SACO (AP) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which says the 6,660-foot jetty it built in 1869 is likely responsible for beach erosion, has zeroed in on three strategies for fixing the problem at Camp Ellis.

The news is encouraging to coastal property owners who’ve watched for years as the beach has shrunk, bringing water to their doorsteps.

“We’ve never gotten to the point where the corps has admitted there was a problem, so that’s a major step,” said Richard Milliard, a Camp Ellis resident and member of the city’s shoreline commission.

The report, dated January 2006 but released a year later because of budget constraints, details 25 possible fixes. Since it was completed, the corps has identified three strategies as potential winners, said Richard Heidebrecht, a project manager with the corps office in Massachusetts.

City Administrator Richard Michaud said the city favors a different plan with four additional breakwaters and a jetty because it would require less sand and carry a lower annual maintenance cost of about $600,000 a year for 50 years.

Maintenance costs would fall to the city and state. The city’s alternative would also cost more to build – about $25 million as opposed to $17 million – but the construction cost would be borne by the federal government.

The beach at Camp Ellis has been receding for more than 100 years, at rates of more than 3 feet a year. Over the last century, the erosion has pushed the shoreline back by 400 feet and destroyed 36 homes.