a year after Hurricane Sandy battered beaches, bluffs and docks from Aquinnah to Oak Bluffs, some towns are still waiting for federal funding for repairs.

With storm season on the way and East Chop Drive in a compromised state, the town of Oak Bluffs is considering whether to close the scenic roadway.

At a meeting nearly two weeks ago, the East Chop Association voted to recommend that the road be closed between Brewster and Munroe avenues.

The succession of storms that have pounded the Island this winter have taken their toll in Oak Bluffs, where the town says massive repairs are needed to stabilize the damaged East Chop area.

Officials said the already-weakened East Chop Drive, bluff and beach have sustained significant damage in the past few months, beginning with Hurricane Sandy in October and continuing through a nearly-three-day storm last week.

Oak Bluffs town officials have entered negotiations with the East Chop Association to take ownership of the coastal bluff on scenic East Chop Drive, following a report which concluded the slope is in danger of imminent failure.

The takeover plan is still in the very early stages, but those on both sides of the negotiations believe transferring ownership of the East Chop bluff to the town is the only way to secure state and federal funding for repairs of the fragile coastal bank.

The town of Oak Bluffs is proud to be “StormSmart.”

Or rather, the town is on its way to gaining said smartness. Being StormSmart has to do with one of those scary, invisible truths that no one wants to think about: sea level rise. And the debate is over. No matter how well the human race conserves energy from here on in, the sea around us will rise. Conservative estimates show the sea rising at least three feet over the course of this century, not including the impact of the planet’s rapidly melting glaciers.